Latest news with #collectivebargaining
New York Times
7 hours ago
- Business
- New York Times
Exclusive: What's in the new NHL CBA? Digging into the memorandum of understanding
The NHL will introduce a playoff salary cap as part of the collective bargaining agreement extension it signed with the NHL Players' Association on Friday, league sources told The Athletic. The four-year extension, which must still be ratified in separate votes by the owners and players and won't go into effect until the 2026-27 season, calls for the creation of two rules to curb the use of the long-term injury exception to the salary cap in instances where an injured player returns for the playoffs. Advertisement The first will place limitations on the extra cap space a team will receive when a player goes on LTIR during the regular season. Teams will only be allowed to exceed the cap by an amount equal to the prior season's average salary — unless the NHL and NHLPA approve the full amount, which will only happen when there is no doubt the player will miss the entire remainder of the season, including the playoffs. The second will see a cap introduced during the playoffs that will apply only to the 20 players suiting up for each game. Teams will be able to shuffle their rosters between games. In the event the playoff cap has unintended consequences, the NHL and NHLPA have the right to reopen the agreement on this issue. Here are some of the other key points included in the CBA extension, based on a summary of the memorandum of understanding obtained by The Athletic. The NHL regular season will be increased from 82 to 84 games starting with the 2026-27 season. To accommodate this increase, training camp will be shortened from 21 days to 13 — 18 for rookies — with one day off during the first week. Each team will be limited to four exhibition games, and players with 100 or more career NHL games (including games dressed for goaltenders) will be capped at two exhibition games. The current idea is to start the regular season in late September and have the Stanley Cup awarded by June 21, according to league sources. The two extra games added in the regular season will be divisional games. The NHL's minimum salary will jump each season of the new agreement from its current level of $775,000. The new minimums will be as follows: Salary retention will still be allowed in trades, but with an interesting tweak: A second retention on the same contract can only happen 75 regular-season days after the first one, which nixes the use of a third-party broker in real time as has been seen in numerous instances at recent trade deadlines. Advertisement The players' playoff fund is set to take a significant jump from its current level of $24 million during the next CBA, with the league paying the entirety of the amounts off-share (i.e. it won't come out of shared hockey-releated revenue). The fund will grow as follows: Teams will no longer be allowed to implement a dress code for players. Instead, there will be a leaguewide dress code requiring only that players dress in a manner consistent with 'contemporary fashion norms.' Neck protection will become mandatory for all players entering the league starting with the 2026-27 season, with a minimum protection level of A5. Players with at least one NHL game will be grandfathered and will not be subject to the rule. Teams will be allowed to employ a permanent emergency backup goaltender who will travel with the club. The maximum term of contracts will be reduced by one year, with a contract capped at seven years if a player re-signs with his existing club before reaching free agency and six years if he signs with a new club. The existing agreement allowing players to participate in the Olympics will be extended to cover the 2030 Games in the French Alps. When a player seeks a second medical opinion and the second opinion doctor and team doctor disagree on diagnosis and/or treatment, the two doctors will now select a third doctor to help resolve the dispute. The team must give due consideration to the opinion of the third expert prior to determining the final course of treatment and must also pay the reasonable costs of the third doctor. The NHL and NHLPA will establish a retired players emergency healthcare and wellness fund. Advertisement The NHL will contribute $4 million annually to the fund. Players will no longer be prohibited from endorsing wine and spirits. Fitness testing will no longer be permitted during training camp or the regular season. A small change to NHL bye weeks: Waiver-exempt players who have played in at least 15 of their team's past 20 games before the beginning of a bye week will be entitled to the time off at NHL salary and benefit levels so long as they are not loaned to the minors prior to the team's fourth-to-last game before its break. The variability rules for front-loaded contracts will change as follows: Year-over-year increases will be limited to 20 percent of the first year, down from 25 percent. And the lowest year of the contract must be at least 71 percent of the highest year, up from 60 percent previously. For example, if the highest year's compensation is $10 million, the lowest year's compensation cannot be less than $7.1 million. And the year-to-year differences cannot exceed $2 million. The NHL is eliminating 'paper loans,' which occurred when players were assigned to the AHL on paper only and never had to report to the minor-league club. That practice reduced the players' compensation because they were paid at the AHL rate for the days that they were on loan. The CBA extension requires that a loaned player play in one minor league game before being recalled. There will be standardized retention periods for drafted players based on their age that no longer account for whether they are selected from the CHL, Europe or NCAA. For those selected at age 18, teams will retain their rights until the fourth June 1 after they were drafted. For players drafted at age 19 or above, teams will retain their rights until the third June 1 after they were drafted. Advertisement The only exception to these rules is for players in the NCAA at the time of expiration. Their rights will be extended until 30 days after notifying NHL they are no longer playing college hockey. In the current CBA, European players aged 25 to 27 are required to sign entry-level contracts. That will no longer be the case under the new rules. European players that age will now be treated the same as all other players. As previously reported, deferred payments in contracts will no longer be allowed. For example, the $2 million deferred bonus payment in John Tavares' new contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs would no longer be allowed starting in 2026-27. But Tavares is fine, as his deal was signed under the existing rules. Same for other players who have already signed deferred payment contracts, such as the Anaheim Ducks' Frank Vatrano, the Maple Leafs' Jake McCabe, and the Carolina Hurricanes' Seth Jarvis and Jaccob Slavin. Among the wins for the players is the fact that owners will now completely cover payments for workers' compensation and employer payroll taxes. Under the proposed CBA, the $70 million annual cost will be completely removed from the players' share of revenues and become the responsibility of the owners. (Top photo of NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
