The National Hockey League announced a new Collective Bargaining Agreement with its Players’s Association through to 2029-30. This is a good thing, because for the next five years we can discuss primarily about the games itself and the transactions involved in hockey, and less about the politics surrounding the game.
What are some of the interesting changes with the deal?
The first, is an 84 game schedule. The NHL has had this in the past. For three straight seasons from 1991-1994, the NHL had an 84 game schedule. They then returned to the 82 game schedule following the 1994-95 season when they only played 48 games due to the lockout.
The second, is guaranteed Olympic participation. This is the most exciting part of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement. Not having the National Hockey League players participating at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang and the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing significantly weakened the tournament from a skill perspective. Yes, we saw skill from Ilya Kovalchuk, Juraj Slafkovsky, Patrik Rybar, Adam Tambellini, and Kirill Kaprizov. However, the world missed out on seeing hockey’s greatest stars over the last 10 years which included Connor McDavid, Connor Hellebuyck, Nathan MacKinnon, and Leon Draisaitl. All parties, including first and foremost the National Hockey League, need to shoulder the blame, for not making this happen.
It is time to celebrate the fact the NHL is going to the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan/Cortina d’Ampezzo, and the 2030 Olympic Winter Games in the French Alps. Let’s hope all parties agree as soon as possible that the NHL will be going to the 2034 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City. Maybe this time the Olympic hockey tournament will be played in the Delta Center, rather than the 8400 ECHL venue. This was a colossal error by the Salt Lake Olympic Committee two decades ago.
The third, will be shorter contracts. Time will tell if this is a good or a bad thing. Under the new CBA, a player will have an opportunity to re-sign with their current team up to a capacity of seven years. They will also have a chance to re-sign with a different team for a maximum of six years. The lengths of these contracts have been reduced by a year. My instant reaction to this decision is why? Why is it so important to make a change here?
The 2025-26 NHL season resumes in October. It will be good to discuss what is happening on the ice than the board room.
