Shea Weber countdown!! 3 days and 10 hrs to go and still no word

 

   


   With the Flyers inking Shea Weber to the humongous offer sheet ( 14 year, $110 mill ), the Preds have until 7/25 @11:30pm to match and retain him or let him walk. With Ryan Suter already going to Minnesota they really can't afford to let Weber walk. I don't know any team that can let 2 top 5 defenseman go in the same year, not to mention that if they let him go they can pretty much count on Rinne walking. With Suter and Weber both gone they would be basically telling their fan base "thank you for the money but were going to suck again."


     On the off chance Nashville doesn't match lets think about this deal. Weber is a 26yr old 6ft 4in 234lb punishing defenseman. In the league since '06 he has been to the All-Star Game three times ('09,'11,'12), the YoungStars game once ('07), and a Norris Trophy candidate every year. The Flyers need a big mean defenseman who can try and replace Chris Pronger. Down the stretch last year the Flyers didn't have that presence on the blueline. Not to mention losing Carle in free agency to Tampa Bay.


      We all have seen how long deals have worked for the Flyers in the past, (Richards and Carter) both gone, both champions now but both gone. If Weber does become a Flyer the Preds will get 4 first round picks. All in all when it comes down to it I really hope that Nashville decides they cant afford him and he's suiting up in the orange and black next year.

Ryan Howard- A little too late??

     

   With Ryan Howard now back in the lineup and the Phils playing well, as good as it is 5to see is it just too late? To be 14 games back on July 20th just might be too much for this Phils team to make up. Especially if Ruben Amaro is planning in shipping Cole Hamels anywhere. I understand that 14 games isn't exactly the biggest deficit to overcome but this team just doesn't seem to have the drive and passion that they used to. I don't know what happened if it was maybe losing Jayson Werth or breaking up the chemistry or just simply that this team is aging. Howards 31, Jimmys 32, Chase is 32 and Polanco is 36. The bad part is that the Phils don't even have a strong farm system, and how much can we truly trust the farm system? We bring up a guy from there and he gets popped with a hot test and gets banged for 50 games in his rookie year, his ROOKIE year. That's just embarrassing. Shane Victorino will NOT be here come the July 31 trade deadline and I for one am all for it, He was an integral part of the 2008 World Series Championship but in the last year and a half has severely underperformed. How long can Ruben watch him come up in a key spot in the game and strike out on a 58' curve ball. Which leaves Pierre to play up the middle. I'm hoping that they can turn it around but I'm not going to be surprised to see no playoff baseball in this town for the first time in a while.