They are paying for potential, lot's of teams doing that these days it seems. I'm sure they did their due diligence on the kid and like what he can still possibly turn into. I like what Hughes did, they took who they all thought was the guy with the biggest potential in the draft and still managed to add another big centre (which was still a gaping hole and they weren't going to draft one at the 1# spot) a centre who is still very young, and talented..................if raw. it's a gamble but you need to take gambles sometimes. If he reaches his potential that contract will be a steal, even if he becomes a solid 2nd line centre it will be a steal. If he busts, oh well, you took a calculated shot on a guy who was drafted 3rd overall just 3 years ago, it's worth the risk I think. The team certainly wasn't a contender the way they were before. creative move IMO, could work, could not but they are trying something that does make sense.
At least it's a plan and it makes sense, for god knows how long we didn't even have a plan.