Touching on the bolded points...
Our league used to have a very active RFA period where offers weren't matched. The last I can think of is when Claudio (I think that's who it was) didn't match Seabrook and Gleason, but that was more an error than him not matching. People are a little more fiscally responsible now, evidenced by the fact Hossa didn't even get our old max offer of $8M.
That also feeds into the second part...people most definitely over value draft picks here. Especially those of us at the bottom end of the league. The divide in talent and finances is so great it seems the only way to recover from both is to have a bare bones payroll and draft a ton of prospects hoping to get lucky. That's obviously not the only way to go about things but it's turned into a favourite of many GM's.
And to the last point, perhaps people didn't offer MacDonald a 2nd round comp offer because they just figured it would be matched instantly? I know that's why I didn't bother with Voynov, I didn't think it stood a chance so why bother. Just because others feel the same way shouldn't mean these guys sign cheaper long term, which they could have if you or Rob had offered them deals like the Leafs did with Staal or Stralman.
I don't have any real issue with what happened with MacDonald or Voynov. My issue is with the potential to use this process to get them to sign long term cheaper deals, which you could have easily done if you chose to submit your own offer. We may have been asleep with offer sheets but the GM's holding any RFA rights (other than the Leafs and Islanders) missed a big opportunity as well.
Well, sounds like some long-term offers were accepted in place of the QO, where perhaps the QO might have been the better "agent" move, but at the same time, these are players that passed through restricted free agency already, and if the incumbent team is making the best offer around, then it probably makes sense they sign it to a degree. Perhaps we'll clarify this going into free agency next year.
As to your point, on "Why bother because it will likely be matched", this is really a rather cynical view, and one with out a lot of strategic thought. As pointed out already, if you have nothing to lose and all you are doing is raising the salary for teams already up against the cap, then the question should be more like "Why wouldn't you?"
As an example, offering 2nd round comp for a young established young d-man like Voynov makes total sense, because in the end if Kruegs did pass on him, you get a heck of a lot more value back than a 2nd rounder. And there really is no downside, because if the offer is matched, now a competitor just spent $1-$2M more in salary and cap space they can't use for other things.
RFA should be seen as an opportunity to exert pressure on your rivals. Too many teams ignore this, although I do know I've had 2 players signed to offer sheets in the last 3 seasons (Frolik and MacDonald), and I've also signed a player away from the Wings (Nystrom) when Drew chose not to match my offer sheet. And yes, I had also landed Seabrook that way previously, although that was much about his GM being AWOL.
Bottom line is the current system works if you choose to use it.