How close were the Rangers to acquiring Shea Weber?

Breaking: Shea Weber agrees to offer sheet with Philadelphia. 14 years, upwards of $100 mil. Preds have 7 days to match. Wow!!
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) July 19, 2012

I'm trying to go back to bed. More info coming in. Philly, NYR, Detroit and San Jose were big players in Weber trade scenarios.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) July 19, 2012

Let me begin to say that this is full speculation on my end, but three things instantly came to mind when this Shea Weber news broke early Thursday morning. First, the Flyers willingness to extend an offer sheet to Shea Weber tells me that Chris Pronger's NHL career is likely finished. Second, this also tells me that someone was very close to acquiring Shea Weber via trade and because it was Philly (perhaps in a panic move) that extended the offer sheet, this says that the Rangers may have been the front-runners to acquiring Weber. So finally third, who were the Rangers willing to part with? You would have to imagine that one of the Rangers big 3 defensemen in Staal, Girardi and McDonagh were in play. You also might figure a mix of Dubinsky, Anisimov, Hagelin and maybe even Stepan were thrown around too. Throw in next years' first round pick, a decent prospect and Weber becomes a Ranger.

Once Nashville reaches their decision on whether or not to match the offer sheet, the attention will focus right back on Rick Nash and whether or not he even gets moved. Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson has to be viewing this from afar, perhaps upset that Sather and the Rangers were willing to part with a roster player for Weber, that they weren't willing to part with for Nash. Even if the Rangers were the last team to be in on acquiring Nash, I wouldn't expect Howson to give the Rangers even a slight discount now knowing how close the Rangers may have been to acquiring another elite NHL player.