Shea Weber can watch as two teams decide his fate for the next 14 seasons. (Getty Images)

As the clock ticks inside of 36 hours to go until the Nashville Predators have to make a decision on whether or not they will match the offer sheet Shea Weber signed with the Philadelphia Flyers, here's a roundup of where things stand.

First to the most basic of questions -- and biggest. Will the Predators match? It's only speculation but from the beginning the assumption has been that since the Predators just can't afford to see Shea Weber walk away, the have to match. I've been on that side.

Now John Shannon of Sportsnet seems to think that will be the conclusion by the 10-person Nashville ownership group when all is said and done.

It's usually a pretty good bit of information when it's coming from an NHL executive. It's not like some exec on another team is inside the meetings in Nashville or anything, but they are more likely to get word of what's going on more than anybody else, or at least have a better feel for the situation.

But what's with this trade aspect? The only options here are to match the offer sheet and keep Weber for 14 seasons or let him walk and take the four compensatory first-round draft picks from Philadelphia, right? Turns out that list isn't exhaustive.

If the Predators don't match then they get compensation from the Flyers that defaults to draft picks. But the Preds and Flyers can actually work out a deal where instead of picks the Predators can get players in return, which would help accelerate the Predators' "rebuilding" sans Weber and Ryan Suter.

Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquierer reports that while the trade talk lingers, the Nashville and Philadelphia brass have hardly been burning up their long-distance phone plans.

On Monday, the teams' general managers did not talk, according to someone familiar with the negotiations.

Since Weber signed the offer sheet late on Wednesday, Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren and Nashville GM David Poile have had just one conversation.

...

The teams could also work out a deal in exchange for Nashville's agreeing not to match the offer sheet. In that scenario, Nashville would get the four No. 1 picks and might send some back for players, such as Matt Read and Andrej Meszaros. Erik Gustafsson and Marc-Andre Bourdon are also among the candidates.

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Going the way of getting players instead of picks is a much safer bet for Nashville GM David Poile if it comes to that. Instead of taking four first-round picks which you can almost guarantee will not be in good positions and the uncertainty that comes with that, they could instead get some guys they know will be NHL players for them ... starting right away.

With that in mind, if they haven't been talking about a trade thus far then it probably does indeed indicate the Preds want to match. If they weren't planning on that, or at least unsure at this point, they probably would have reached out to the Flyers about it already.

Then again, how about this for an idea to tie these two reports together nicely: The Predators want the Flyers to believe they will match and maybe get Flyers GM Paul Holmgren to give up players he was otherwise not willing to part with. Nothing sparks a GM to do something he doesn't want to do more than desperation. If Nashville waits until five minutes before the deadline and then calls Holmgren to say it will match he might do something crazy.

However, getting back to Shannon's report, it wouldn't make much sense that the Preds are leaking information to the media through another NHL executive.

Turning the focus to if Nashville matches or not there has been some question whether or not Weber will be OK with going back to the Preds. Weber's agent made it pretty clear that his client signed the deal with Philadelphia because he wants to play in Philadelphia (that's usually how it works). The inverse of that would be to deduce he no longer wants to play in Nashville and who wants a star player to be in a city where they don't want to play?

However that deduction might not be correct. It's entirely possible that Weber just wanted to get the big deal now, whether it comes from Philadelphia or Nashville. At least that's what Vancouver GM Mike Gillis hints toward when talking about the discussions he had with Weber and his agent earlier this summer.

Here's what Gillis told the Globe and Mail:

Gillis believed he would not be able to snag Weber with a long-term offer sheet, concluding that the Nashville Predators would match any proposed contract. He said the 26-year-old defenceman was focused on a big-money, long-term deal, under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement rules.

...

"It was quite clear, at the end of the day, what the objectives were," said Gillis. "To take advantage of the current system, and to maximize his economic return, which is absolutely fair, which he's completely entitled to."

Hmm, makes you wonder if Gillis is the same GM that Shannon spoke to? But that's neither here nor there.

Point is after five days it's still hard to get a read on what's going on with Shea Weber and the decision facing the Nashville Predators. The decision seems simple enough, match it or don't, but as you can see there is a lot more that goes into it.

We can guarantee this much ... we'll know when Thursday rolls around.

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