Quoting: ChiHawk
Yeah but if he goes to the AHL you still burn a year of his 3 years ELC. Since this season is shot, there are plenty of prospects to see who fits on the team along with the added vets, and since he's not going to add much in his first year anyway why burn the year off his ELC?
I believe there is a clause that it slides unless you play the games in the NHL. Michal Teply is one with such a clause I believe. Here it is in the FAQ section "If a player who is signed to an entry-level contract and is 18 or 19 years of age (as of September 15 of the signing year), does not play in a minimum of 10 NHL games (including both regular season and playoffs; AHL games do not count), their contract is considered to ‘slide’, or extend, by one year. For example, if a player signed an ELC for three seasons from 2015-16 to 2017-2018, and their contract slides, their contract is now effective from 2016-17 to 2018-19. An exception to this rule is that if the player is 19 on September 15 of the first year of their contract, and turns 20 between September 16 and December 31, their contract does not slide.
Players who sign at 18 years old are eligible to have their contracted extended for 2 seasons. This extension does not apply if the player turns 20 between September 16 and December 31 in his signing year. Signing bonuses do not slide, and are paid to the player regardless of a slide, this causes the annual average of the players contract to change, and therefore the cap hit decreases for this player."
TLDR because he is U20 he can slide as long as he doesnt play in the NHL more than 10 games