To me, the bigger sign of money troubles is not the failure to sign Weber long term, but the Lombardi trade.
Are the owners able to swallow losses of any sort at this point? They've made the playoffs 6 out of the last 7 seasons. If they miss the playoffs 6 out of the next 7 seasons, are they still a viable market?
One, I would say it depends on by how much they miss the playoffs (are they in the race, or are they even trying?).
Two, you could use the "miss the playoffs for 6 or 7 seasons" with a number of the newer teams and there would most certainly be an impact on attendance and the team's bottom line. In short, 7 years of suckage will hurt almost any team and market that isn't very, very established.
(**also, some of the team's success or failure in hard times would probably depend on how the Titans are doing during this stretch. If they are good, then it isn't good for the Preds...if they are mediocre or just as bad, well...it might not hurt as bad as you would think)
As to your point about getting rid of Lombardi...he would be uninsured for us...basically sitting there losing us money. I don't think Poile wanted to gamble with a potential $3 mil loss just sitting there. Same with the Dumont buyout. Yes, Nashville does have a tighter budget than most of the teams...that's why they can't bury their problems the same way a mega market like Toronto or New York can. Wasted money is far more detrimental to us.
Could Lombardi come back and play 60+ games and be a 20 goal scorer next season? Sure! But I doubt it. Even if he plays 40-50 games, he likely won't be 100% and wouldn't be worth the $3 million we would be paying him. Plus, we replaced Lombardi with Fisher...more or less the same style of player (but bigger, not as fast). We already have a ton of centers on the team. I'm not saying there would be no room for Lombardi...but to make room for him, we'd have to probably get rid of another center. Lombardi, Fisher, and Legwand...essentially you have 3 centers playing the same sort of game.
So in a way, you're on the right track that Nashville has to be a lot tighter with its money (i.e., not able to eat as many losses), but I don't think that alone is a reason to think that they can't take care of business. Things are actually a lot better financially now than they were a few years ago. Add in that Calgary billionaire Brett Wilson is planning to buy into the team, and financially we look a bit more solid from the ownership side.
The Predators have raised their season ticket prices and have had an increase in overall paid attendance since the new ownership took over. The management has a clear goal to be a contender...but they're realistic enough to realize that they can't spend to the cap at this point. The owners aren't cheap...but they also aren't willing to take on huge losses just to try to buy a cup. They also realize that we need to sign our star players to keep the team in contention...and making financial moves to free up more money gives us the ability to do just that. If that's what it takes, I'm all for it. Just because the team isn't willing to take huge losses does not mean they are in bad financial shape.
