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You can offer him a two-way deal that pays the NHL minimum salary if he's playing in the NHL, but something a lot smaller if he's in the minors. He may not agree to it and insist on a one-way contract where he gets paid the NHL amount regardless of where he plays, but that's not likely for an ECHL-caliber player - unless he's really greedy he should understand that he'll have to take a two-way deal.
You don't need to keep the farm teams fully stocked, they'll sign players to fill in any gaps you leave. But it's generally a good idea to keep at least a dozen or so on the farm to give you options for covering any really bad runs of injuries to your NHLers.
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