Joe Snively, the former little Cap who has gotten his first taste of NHL action this season, will become a Group 6 unrestricted free agent at the year’s end.

This is because Snively has not met the required NHL accrued games at the age of 25 or older to keep his restricted free agent status this summer. Current Hershey Bears forward Shane Gersich will become a UFA under the same context.

UFA Group 6 Update:

These are the prospective players that will become UFAs this year because they haven't met the required NHL accrued games at the age of 25 or older. Players displayed in **bold can still meet the required GP to retain their RFA status

Metropolitan Division pic.twitter.com/wcTFLBNHlQ

— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) March 8, 2022

Snively has only played 12 of the required 80 and Gersich similarly has only played five with not enough games left in the NHL season even including playoffs to make up the difference.

Here are the full requirements to become a Group 6 free agent provided by CapFriendly:

– The player is 25 years or older (as of June 30th of the calendar year the contract is expiring).
– The player has completed 3 or more professional seasons – qualified by 11 or more professional games (for an 18/19 year old player), or 1 or more professional games (for a player aged 20 or older). This can include NHL, minor league, and European professional league seasons played while under an SPC.
– The player has played less than 80 NHL games, or 28 NHL games of 30 minutes or greater for a goaltender. Please note that these amounts are subject to pro-rating due to the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons.

Note: Accrued playoff games count towards RFA status; however this chart does not consider 2021-22 playoff games for whether or not a player can still avoid UFA 6 status.

The rookie winger has seven points in his first twelve NHL games after coming up from Hershey where he is still the Bears leading scorer (despite missing so much AHL time). Snively became only the third Virginia-born player to score a goal in NHL history when he tallied against the Montreal Canadiens in February.

The Herndon, Virginia native is currently out for four-to-six weeks after having wrist surgery.