Currently our rule regarding retirement players states as follows:
Retired Players
All contracts for players who retire from the NHL are considered null and void.
If an NHL player leaves to play overseas in another league, his contract remains in force unless the player is 35 or older and is gone for at least one NHL season.
This is going to be updated to the following:
Retired Players
All contracts for players who retire from the NHL are considered null and void.
All contracts for players 35+ years old who leave the NHL to play overseas in another league are considered null and void.
All contracts for players under 35 years old who leave the NHL to play overseas in another league remain in force.
For some context on why this rule was changed please see this thread:
http://www.profsl.com/smf/index.php?topic=270763.0Let me know if you have any questions/concerns.