By

Darren Dreger was on Edmonton’s TSN 1260 on Tuesday morning.

On the possibility of an offer sheet for restricted free agent Seth Jones of the Columbus Blue Jackets, and on why we don’t see more offer sheets given the cap situation:

“Yeah, I mean it’s a sexy topic and we talk about it on an annual basis because it’s great fodder for conversation and media attention. It’s a wonderful threat that the agents can use as well to make sure their client gets not only market value, but resets the market in some respects. I think that’s what’s happening here.

“I know that the agency, CAA Sports, for Seth Jones, is continuing to negotiate with the Columbus Blue Jackets this week. Columbus has a strong appetite, as you can appreciate given the fact that they traded Ryan Johansen to acquire him, to extend him to the max.

“They’ll continue to work, but they don’t have a lot of cap space. Really, that’s the issue. Jarmo Kekalainen worked pretty hard to try and free up some cap space on the draft floor, and he wasn’t successful. So he’s going to have to sharpen his pencil and figure this out. The longer it drags, the more likely an offer sheet scenario does present.

“But one thing that we’ve learned over the years, guys, is teams match. They just suck it up and they match. Seth Jones is likely going to get around $7 million. That’s not news to the Columbus Blue Jackets, whether they want to pay it or not. So they would match. And if they match, what have you done if you’re the team that signed him to the offer sheet. You’ve made a mortal enemy out of Jarmo Kekalainen, John Davidson, and the Columbus Blue Jackets.

“So sometimes it’s just not worth the hassle.”

Source: TSN 1260/ Transcript: Nichols

(You can see a specific outline of how NHL offer sheets work, including a look at what sort of compensation is required for each level of salary.

Dreger: ‘Columbus has a strong appetite’ to extend Jones to max