While this is sometimes true, he would also be due ~$90K in signing bonuses each year plus the myriad stipends and allowances that AHL players receive, including the furnished apartment with all utilities paid, travel allowances, etc. NHL draft picks on ELCs with signing bonuses will be living well above the median income levels for single adults in pretty much every market they ply in. Median household income in Hartford in 2018 was $35,000. They're hardly destitute and actually live quite well. If you read an interview with an established AHL player, most of them acknowledge this.
Lias played here for the equivalent of two years--74 AHL games and 66 NHL games--and made in the neighborhood of $1.12M. His financial situation here was likely better or at least very comparable to what he would have made elsewhere. His mental and emotional comfort is a different story, but the financial aspect doesn't really seem like it would have been much of a consideration.
