Shea Weber's potential contract: THE BREAKDOWN

Okay, people. It's about to get math up in here.

Ever since 12:45 am of last night the hockey world has been trying to cope with the bomb that Paul Holmgren laid on the city of Nashville and their fans. With their front office reeling, wondering if they can actually afford to bring Weber back, here's what they're currently contemplating (per Nick Kypreos):

- First four seasons (2012-'13 through 2015-'16) $1 million per year w/ 13M signing bonus
- Next two seasons (2016-'17 through 2017-'18) $4 million per w/ 8M signing bonus
- Next four seasons (2018-'19 through 2021-'22) $6 million per
- Following year (2022-'23) $3 million per
- Last three seasons (2023-'24 through 2025-'26) $1 million per

Now if we break that down, after the first four years the total contract will be worth $56 million bucks, adding up to $80 million after 2017-'18, $104 million after 2021-'22, $107 million after the following season and then finally topping off at a grand total of $110 million in 2025-'26. The contract is set in place, so either way he'll be living with it wether it's here or in Nashville, but by the end he'll be 41 years of age. Talk about signing away your life.

Now normally one would say, "Nashville said they would match any offer made to Shea Weber, no questions. So why would this happen?" And the answer is; because there are larger things a work right now for the Predators. Their entire franchise is worth 163 million and are in the bottom third of the league in revenue (25th overall) whereas Philadelphia is valued at #290 Mil (8th highest). In layman's terms? Nashville is broke and Homer SERIOUSLY is calling their bluff by front-loading the living crap out of this deal. Is it really worth giving ONE PLAYER a hefty percentage of their entire cap hit (16% to be exact)?

OF COURSE this doesn't just affect the Preds, this falls back on the Flyers too. If their GM doesn't match and he comes here, his cap hit will be $7.85 million per year. Sure, it's manageable but it's ALL of Philadelphia's cap space with Jake Voracek STILL sitting in restricted free agent land, somebody would have to leave in order to bring him back. Smart money would be on Andrej Meszaros who has a cap hit of $4 mil per until 2014-'15, but if we're lucky somehow Jody Shelley might pack his bags as well.

Will this actually happen? The realist in me is skeptical. Nashville far from the salary floor and it's just too good too be true. But maybe, just maybe if the hockey gods decide to favor us this off season, I'll be wearing an orange #6 jersey on my back come October 11th.