Do you not know how personal disability insurance works? He can get a policy, but it insures based on his current earnings, not raises he may or may not get in the future (aka his next contract). In other words, he can insure against the $2.85M he's getting now, rather than the $5M+ he'd be getting next year. Even more to the point, personal disability insurance doesn't pay 100% of your salary, and NHL contracts are guaranteed. So as soon as he signs on the dotted line, it would be worth more than his insurance policy.
Also, apparently you don't consider providing a source to McPhee saying he overpaid for Ward countering your argument that McPhee never overpaid. Got it.