The New York Islanders are now managed competently enough to use this model. It is one of those moves that somehow doesn’t happen as often as it should.
It seems so obvious – I have someone I can’t/won’t sign, and you want to sign them before anyone else can (and for more years), so give me some draft capital and I’ll give you your head start by trading you their rights.
It’s one of those types of trades you made every year in video games, but it defies logic that it’s not extremely common in the NHL every year.