Knew it would be staring at me. Thanks to the NHL office, which directed me to the back of the book, Exhibit 16.2(m)* to the CBA, presented here in case anybody else was as confused as I was:
For purposes of qualifying for Group 6 Unrestricted free agency: (1) the 2004-05 League Year will notbe counted as a “professional season,” regardless of the Player’s status in the 2003-04 League Year, and (2) a Player shall be credited with an additional number of NHL Games played in an amount equal to the number of NHL Games he had played in 2003-04.
Thus, Dubielewicz and Collins have the age and the non-NHL games but not the three years, so they’re Group 2 players. The same thing could happen to Matt Koalska and Ryan Caldwell next summer.
*-Exhibit 16 is “Compliance Rules for the 2005-06 League Year and Subsequent League Years,” the transition rules because of the lockout, including the 24-percent rollback.