Question about NHL Contracts

Ok so here is my question. Is there any reason why an NHL team would send a OA player back to the OHL for contractual reasons. So not because of performance.

Here is what I know.

A player who Signs his ELC at age 18 can have the 3 year contract extended by 1 or 2 years by being sent back down to junior 1 or 2 times. Meaning the 3 year contract isn't activated, this is fairly common knowledge. (Laughton got sent back twice)

A player who Signs his ELC at age 19 can have the contract extended by 1 year by being send back to junior 1 time.

After reading parts of the CBA it seemed to me that the contracts activated at the time a player was in his 20th year either way (Lessio, Jenner, Biggs this year). So there is no added bonus in sending them back down to us, unless a team feels they would be better served by playing 1 more year in junior.

That being said it sounds to me like any player under the age of 25 who has not played 3 years of professional hockey (a year of professional hockey is defined in the CBA as having played 10 games in a single professional season ), is not elligible for RFA status and thus remains the teams property and cannot be offer sheeted, until such time that the player as played 3 years.

So i guess my question is, since Lessio isn't getting the biggest ammount of ice time, and is a negative in +/- (he was a negative again last night in a 4-2 win) does it make sense for Phoenix to send him to junior. I know I'm just dreaming, however the dream led me to wonder if there are any other reasons to send a player back down to junior (such as to not activate there contract or to keep them from becoming an RFA longer).

easy answer is = ice time & development stage

Like I stated at the end of last year, even if they don't make the NHL, they are all going to the AHL. Nothing left to prove in junior. The best development for these guys is playing against pros and not 16 year olds. The only thing I wished is that Biggs came to Oshawa when drafted, he would be ahead in his development. The Marlies also had a very high turnover in their vets which only helped Biggs even more.

I don't think Sullentrop ended up signing which is why he is back looking to have a good year and looking for an invite and/or minor league contract. I think he is capable of that. I think he could play in the AHL now.