The Flyers acted as they should have in going for the jugular in their attempt to bring franchise defenseman Shea Weber to Philadelphia through the use of a Group II offer sheet featuring poison-pill provisions that will inflict harm on the Predators if they match.
Teams’ front offices have every obligation to the fans who pay the freight to use the tools of the collective bargaining agreement to their best advantage, just as coaches have every obligation to use the tools in their lineup to ensure victory.
Or should Rangers coach John Tortorella have told Marian Gaborik last year: “No, no, don’t shoot on Ilya Bryzgalov. It’s not fair. He’ll never be able to make the save”?
But as much as the Flyers’ bonus-laden, front-loaded $110 million offer to Weber was a righteous one, team chairman Ed Snider’s role in all this is as diabolical as they come, given his role as a notable hawk in the current labor negotiations.
For at the same time “Mr. Snider” authorized this offer to Weber, he is wholly supportive of the league effort to discount all but initial $13 million of the deal by nearly 25 percent.
Here is “Mr. Snider” agreeing to pay Weber $52 million in signing bonuses within the next three calendar years while engaged in an effort to prevent players from receiving even a nickel in signing bonuses going forward.
Here is “Mr. Snider” using his financial might to bulk up the Flyers while at the same time pledging to bankroll a lockout in order to stop the competition from ever doing this again.
For you see, Snider’s NBC/Comcast television contract with the NHL calls for the network to pay the league in full for this season — believed between $150 million and $160 million — even if 2012-13 is canceled in full.
Bravo to “Mr. Snider” for providing proof you can — in what polite circles would say — inhale and exhale at the same time.
* If the Flyers do indeed add Weber to the right side of their blue line, then yes, no doubt, the Rangers’ need for a big, power left wing named Rick Nash increases.
But that does not mean Blueshirts general manager Glen Sather will yield to Columbus’ demand for Derek Stepan, because he will not.
First, Columbus GM Scott Howson demanded Ryan McDonagh as part of a package for Nash. Then, he insisted on Chris Kreider. Now, he is fixated on Stepan, a third-non-starter.
(Or perhaps, given Stepan’s output of one goal in 20 playoff games, a non-finisher would be a more accurate description. We kid.)
This isn’t just a measure of Stepan’s value as a player straight-up against Nash’s value. It is a measure of Stepan’s value carrying an $875,000 cap hit without the possibility of salary arbitration on at least his next contract against Nash’s value carrying a $7.8 million cap hit through 2017-18.
There’s a deal to be done between the Rangers and Blue Jackets, but it won’t be completed until Howson accepts the fact Stepan won’t be coming to Columbus.
* Shane Doan took a tour of New York and visited the Rangers’ practice facility on Friday, as reported on Twitter yesterday by The Post.
The Blueshirts are believed a favored landing spot for the veteran free agent left wing if he decides to leave Phoenix, even as he hopes against hope that the Coyotes’ ownership situation will solidify itself in the next week or two so he can sign a multi-year deal, which would allow him to complete his career with the only franchise for which he has played since entering the league in 1995-96.
Know this: It isn’t either Doan or Nash for the Rangers. It is, on Sather’s Blueprint, Doan and Nash.
* At this point, with Weber’s representatives having made it clear the defenseman has no interest at all in returning to Nashville, isn’t the debate about matching moot?
Predators GM David Poile, who claimed to be caught off-guard when Ryan Suter signed with Minnesota, knew this was coming with Weber, yet refused to trade his rights to Philadelphia while he had the opportunity.
Now, it’s seems merely a matter of whether Poile can get a player or two from the Flyers — maybe Wayne Simmonds or Jakub Voracek, perhaps but probably not Braydon Coburn — in exchange for the four first-round draft choices Nashville would receive as compensation if they do not match.
That’s exactly the scenario that occurred in the summer of 1997 when the Flyers signed Tampa Bay center Chris Gratton to an offer sheet then sent Mikael Renberg and KarlDykhuis to the Lightning for the four first-round picks that had been compensation for the failure to match.
The Devils lost Zach Parise, the Predators seem to have lost both Suter and Weber, but the biggest hit of all this summer was taken by the Red Wings, who lost their cache.