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By now, you know that the Philadelphia Flyers tendered an offer sheet to Shea Weber for 14 years and over $100 million over the course of that contract on Wednesday night.  Nashville has seven days from that point to match or let him walk.  Let's look at how this will affect not only the Flyers and Predators, but also the other restricted free agents this year.

For the Flyers, they desperately need a young defenseman, seeing as Kimmo Timonen is on the wrong side of 35 and it is questionable whether Chris Pronger will play again.  The Flyers have traditionally spent to the cap, so the Weber signing will clearly be geared towards fitting within the cap.  Weber provides just about everything Pronger has been in his career, so if Pronger is unable to play again, Weber can step in right away and be a number one defenseman.  Even if the Predators do match the offer, the Flyers can help every other Western Conference team just by forcing the Predators to spend more than they intend.

For the Predators, losing Weber means that they will have lost both of their minute-munching defensemen, as Ryan Suter has already bolted for Minnesota.  The perception that they are cheap could be forthcoming, since they have traditionally built their team through the draft and more often than not, lost them once they have hit their prime.  Dan Hamhuis, Scott Hartnell, Kimmo Timonen, Ryan Suter: those are some of the players the Predators have drafted and seen flourish before seeing them leave for other teams.  If the Preds do match the offer, it could be a salary cap issue down the line.  However, for a team that traditionally does not like to gamble, keeping Weber would go a long way in solidifying the Predators' back end and make the transition easier for the young defensemen trying to fill the Ryan Suter hole.

Who's all of the RFAs that are still on the market?  P.K. Subban, Sergei Kostitsyn, Michael Del Zotto, Jakub Voracek, John Carlson, and Evander Kane are all still without a deal for next season, and given that most of the owners are afraid to disrupt the apple cart, most of the players will likely not be offered a deal.  Philadelphia's offer to Weber could very well open the door, since he is the biggest name to be tendered an offer sheet.  As for where Weber will end up, only one player has switched teams after being signed to an offer sheet since the lokcout: Dustin Penner by Edmonton from Anaheim.