from Frank Provenzano of The Athletic,

In short, there is really nothing newsworthy going on in NHL front offices right now.

Except one thing: The annual armchair debate regarding which young restricted free agents might get an offer sheet contract offer to change their work address.With Nashville locking up center Ryan Johansen to an eight-year deal, that distinction now falls to Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl. The Red Wings are pushing the upper limits of the salary cap with their own restricted free agent to sign in Andreas Athanasiou, a situation that theoretically could make him a candidate too.

Each off-season yields a popular front-runner who will finally be “the one” who gets the golden ticket. And almost without fail, that golden ticket never materializes....

In a salary cap league that continually gets more youthful, it’s really hard to find core young players. When I was in charge of negotiating NHL contracts, I pushed to find offer sheet candidates EVERY summer. And yet I never made a single one. I can tell you first hand it wasn’t because of some fear of pissing off another GM. It was because the offer sheet lever, as it’s currently constructed, simply doesn’t work.

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