[JohnnyB]

I saw it reported somewhere today, the Athletic maybe (?), that a source from inside the team said Jersey's final offer to Johnny was $10.2M.

Anyways, it's seems pretty clear to me that the only winner in the situation was Columbus. At least they feel like the won the lottery. It was a sub-optimal resolution for everyone else, including the Flames, Gross, Johnny, and likely even Philly.

My guess is that Gross was negotiating on the basis of belief that Johnny actually would sign in Calgary if he got a good offer, otherwise it would have made the most sense to say early on that he was going to test free agency and give interested teams more time to clear cap space and compete against each other in the bidding process. There was no advantage in going down to the wire like they did unless he believed that Johnny would sign an eight-year deal if he got it.