NHL, NHLPA to begin talks on new Collective Bargaining Agreement in April

MANALAPAN, Fla. -- The NHL and NHL Players’ Association will begin collective bargaining discussions the week of April 1, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said Wednesday.

The current Collective Bargaining Agreement expires Sept. 15, 2026. Bettman, NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh and others have had casual talks already.

“I don’t think on either side we’re looking at fundamental issues,” Bettman said as he wrapped up the NHL general managers’ annual three-day meeting. “I’m anticipating based on everything I’m hearing from Marty that we’ll have good discussions, and I’m hoping we can do this quickly, quietly and painlessly.”

Bettman and Daly gathered feedback from the GMs on the CBA at the meeting.

“It’s more logistics and operations, understanding technical aspects of their day-to-day lives of dealing with players and rosters and contracts and the like,” Bettman said. “And so, we want to hear what are issues in their mind that are problems, what are things they’d like us to consider, how we might be able to jointly with the Players’ Association do better.”

NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said he won’t know how much the sides want to change until they sit down together.

“I have a list that’s multiple tens of pages long from, like, the general managers, the assistant general managers, our people internally,” Daly said. “There’s a lot of things that people want. The question is what we’re prepared to do, what they’re prepared to do and how we want to move forward.”

NHL players will participate in the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics, and the NHL and the NHLPA will bring back the World Cup of Hockey in February 2028. The plan is to have best-on-best international tournaments every two years.

Next season is scheduled to start Oct. 7. Bettman said whether future schedules start earlier or end later to accommodate best-on-best international tournaments “will depend on the circumstances the year and the overall schedule.”

Bettman said the NHL and the NHLPA should discuss whether to shorten the preseason and extend the regular season from 82 to 84 games.

“We need to take each other’s temperature and decide if that’s the right thing, so don’t be speculating that that’s an issue and we’re running off doing it,” Bettman said. “Obviously, it’s out there. You’ve been talking about it; we’ve been talking about it internally. But it doesn’t mean we’re there.”

The NHL and NHLPA will discuss Canadian Hockey League players becoming eligible to play in the NCAA starting next season. The CBA has detailed rules on how long NHL teams have to sign junior and college draft picks.

“We’ll both evaluate what the exclusive negotiating rights windows currently provide and how they attach to different players’ situations that we haven’t contemplated or anticipated before,” Daly said. “That’s just a process. There are existing rules currently, and you can apply them to the players.

“Whether that’s the right result or the perfect result, I would say it probably isn’t, so they should probably be reevaluated on some basis. I think the Players’ Association is prepared to do that, and I think we’re prepared to do that.”

The CBA talks come at a time when tariffs are an issue between Canada and the United States. The NHL operates in U.S. dollars. If the Canadian dollar declines against the U.S. dollar, that could impact NHL teams based in Canada and hockey-related revenue. That could impact the calculation of the salary cap.

“We’re hoping this is a moment in time and we get through this,” Bettman said. “I’m not weighing in politically.”

The NHL and the NHLPA announced Jan. 31 the salary cap would rise $7.5 million next season, $8.5 million in 2026-27 and $9.5 million in 2027-28, subject to the CBA being in effect beyond next season.

“If we have to make an adjustment, we will,” Bettman said. “Our hope and our expectation is we’re still on track.”

Bettman doesn’t feel the NHL should add to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Montreal Canadiens hold the second wild card in the Eastern Conference, and five teams are within four points. The Vancouver Canucks hold the second wild card in the Western Conference, and three teams are within four points.

“I like exactly what we have, and if you look at the races that we’re having for the regular season, the playoffs have started already,” he said. “We’re in our play-in tournament. I think it’s terrific.”

The Commissioner doesn’t think the NHL should go back to seeding the conferences 1 through 8, either.

“The best team to win the Cup has got to get through the best teams,” he said. “And you know what? Having great matchups in the first round, that’s terrific. That’s not a problem. That’s a great thing.”