NHL
The NHL and NHL Players’ Association agreed to an extension on their collective bargaining agreement Friday, according to league sources, which will shift the league to an 84-game schedule starting in 2026-27, among other key changes.
There will be a joint news conference on Friday at 1 p.m. Eastern, featuring NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly, and NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh and assistant executive director Ron Hainsey. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) will be signed at the news conference.
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The new deal doesn’t include major changes to the league’s financial system. The 84-game schedule will be introduced alongside a preseason shortened to four games per team, with the regular season intended to start in the last week of September.
Among the new contractual rules will be a one-year reduction on the maximum length of player contracts — down to seven years for players re-signing with their own teams prior to free agency and six for those signed in free agency. Deferred-salary contracts will also be eliminated going forward.
The new CBA will additionally include the introduction of a new playoff salary cap system to close off the LTIR loophole as well as a new provision that allows teams to carry a full-time emergency backup goalie. The league’s minimum salary will go to $1 million by the end of the agreement.
The MOU will next need to be ratified by NHL owners and the NHLPA’s membership before the CBA is finalized.
The existing deal doesn’t expire until Sept. 15, 2026. The sides began negotiating this extension in April, reporting consistent progress throughout. The new MOU guarantees labor peace until 2030.
(Photo of NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman: Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)
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