Bettman says NHL hopes to extend CBA with NHLPA by June, 15 months before expiration

NEW YORK — With league expansion not on the immediate horizon, the NHL has set its sights on tackling Collective Bargaining negotiations early, commissioner Gary Bettman said. Bettman informed the NHL’s Board of Governors on Tuesday that the league hopes to begin talks in January and wrap them up before the Stanley Cup Final – well before the current CBA expires in September 2026.

NHL Players’ Association executive director Marty Walsh was unavailable for comment as he was traveling to the Global Series in Prague. But sources indicated Walsh wanted to complete the union’s fall tour to take players’ temperature on their wish list and interest to start bargaining this far out before committing to a timeline.

“I think everybody’s got some homework to do,” Bettman said. “We think we’re collectively, in terms of the relationship, in a good place.”

It would be a mostly unprecedented step for these two sides to come together that early with a labor history that has seen three lockouts under Bettman’s watch. For instance, in the 2012-13 lockout that shortened the season to 48 games, the NHL and NHLPA didn’t really begin talking until one month before the CBA expired in September 2012.

The NHL came to the table then with a heavy hand, set on lowering the revenue split between players and owners. That resulted in a transfer of wealth of more than $5 billion from players to owners over the last 11 years. This time around, Bettman has signaled and said publicly that the league is not asking for “fundamental changes” to the CBA.

“My guess is, on either side, we’re not talking about fundamental changes,” Bettman said this weekend on The Varsity podcast with John Ourand. “I think we’re looking at things we’d each like to see improved in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, but I’m not concerned that we’re looking at something will take us down a road nobody wants to go down.”

That doesn’t mean it will be quick. Or easy. And just because the NHL doesn’t have its hand out this time doesn’t mean the NHLPA will not. Bettman has repeatedly said the game has never been stronger; the league hit record revenues again in 2023-24 and franchise values have skyrocketed.

The NHLPA may want a bigger piece of the pie, including on expansion. NHL players do not receive a slice of expansion fees, which are distributed to owners.

“I’m going to ask for some of it, I’ll tell you that,” Walsh told us on Frankly Speaking last November. “I’m not one to ever begrudge how much a businessman or person makes, I’m not that person. But what I am going to do is watch to make sure players get their fair share. Franchise values going up is fine with me as long as player salaries are going up as well.”

But with so much time on the clock, what if the NHL and NHLPA could reach a CBA extension and achieve meaningful labor peace without the loom or threat of a work stoppage? That might result in the biggest business boon hockey has ever seen.

“I don’t want to speculate, but if we have it done by my media availability in the Stanley Cup Final, everyone would be very happy,” Bettman said. “But that’s not a discussion in terms of the timetable that I’ve had with Marty Walsh. I don’t want to put any unfair or undiscussed parameters on it. It will be what it will be. But I think, based on the status of our relationship, this will be fine.”

Shorten the Preseason?

Unfortunate injuries occur every preseason. But it feels like both star players and burgeoning prospects have dropped like flies this preseason: Drew Doughty, Patrik Laine, David Reinbacher, Artemi Panarin, Tim Stutzle, Brady Tkachuk and on Tuesday night, No. 1 overall pick Macklin Celebrini.

Owners, teams and fans are holding their collective breath. Can we shorten the preseason already?

“Things that we might discuss in collective bargaining are best discussed in collective bargaining,” Bettman said. “We discuss lots of topics with the Players’ Association on an ongoing basis, but I don’t want to fuel any speculation on that or any other topic.”

This year, there were 106 preseason games scheduled over 15 days and 40 venues. The long-rumored belief is that the NHL will be willing to cut the preseason slate in half in exchange for adding two additional regular season games to make for an 84-game regular season.

Bettman conceded an 84-game season is “on a list of things to think about.” NHL teams played 84-game regular seasons in 1992-93 and 1993-94, stretching the first two years of Bettman’s tenure as commissioner, before the schedule dropped to 82 after the 1994-95 lockout.

No Perfect Expansion Play … Yet

Despite no shortage of speculation that the NHL will soon expand beyond 32 teams, Bettman said the topic of expansion “never came up today in any form” in the full day of meetings.

“Not in any form,” Bettman said. “It’s no different than the last time I answered the question. There are a number of places that have expressed interest, that talk to us, some on a regular basis, and that’s where we are.”

Bettman previously said the league has fielded expressions of interest from groups in Atlanta, Houston, Quebec City, Kansas City – and now Arizona is once again an open spot on the bingo card. What is clear is that the NHL feels no need to open a formal expansion process now because no potential bidder quite has all its ducks in a row. There is no NHL-ready arena in Atlanta, same as in Arizona.

“We feel no compulsion to do it right now,” Bettman said. “We just came off our most successful season in our history. We’ve got collective bargaining to deal with. We’ve got new media arrangement to do in Canada in the next couple of years. If something came in and checked all the boxes, and we felt that it might make sense, we might consider it. But we’re not there right now.”

Board Bytes

Deputy commissioner Bill Daly confirmed that 4 Nations Face-Off rosters must be submitted by Dec. 2, just 60 days away. Roster changes will be allowed in case of season-ending or tournament-impacting injuries up until the tournament begins on Feb. 12 … Bettman said the early 2025-26 salary cap upper limit projection is $92.5 million, the exact formula called upon in the current agreement…Bettman said the Board approved Ottawa Senators owner Michael Andlauer acquiring an additional 12 percent stake from a partner, as well as Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik selling a 50 percent stake and team control (in three years) to a group headed by Doug Ostrover and Mark Lipschultz … The NHL and NHLPA granted the Columbus Blue Jackets a special exemption to play under the salary cap minimum to start the season based on the tragic circumstances of forward Johnny Gaudreau’s death in late August … Daly said talks on a formal agreement for NHL players to attend the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina will continue this week in Prague and the league is satisfied with the progress of the new Olympic venue’s construction…

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Bettman says NHL hopes to extend CBA with NHLPA by June, 15 months before expiration

Shorten the Preseason?

No Perfect Expansion Play … Yet

Board Bytes

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