PeterSidorkiewicz said:
I am a Sens fan and I oppose a hard cap system. BUT if one is implemented like all of these other fans want, you NEED the UFA age to be 26 or so atleast. Everyone talks how they want a system like the NFL's, well guess what the NFL UFA age is around 24. Stop preaching a hard cap if you cant face the consequences, which SHOULD be a low UFA age.
Where do you get this 24 figure? NFL free agency is based entirely on years of service, not age. Unresctricted free agency is possible after four years in the league. Restricted free agency is possible after three.
Of course, both are predicated on a player having fulfilled his first contract, which is rare for a player before he hits his mid- to late 20s. For starters, most players are 22 or 23 by the time they enter the league. Also, most of the good ones (first- through third-round picks) sign five- to seven-year deals as rookies. So, for the most part, the UFA age in the NFL is closer to 27 or 28.
There are, of course, exceptions, i.e. 7th-round picks who sign three-year deals and blossom into stars, but these are rare.
Lastly, there's no such thing as true free agency in the NFL because of the franchise and transition tags teams can use to ensure they don't lose a player.
Read this if you want to learn about NFL free agency.
http://www.nfl.com/freeagency