Free-Agent Season Is Underway Today

The NHL’s free-agent season opens today.

For players over age 31 such as Mark Messier and Claude Lemieux, unrestricted free agency awaits: no strings attached, sign with any team that’s interested with no compensation required.

For younger stars like Joe Sakic and Jason Arnott, restricted free agency gives them little leverage. Teams are reluctant to sign them because the compensation, usually five first-round draft picks, is stiff.

The Philadelphia Flyers submitted an $8.5-million qualifying offer to center Eric Lindros, preventing him from becoming an unrestricted free agent.

Lindros, his career in jeopardy because of a series of concussions, has until Aug. 1 to accept the offer.

There probably won’t be much activity until next week. General managers will receive the final list of restricted and unrestricted free agents today. After that, the cat-and-mouse game begins.

“I don’t think I’ll call any agents [today],” Mike Smith, manager of hockey operations for the Blackhawks, told the Chicago Sun-Times. “I’ll wait for them to call us. That’s how I do it.

“What’s the rush? If someone wants to sign on Saturday, it’s probably an indication of tampering. If we lose a player because we didn’t go after him right away, that happens. We’re not in a rush to jump right in.”

Friday’s formality for NHL clubs was to make qualifying offers to their respective restricted free agents. Since qualifying offers usually represent the same salary the player earned the previous season, there often remains much negotiating before training camp.

After teams make a qualifying offer, players then have 30 days to accept it or become restricted free agents.

Not all restricted free agents will receive qualifying offers. Last summer, the Montreal Canadiens decided not to make one to winger Jonas Hoglund, who at 26, became an unrestricted free agent and signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

This year it’s Alexandre Daigle, who was informed by the Rangers that he wouldn’t get a qualifying offer and thus will become an unrestricted free agent.

The Vancouver Canucks opted to pay the 39-year-old Messier a $2-million buyout for the final two years of his five-year contract instead of being on the hook for $6 million a season.

Officially the Canucks still hold a faint hope of convincing their captain to return to Vancouver at a reduced salary.

Lemieux, who turns 35 on July 16, says that while he “absolutely” wants to return to the Devils, he’ll be testing the market.

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Larry Robinson, who took over as coach of the New Jersey Devils late in the season and led them to the Stanley Cup, signed a new multiyear contract.

Robinson’s decision to return as coach came a day after General Manager Lou Lamoriello announced that he would stay with the franchise after it is sold to YankeeNets next month by John McMullen for $175 million.

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Phoenix signed defenseman Chris Joseph to a one-year contract extension. . . . The Calgary Flames surpassed the 14,000 season-ticket goal set in April by owner Harley Hotchkiss, who had threatened to sell the team if it wasn’t met by today. . . . St. Louis signed defenseman Mike Van Ryn, a 1998 first-round draft pick for New Jersey who recently was declared a free agent. Van Ryn signed a three-year deal worth $1.025 million plus bonuses.