Maybe I'm not following your point, but this puts him in a position where the Hurricanes would have to choose whether or not to protect him, so they could, I guess, be forcing him into the draft? Rather than having him be a free agent. Or the could have just... not signed him. You're not required to protect anyone, there are just limits on who you can protect, and, idk, maybe the players would side eye a team that didnt max it's protection claims? But whatever, it's not any more or less business than any other trade decision.