I think part of it is that this is what Benning would have done, which is be very partial to Halak and his contract.
Personally, I am a little annoyed that they aren't being cutthroat enough but that is my bias towards the previous regime and their moves which were for dumb reasons.
For now I'm willing to give JR/PA the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps treating him well will help him waive his NTC in the off-season.
At least with the current management there's some chance that this was done for strategic reasons rather than just bending over backwards for a player's agent.
Still, would have been great to get out from under yet another bloated contract......
PS You still should rest Demko. He has now played more games than he ever has in his career at this level, even more than he has in the AHL. A lot of things broke in his favour such as extended time off (yes, his rhythm was disrupted but overall it was probably good for him physically). This is the time when you would start to see signs of loss of mental focus and/or physical fatigue when a first-time starter tries to take on this workload. If he plays all the remaining games that will be 43+27 = 70 games (according to hockey ref they have played 55 games).
That is a dumb workload in today's NHL. The days of Brodeur/Roy playing 70+ games was a fluke and created unrealistic expectations in head coaches. You could see Marky in years past start to accumulate fatigue and he only got in 60 games max with the Canucks. Vasilevsky has only played max 65 and he's probably the best goalie on the planet. Pre-lockout guys were topping off around 67 GP, and I think that's a bit high.
I don't think is going to be a playoff team, so why risk letting him get injured if we're out of it? If we do make the playoffs, managing his starts is doubly important because you want him to have gas in the tank for the important games. Either way, your rest management of him has to start now, which is why Halak started this game, and rightfully so IMO.