I really think the offer sheet route is a bad idea. I do think if we can trade for Weber (or by some miracle, one of the other two.. which I think there is no chance in doing) then we should do it. He is a bit older (25?) then our younger kids, but we do need experience here as well. And what better piece to have on our blue line than a guy who was an olympic gold medalist, an all-star and 3-time Norris trophy candidate by age 25?

I get the trepidation over signing an offer sheet… but I would definitely give up a good package to acquire Weber, so long as I was given some time to discuss contract with him by Nashville, or had a feeling he’d sign long term (although we could try and flip him after if we didn’t think he’d be here long term, I suppose).

At any rate, it’s an option Tambi should consider.

mrgod2u:
I like all 3 of these guys, and Weber is awesome… Stamkos is a franchise player at this point, or at least is on the cusp of being one. Tampa would be crazy to let him go, but he’d be worth whatever we had to give. The offer sheet thing is against “the code” however, and we already seem to have no clout in signings or trades. How long would we be a pariah for if this happened. The gain of picking up one amazing player might be countered with us being hamstrung across the next 4 seasons unable to trade-for or sign the glue players needed to fill out the team. Then we are an ok team with one superstar getting knocked out of the playoffs year after year b/c we don’t have depth.

I highly doubt we’ll be able to acquire any of these guys. I suspect ST will do a lot of re-signing of the players in the entire system and he may try to acquire one or two “low end” UFA’s. I was kind of hoping we bolster our “D” by going after Eric Brewer but I have a feeling Stevey Y will sign him. I also have a feeling Stamkos will be a late signing.

If we did throw an offersheet, I think Racki mentioned earlier I have no doubt in my mind that it would be matched, no matter what we offer Stamkos. We would get an extremely bad rep and it would be worse because we’d be going up one of the hockey greats. If we did acquire him though I think a lot of players would finally start to consider Edmonton. I think it would catapult our re-build.

Hall – Stamkos – Hemsky/Eberle looks like a pretty mean top line.

A trade and sign is a tough one though. I think there’s only so long we can play the victim of the NHL though.. the “woe is me” / hockey Siberia stuff. Yes, we’re the butt of the NHL at the moment – we’ve hit rock bottom. However, I think players can see that we have a good thing going here, so while a 35 year old would think twice about coming here, maybe an early 20s player would see that this would be a great long term decision.

But no, pissing off another team via an offer sheet wouldn’t be a smart idea.