Benning, I surmise, is avoiding long term contracts (unless the player is superstar) right now because we have all those RFA contracts coming in the next two years:
2021-22 Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes, Thatcher Demko
2022-23 Brock Boeser, Jack Rathbone, Zack MacEwen
The UFA situation looks better, but Bo and JT are due for raises 2023-2024 season
also:
2021-22 Tanner Pearson,
2022-23 Braden Holtby, Tyler Motte
By not locking into longer deals with Tanev and Markstrom, there is more money to keep our youth corp paid and also do more free agent signings to extend our window to win the cup. It sucks losing them both, but Markstrom no longer fit the plan because of the expansion, and Tanev just isn't a top 2 D on a cup challenging team (which is where he slots if he plays with Hughes).