3 years is ideal. I agree.
I also agree that 3 years is ideal, but not if you are overpaying for it. It sets up a bad precedent, IMO.
Keep in mind that adding one, two or three years to keep the Cap figure down to 3M, makes a buyout worth little impact on the Cap that has reached 113M within the next three years.
3M times 2, divided by three split in half for two years on a 1-year buyout = 1M or minimum wage per season times two. .88 of a percent, not even 1 percent of your total Cap.
Let's agree that, if you think that a 3-year deal is best, you are only keeping Evans to stabilize the C-line with an added depth veteran that will play in the bottom-6. You are looking to create a more stable (not necessarily better overall) environment to keep progressing as a team.
It's not like you are signing Evans short term to provide a stop-gap 2nd line C that can build confidence for and help develop Demidov and Slafkovsky, or some other winger that gets the call in the top-6.
I believe in the value keeping depth players to help develop a team as a whole, but Evans is clearly being over-evaluated if we are willing to overpay for a temporary depth solution.
I really think that overpayment money -- if overpayment there is -- would be better spent on a veteran C that will be willing to play 3rd line C shorter term, but also has the ability to step up and add something offensively if Dach fails as a 2C project.
Evans does not meet this profile as a C and we should not be overspending for him.
At 28 right now, 29 at the start of his next contract, I'd rather gamble on Evans still being solid as a 4th line C up to 34 years of age on a cheaper 6-year contract if keeping him shorter term means overpaying needlessly.
What we would need todo is find a 2C and a 3C, from within or from outside the system. Worrying about making room for Kapanen, Beck or Hage as 4th line Cs shouldn't be a concern in the least since any of those players could also play wing.
By the time the 6th year of Evans' next contract comes up, a 3M Cap hit would be worth 2.65% of the total Cap if it remained at 113M and he could even become the 13th forward at that point.
With the Cap likely still rising from its 113M ceiling after the 2027-2028 season, the percentage of the total Cap for Evans' contract should become lower than 2.65%.