I dont think its as easy to move $5 million contracts as you think, whether or not said player is entirely reliant on another player for any significant level of success.
You're over complicating things, and assuming he doesn't live up to his contract. Most likely we don't have to move him because he has been good for us since he got here no matter what peoples agendas are. If for some strange reason we end up with the worst possible scenario and he ended up with 40 points, a drop off from last season, it really doesnt matter, we have the cap space to cover it, its not like we are the Leafs and it would cripple our team, and then he becomes our 3rd C. I have 0 reason to believe that happens, and if it does, we can either move him retaining half in the last year of his deal or let the contract run out. There is nothing that has happened since he got here that leads me to believe he doesn't live up to a 2 year deal the same as Deangelo's, in fact, im intrigued to see how his line functions with another scoring threat on the right side, it should open up more space for Panarin and Strome, and letting him leave before we see that would be a poor decision. If we are talking 5 year deal thats a problem, but thats not what im talking about, 1 or 2 year deal.