But you just said the Flyers never had a chance of getting anything out of this. Wasn't the whole point that they thought they were going to be able to outbid Nashville for him? If so, then they did have a chance of getting something out of it.
This is not baseball. The Flyers are not the Yankees. This is a salary cap sport. The Flyers aren't throwing $200 million around and leaving the Preds in the dust like the Pittsburgh Pirates for the last twenty years.
The point of free agency, restricted or unrestricted, is to allow a player to test his market value. The Flyers tried to acquire him with an offer. You lock him up earlier than free agency or you run the risk of this happening. That's not the Flyers fault.
If someone offers Claude Giroux monster money when he becomes an RFA, that will be because Giroux is worth it. It's the Flyers' job to lock him up now or run that risk.
If the Flyers were only making this offer to make Nashville pay more, than it would probably be an asshole move. But if they are making the offer to acquire a great player at a position of need who was available because he's a goddamn free agent, then why is this a big deal? Either Nashville thinks he's worth it, or not. You don't get to cry poor in a salary cap sport. Only in baseball.
Some things in hockey just don't make much sense to me.