Editing Free agent (section)

=== National Hockey League (NHL) ===
In the [[National Hockey League]] (NHL), between 2005 and 2008, the age of unrestricted free agency declined from 31 to 27. Under the old collective agreement, which expired in 2004, draft picks were awarded as compensation when a team lost an unrestricted free agent; however, under the current [[NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement|CBA]] teams losing unrestricted free agents do not receive any compensation.

In addition, any player at least 22 years of age who has not been selected in the [[NHL entry draft]] can sign with any team as a free agent. Any player who is not entry-level, but does not meet the qualifications of unrestricted free agency becomes a [[Restricted free agent#NHL|restricted free agent]] when his contract expires.<ref name="urlNHL Free Agent Tracker | NHL.com">{{cite web |url=https://www.nhl.com/news/free-agency-signings-2019/c-299340484 |title=NHL Free Agent Tracker &#124; NHL.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190701173947/https://www.nhl.com/news/free-agency-signings-2019/c-299340484 |archive-date=July 1, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>