Bill Meltzer: Meltzer's Musings: "Gratton Trade" for Weber Makes Financial & Hockey Sense

early morning blogging i love it. isomnia sucks but this helps pass the time. cheers bill

I think best case scenario for Philly is Nashville not matching and losing those 4 first rounders... Philly is competive enough that those picks will be in the 23-30 range for the next 4 years. Which historically speaking would probably mean 1 out of those 4 picks would be a real impact player (or even a consistent roster player)

If Philly is keen on shedding some salary.. perhaps including Mez + Gustafsson in lieu of 1-2 of those 1st rounders. Giving up anything more than that wouldn't be worth it for Philly unless Nashville was really set on matching.

Very fair trade for both teams.

would hate to see voracek go, i feel he can develop into a solid nhl winger, but if it helps bring weber here then its for the greater good of the club

The better option in my opinion would be to match the offer sheet and swallow the money that is thrown at him and trade him next year as soon as they can. There would be a huge market for him and they could choose what they get instead of Philly saying "here take this and be happy".

Bill Meltzer: Meltzer's Musings: "Gratton Trade" for Weber Makes Financial & Hockey Sense
- bmeltzer

Agreed. Thanks Bill been reading for a while, first time posting.
Through the draft and FA period, the thought of acquiring a top prize winger like Ryan or Nash never made as much sense as gunning for Weber, which is thankfully the way Homer played his cards. Hope this is how it plays out in the end.

The need is to assure the addition of Weber and if its through trade, while holding on to Couturier and BSchenn, then its a big win.

The better option in my opinion would be to match the offer sheet and swallow the money that is thrown at him and trade him next year as soon as they can. There would be a huge market for him and they could choose what they get instead of Philly saying "here take this and be happy".
- bobert836

After a 26 Million dollar investment?
I sense some worry. Relax you still have Marty...

After a 26 Million dollar investment?
I sense some worry. Relax you still have Marty...
- justdoit28

Wait what?

Wait what?
- bobert836

Losing Parise's gonna hurt. I would be worried about Weber going to philly to

Losing Parise's gonna hurt. I would be worried about Weber going to philly to
- justdoit28

Wrong team Sunshine!

Losing Parise's gonna hurt. I would be worried about Weber going to philly to
- justdoit28

Oh I get it now.

Well it's a win-win if the Preds match. They keep Weber and the Atlantic doesn't get him. The god damn division is crazy enough, we don't need no Norris candidate coming over.

And us still having Marty really isn't that much of a great thing. He's still capable, but nowhere near what he used to be.

I would be surprised if Nashville took what Bill is offering. If it was Coburn instead of Meszaros then yes. I get it too now. Very vague.

Nashville must match the offer, that's the only way people will still respect them as a hockey team. They let Weber go and soon they have Pekka Rinne asking why the hell did I sign here and asking for a trade.

Oh I get it now.

Well it's a win-win if the Preds match. They keep Weber and the Atlantic doesn't get him. The god damn division is crazy enough, we don't need no Norris candidate coming over.

And us still having Marty really isn't that much of a great thing. He's still capable, but nowhere near what he used to be.
- bobert836

Sure if the Preds match then the flyers are no worse off and yes at least hes stuck in nashville for a while.

Weber is a player that could change the dynamics of the Flyers, even though flyers already have some superstars! i think you guys need to do all you can to make this trade happen! i know it seems like schenn's and voracek would be overkill but thats something that will make this trade happen for sure.. and philly already has enough talent at forward.. wither hartnell giroux simmonds read couturier briere, they wouldn't be hurting themselves much with this trade..another scenario is they keep voracek and give schenn brothers along with 2 first round draft picks!!

Bill great read at 5am. Get some sleep man....

Great Read Bill.
I would agree to almost everything, except I think the return for Voracek, Meszaros and Bourdon/Gustafsson would be closer to 2 first picks rather than 3.
As much as I would have liked to see Voracek re-signed, it makes more sense capwise to send him to Nashville in such a "Gratton Trade".
Still a big price to pay for Weber, but he's worth it, and it helps the team in the long run.
But the Flyers will be in need of another winger soon with the remaining cap space after losing Jagr, JVR and possibly Voracek...

I think the whole match any offer/offer sheet was a bluff on the Preds part to try and get Weber below what the market had become, and right now it blew up in their faces.

no matter what happens in the next few days the Preds are going to lose money, either with crapping out tons of money in the next few years which they can't recoup through gate & merchandise sales, or they are going to let him go/gratton deal him and lose money on disgruntled fans not buying tickets/merchandise. I wouldn't call it a lose/lose, but which one is better towards the bottom line. My view, not as a Flyers fan, but through the financial aspect is, they HAVE to let him go and bring back what they can. The money part is just too detrimental to a team that have trouble getting out of the red year in and year out.

Excellent analysis, Bill. We will NEVER see such a clear rendition from any other media outlet. I hope homer read this and acts accordingly. I think that deal is logical given where we are at this point.

Great write-up Bill.

You had retweeted yesterday the possibility of Poile trading the 4 1st to another team as well. It seems like nobody is really talking about that.

I can see Holmgren now trying to drop hints of potential suitors for those picks....."I think Chicago us unhappy with Kane, just sayin'"

Regarding the proposed trade, not enough IMO. Minimum of two 1st round picks going Nashville's way as well as a list of players.

Is it still possible to send cash with a trade? Could the preds match and trade him next year having the other team include real $$ to offset that 27M bonus in the first 365 days?

Great summary of the situation Bill.

Loosing Voracek would be a shame, but when you consider getting Weber loosing Jake and Mez + Bourdon or Gus + a first or possibly 2.

Getting Weber would be a HUGE improvement in the Flyers defense. Even subtracting Mez.

When addressing the Preds front office, there is a disconnect from the actions and statements. Not locking Weber up last year was strike one. Not going all in to lock up Suter AFTER extending Rinne. These are big big flubs when taken in context of the "we will match, we will keep" players statements. Bringing back Radulov was a roll of the dice that could have worked. If it had they would have been lauded. It didn't so they get to wear the egg. IMHO, the issue is financial stability of the majority owners. New minority owners appear to be able and willing to spend, but they are not the majority voices and as long as the majority are not equipped to spend as freely within the cap the Preds will be handicapped.

Is it still possible to send cash with a trade? Could the preds match and trade him next year having the other team include real $$ to offset that 27M bonus in the first 365 days?
- brubacca

No cash can be traded.