That leverage is gone now for UFA's. Teams would rather pay for prime years not what a player did in the past(not that Johansen has done much)
I disagree. We still see the consequence of post ELC RFA status in limiting player salary (Gaudreau for example) or forcing players into signing bridge deals (Trouba, Ceci, every member of the TB Lightning).
If Trouba was a UFA, he would have gotten more money and full term or close to it, but RFA status limited his ability to negotiate.
With players like Draisaitl, teams have to choose between saving cap now via a bridge or shorter term deal, or saving cap in their UFA years by going 6-8 years. If the Oilers go for a bridge deal, and Draisaitl continues to play as he has, they aren't getting him at 8.5M during those (is it 3 or 4?) UFA years. They chose to spend more cap now to save cap in the future.