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Darren Dreger was on Winnipeg’s TSN 1290 on Thursday afternoon.

As part of a larger discussion on Mark Scheifele’s performance for Team Canada at the world hockey championships, and if the 23-year-old would be a max contract bet (with a length of eight years) for Dreger:

“(Pause) Well, given the fact that centers are so hard to come by – yeah, in term he’d be max. I don’t know why you wouldn’t, given what you’re looking at moving forward.

“I don’t know that Patrik Laine – let’s assume Cheveldayoff is going to draft him second overall (and) the Leafs will take Auston Matthews first – I don’t expect that he’ll start the season with Mark Scheifele, but come on – how long is it going to be before Scheifele and Patrik Laine are playing together as winger and center.

“So if you see a great future in those players, then why wouldn’t you invest in long term? But what’s the going rate for a 60, 65, 70-point guy? It’s going to be a pretty hefty number, isn’t it, on Average Annual Salary?

We looked at $50 million over eight years – $6.25 million.

“Yeah, and look – I don’t think that’s far off the mark. I don’t. I think that number is going to at least start with a 6, so 6.25 is probably pretty close to the mark.

“But look – the Jets aren’t afraid of those numbers. They’re not afraid of the term. They’re not afraid of the Average Annual Salary because they know that they’re investing in a very good player, and that’s the cost of doing business.”

Source: TSN 1290/ Transcript: Nichols