I can see why people dont like the term in regards to free agency. I disagree though.
First, his cap hit this year allows Columbus to still explore the market for addition players for a cup run. Columbus has quietly been a contender for some time now. They somehow surprise seemingly every year. So chances are, they will be a playoff team again this year. In which case, we would probably see domi's stats rise making his cap hit this year look good and possibly even a good cap hit for his final year. Domi also fits their style very well imo. Now, if for some reason he were to struggle, hes still young enough to have quite a bit of value to a team, specifically one making a run in the playoffs. If Blake Coleman returns a late first, you can certainly expect a better return for Domi. Not to mention Columbus could always retain salary or offer him to a team with a bad contract that's a similar cap hit with a draft pick or two. No matter what, Columbus has the financial freedom to work it all out. Imo it doesnt matter whether he struggles this year or lights it up because you'll either get a good player in domi or a good return for him even if hes not good. He was traded for galchenyuk straight up. Probably not saying much now but at the time of that trade I think most people still thought both players could turn out to be stars. Domi will either be a good player for CBJ, or he will return an excellent value.
The irony in this is kind of funny. Montreal didnt want to commit alot of money long term and neither does CBJ. I think the dealbreaker will be if and when CBJ decide to trade him to someone else. If he struggles and they trade him this year to a contender, it will be a good return. But if they hold onto him or cant trade him then his value will go down and maybe with the cap hit, most teams will show no interest. Even if that is the case then you're only committed to domi for one more year in which 6 million would fall off the following year. 6 million gives you a choice of some pretty nice shiny new toys in the following years free agency, which btw should feature some pretty big names.
All in all, domi's age and value shouldn't change dramatically if he struggles but will change dramatically if he does well. Sorta of a high risk, high reward type thing but jarmo figured out a way to make the risk even less. That combined with only giving up Anderson to get him makes this a very good trade and intelligent signing in my opinion