The NHL and NHLPA are in the final stages of agreeing to a four-year extension of the CBA that includes an 84-game regular season, provides a solution for emergency goalies and limits player contract lengths to seven years, sources confirmed to ESPN on Thursday.
The deal could be announced as soon as Friday -- ahead of the NHL draft -- but would still need to be signed by both sides and ratified. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman gave the board of governors a detailed update at its meeting in Los Angeles on Wednesday, outlining the key issues.
The current CBA expires after the 2025-26 season. A four-year extension would carry the league and its players through September 2030.
Moving from 82 to 84 games in the regular season would shorten the preseason to a maximum of four games per team, sources told ESPN, instead of the current format of up to eight preseason games. An increased regular season would allow the NHL to keep its regular format of every team visiting an opponent once, while giving divisional rivals four games against each other every other season.
The new CBA will limit contract lengths for players to seven years, sources told ESPN. It will also eliminate deferred salary, which was bubbling up as a trend some teams were using to keep cap hits low. As of now, players can re-sign for eight years with their current team or seven years in free agency. Going forward, players can re-sign for a max of seven years with their current team and six years in free agency.
The new deal also includes revised language that would establish a new position within organizations of full-time emergency backup goaltenders -- often called EBUGs -- who can practice and travel with the team, sources told ESPN. Over the past several seasons, the system has brought hockey fantasies into reality with accountants and Zamboni drivers suiting up in NHL games.
Both sides discussed eliminating the long-term injured reserve loophole to ensure teams are salary cap compliant in the playoffs, and revised language is expected in the new CBA, sources told ESPN.
The new CBA will bring much-welcome labor peace to a league that has seen three lockouts in the past 20 years. This is the first major negotiation for Marty Walsh, the former Boston mayor and U.S. Secretary of Labor who took over as NHLPA executive director in 2023.
Walsh heavily canvassed players over the first half of last season for their input before sitting down with Bettman early this year to hash out details.
The NHL and NHLPA have already announced significant salary cap increases over the next three seasons. Sources told ESPN that the new CBA is expected to maintain a 50-50 split of hockey-related revenue between players and owners.
Daily Faceoff was the first to report that the CBA is close to being finished.