No, getting him to agree to a long term deal now does the opposite. You pay a young improving less than ufa price now. Yes you will pay more than a bridge, but you presumably will pay more in two or three years. Plus younare paying for his prime years, before decline. And then you can see about a third deal when he’s 28-29 if you feel like he is a good investment or he wants to stay on a good team. Or you let him walk and be someone else’s moulson or okposo.
Your way saves you cap for a couple years, when the team has no need for that cap. And then you will need to pay him based on the two years of his prime and a more talented team. Not to mention signing mitts.
Game it out. You do the two year deal. You saved money, but we know it wont matter in year one, but maybe it helped year two. Now Reinhart is 24-25. Presumably your team has improved and you need to sign him. You are looking at a 6-8 year deal at 7 million bucks. Which takes him to age 30-33. Which is the concern with the bad ufa deal. So no, skipping a bridge deal is not setting the team up for a bad contract. Its setting them up for locking down a promising players best years, in which reasonably worst case scenario is only a small overpayment the first year or two. Reasonable best case scenario? You might have one of the best contracts in the league.