NHL
The NHL will introduce a playoff salary cap as part of the collective bargaining agreement extension it signed with the NHL Players’ Association on Friday, league sources told The Athletic.
The four-year extension, which must still be ratified in separate votes by the owners and players and won’t go into effect until the 2026-27 season, calls for the creation of two rules to curb the use of the long-term injury exception to the salary cap in instances where an injured player returns for the playoffs.
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The first will place limitations on the extra cap space a team will receive when a player goes on LTIR during the regular season. Teams will only be allowed to exceed the cap by an amount equal to the prior season’s average salary — unless the NHL and NHLPA approve the full amount, which will only happen when there is no doubt the player will miss the entire remainder of the season, including the playoffs.
The second will see a cap introduced during the playoffs that will apply only to the 20 players suiting up for each game. Teams will be able to shuffle their rosters between games.
In the event the playoff cap has unintended consequences, the NHL and NHLPA have the right to reopen the agreement on this issue.
Here are some of the other key points included in the CBA extension, based on a summary of the memorandum of understanding obtained by The Athletic.
The NHL regular season will be increased from 82 to 84 games starting with the 2026-27 season.
To accommodate this increase, training camp will be shortened from 21 days to 13 — 18 for rookies — with one day off during the first week. Each team will be limited to four exhibition games, and players with 100 or more career NHL games (including games dressed for goaltenders) will be capped at two exhibition games.
The current idea is to start the regular season in late September and have the Stanley Cup awarded by June 21, according to league sources. The two extra games added in the regular season will be divisional games.
The NHL’s minimum salary will jump each season of the new agreement from its current level of $775,000. The new minimums will be as follows:
Salary retention will still be allowed in trades, but with an interesting tweak: A second retention on the same contract can only happen 75 regular-season days after the first one, which nixes the use of a third-party broker in real time as has been seen in numerous instances at recent trade deadlines.
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The players’ playoff fund is set to take a significant jump from its current level of $24 million during the next CBA, with the league paying the entirety of the amounts off-share (i.e., it won’t come out of shared hockey-related revenue).
The fund will grow as follows:
Teams will no longer be allowed to implement a dress code for players. Instead, there will be a league-wide dress code requiring only that players dress in a manner consistent with “contemporary fashion norms.”
Neck protection will become mandatory for all players entering the league starting with the 2026-27 season, with a minimum protection level of A5.
Players with at least one NHL game will be grandfathered and will not be subject to the rule.
Teams will be allowed to employ a permanent emergency backup goaltender who will travel with the club.
The maximum term of contracts will be reduced by one year, with a contract capped at seven years if a player re-signs with his existing club before reaching free agency and six years if he signs with a new club.
The existing agreement allowing players to participate in the Olympics will be extended to cover the 2030 Games in the French Alps.
When a player seeks a second medical opinion and the second opinion doctor and team doctor disagree on diagnosis and/or treatment, the two doctors will now select a third doctor to help resolve the dispute.
The team must give due consideration to the opinion of the third expert prior to determining the final course of treatment and must also pay the reasonable costs of the third doctor.
The NHL and NHLPA will establish a retired players emergency healthcare and wellness fund.
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The NHL will contribute $4 million annually to the fund.
Players will no longer be prohibited from endorsing wine and spirits.
Fitness testing will no longer be permitted during training camp or the regular season.
A small change to NHL bye weeks: Waiver-exempt players who have played in at least 15 of their team’s past 20 games before the beginning of a bye week will be entitled to the time off at NHL salary and benefit levels so long as they are not loaned to the minors prior to the team’s fourth-to-last game before its break.
The variability rules for front-loaded contracts will change as follows: Year-over-year increases will be limited to 20 percent of the first year, down from 25 percent. And the lowest year of the contract must be at least 71 percent of the highest year, up from 60 percent previously.
For example, if the highest year’s compensation is $10 million, the lowest year’s compensation cannot be less than $7.1 million. And the year-to-year differences cannot exceed $2 million.
The NHL is eliminating “paper loans,” which occurred when players were assigned to the AHL on paper only and never had to report to the minor-league club.
That practice reduced the players’ compensation because they were paid at the AHL rate for the days they were on loan.
The CBA extension requires that a loaned player play in one minor league game before being recalled.
There will be standardized retention periods for drafted players based on their age that no longer account for whether they are selected from the CHL, Europe or NCAA.
For those selected at age 18, teams will retain their rights until the fourth June 1 after they were drafted. For players drafted at age 19 or above, teams will retain their rights until the third June 1 after they were drafted.
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The only exception to these rules is for players in the NCAA at the time of expiration. Their rights will be extended until 30 days after notifying NHL they are no longer playing college hockey.
In the current CBA, European players aged 25 to 27 are required to sign entry-level contracts. That will no longer be the case under the new rules. European players that age will now be treated the same as all other players.
As previously reported, deferred payments in contracts will no longer be allowed.
For example, the $2 million deferred bonus payment in John Tavares’ new contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs would no longer be allowed starting in 2026-27. But Tavares is fine, as his deal was signed under the existing rules. Same for other players who have already signed deferred payment contracts, such as the Anaheim Ducks’ Frank Vatrano, the Maple Leafs’ Jake McCabe, and the Carolina Hurricanes’ Seth Jarvis and Jaccob Slavin.
Among the wins for the players is the fact that owners will now completely cover payments for workers’ compensation and employer payroll taxes. Under the proposed CBA, the $70 million annual cost will be completely removed from the players’ share of revenues and become the responsibility of the owners.
(Top photo of NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
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