Yeah, that is exactly what
@Tobias Kahun said...
The player already has the contract in place, and in order to play for their teams AHL affiliate while not having an impact on their ELC and future contracts for what amounts to a handful of AHL games they sign a short term ATO to finish out the season.
So with Holloway, when his college season ends, he could sign a 3 year ELC with the Oilers that would start in 2021-2022. But then if Bakersfield is still in the playoffs and they would like his help, he can sign an ATO which would allow him to finish out the season with our AHL team. The contract is guaranteed before he signs the tryout. The tryout is just a means to get a handful of games in at the end of the season to help with development and hopefully with the AHL team.
Every once in awhile you will end up in a scenario where the player will sign their ELC at the end of their college season, but instead of going to the AHL they will go to the NHL immediately which does burn up a year of their ELC.
Cale Makar is a recent example of that. They signed him to a 3 year ELC at the end of his college season. He played 10 games for the Avalanche in the playoffs that season burning up a year of his ELC so they only ended up with 2 full seasons of his ELC. Johnny Gaudreau was the same iirc.
So it is possible that the Oilers could sign Holloway this season and he could burn a year off his ELC if they thought he could help the big club. But I think the much more common practice is the ATO route.