The NHL has one of the most restrictive player-movement agreements in all of pro sports, and Group II free agency is a prime example. Players can't usually become unrestricted free agents until they turn 31 years old. The league and owners had hoped to control rising player salaries with Group II free agency by limiting a player's options at the negotiating table until they built up substantial tenure. For a variety of reasons, these restrictions have done little to halt skyrocketing wages.

Players enter the Group II free agency category upon the expiration of their first NHL contracts. A Group II free agent must be offered a new deal from their current club for the team to retain their rights. Group II players aren't unrestricted free agents and can't simply sign with any franchise.

A Group II player can accept a qualifying offer from another team by signing what's called an offer sheet. The player's current team can then either:

retain the player by matching the other club's offer

let the player sign with the other franchise and receive compensation from that team

This compensation works on a sliding scale based on the player's salary. The rewards can range from nothing to five first-round draft picks.

The current system hasn't helped curb salaries the way owners originally hoped it would when they signed the current CBA.

"When we signed the last collective bargaining agreement, we thought it would work because it was then and is now the most restrictive collective bargaining agreement relating to player movement," said commissioner Gary Bettman.

"In our game, you've basically got to be 31 years old before you can become unrestricted. In the other three major sports you can get free in three or four years, give or take. And so we thought our restricted free agency was going to be something that would slow down the inflation of salaries."

It didn't quite work out that way. Joe Sakic's 1997 contract is often cited as the primary case study for hockey-salary inflation.

The New York Rangers offered Sakic, a Group II free agent at the time, a three-year, $21 million US contract. The Colorado Avalanche decided to match the deal, thus keeping Sakic in Denver and making him the highest-paid player in NHL history at the time. The deal gave Sakic an average of $1.5 million per season more than the richest contract ever signed.

Fast forward to 2003, and there are signs some owners have taken a more cautious stance on high-end salaries. The Anaheim Mighty Ducks decided not to make a $10-million qualifying offer to captain Paul Kariya shortly after the team advanced to the Stanley Cup final for the first time in club history. Kariya became an unrestricted free agent and signed on with the Avalanche.

It is believed the NHL might consider lowering the age of unrestricted free agency to bring the league more in line with other pro sports. One team management official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the New York Post in January that the NHL would accept dropping the unrestricted free agency age from 31 to 29.

The players have said Group II free agents are too restricted. They believe teams often shy away from trying to pry Group II players away from their current clubs because the compensation -- up to five first-round draft picks -- is too steep. They also feel teams currently control a player's rights too long into their career.

"We have a very restrictive system," NHLPA Executive Director Bob Goodenow said in September 2003. "Players cannot become free agents until they're 31. So you take a top young player and you draft this player when he's 18, 19 years old and he comes to play for the team and they'll have him for 10, 12, 13 years sometimes. And that's a long time. There are tremendous controls."

Unrestricted free agents are players who are permitted to negotiate contract terms with any NHL club. No team owns their exclusive rights or a right of first refusal.

Players aren't usually eligible for unrestricted free agency until they turn 31 years old. They can become unrestricted free agents earlier if a club exercises its walkaway rights or if their contract is bought out or terminated.

A management official, speaking anonymously to the New York Post, said the league would accept lowering the free agency age to 29. Commissioner Gary Bettman has admitted the owners' desire to have the unrestricted free agency age at 31 in the last CBA hasn't helped impede salary growth.

The NHLPA would like to see the free agency age lowered. One argument has been that most players have to wait more than a decade into their careers before being able to chase a big-money deal. The current Group II structure has many teams unwilling to gamble up to five first-round draft picks as compensation to sign a restricted free agent.