Globe and Mail
9 hours ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
An 84-game season among changes coming to NHL as part of new labour deal
An 84-game season is coming to the NHL as part of an extension of the collective bargaining agreement that has been tentatively agreed to by the league and the Players' Association. They announced a memorandum of understanding Friday in Los Angeles before the first round of the draft. It still needs to be ratified by the Board of Governors and the full NHLPA membership. Two games are being added to to the regular season, the maximum length of contracts players can sign is being shortened and a salary cap will be implemented in the playoffs for the first time, two people told The Associated Press on Thursday. The NHL and NHLPA began negotiations in earnest this spring after agreeing at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February to jointly hold a World Cup of Hockey in 2028. With revenue breaking records annually and the cap increasing exponentially in the coming years, Commissioner Gary Bettman and union executive director Marty Walsh voiced optimism about reaching an agreement quickly. There were no disagreements on a host of major issues like in previous bargaining talks. 'There's been tremendous growth, and what's ahead is spectacular on many fronts,' said Toronto's John Tavares, who's going into his 17th season. 'The predictability of things goes a long way, I think, for everyone in the sport. It's great to have that partnership and how collaborative it's been, which has been very different from 2012. It's great to see and happy that the growth of the game and the sport and the business side of it is all kind of in sync and in synergy and we're able to kind of continue to build off the many great things over the last few years.' Tavares takes hefty pay cut to return to Maple Leafs on four-year deal The extension through 2030 provides the sport extended labor peace since the last lockout in 2012-13, which shortened that season to 48 games. Here is what is changing: Going from 82 to 84 games beginning in 2026-27 – making the season 1,344 total games – is also expected to include a reduction in exhibition play, to four games apiece for the 32 teams. The additions would be played within divisions, evening out the schedule to ensure four showdowns each season between rivals like Toronto and Boston, Dallas and Colorado and Washington and Pittsburgh. Currently, there is a rotation that has some division opponents facing off only three times a season. That imbalance is coming to an end, and this is not the first time the NHL has had an 84-game season. The league experimented with that in 1992-93 and '93-94, when each team added a pair of neutral site games. Since 2013, players have been able to re-sign with their own team for up to eight years and sign with another for up to seven years. Under the new CBA, each would be reduced by a year, to seven for re-signing and six for changing teams. Top players, given the injury risks in the sport, have preferred the longest contracts possible. The same goes for general managers, eager to keep talent in the fold as long as possible. Nathan MacKinnon, Sebastian Aho, Leon Draisaitl, Juuse Saros, Travis Konecny, Mathew Barzal and, as recently as March, Mikko Rantanen are all among the top players who have signed lucrative eight-year deals. Leafs prepare for life without Marner as draft, free agency approach 'I guess that could be a rarity now,' said Trent Frederic, who on Friday signed an eight-year contract to remain with the Oilers. 'Eight years is better than seven. It's good to lock in before that changes.' But with the salary cap getting its biggest increases season by season over the next three years, the thinking had already begun to change. Auston Matthews re-signed for only four years with Toronto last summer, and Connor McDavid could also opt for a short-term contract extension with Edmonton. Currently, teams with players on long-term injured reserve can exceed the salary cap by roughly the amount of the players' salaries until the playoffs begin. Several times over the past decade, Stanley Cup contenders have used LTIR to activate players at the start of or early in the playoffs after they missed some or all of the regular season. Florida did so with Matthew Tkachuk before winning the second of back-to-back titles, Vegas has done it with Mark Stone on multiple occasions, Tampa Bay with Nikita Kucherov and Chicago with Patrick Kane. The rule has been criticized as an unfair loophole, a way to stockpile talent and then add even more for the postseason. After he and Carolina were eliminated by the Lightning in 2021, Dougie Hamilton quipped that the Hurricanes 'lost to a team that's $18 million over the cap.' Tampa Bay went back to back, and players wore T-shirts with that saying on it during their Cup celebration. That will no longer be possible, though it's not exactly clear how it will work. There are some other changes in store, too: The league will standardize draft pick rights until players turn 22, clear the way for full-time emergency traveling goaltenders and will stop teams to instituting a dress code for players, according to a person familiar with the CBA who spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Friday because details of the agreement were not being released. Teams have been able to hold the rights to juniors players for two or three years, depending on their age, and for college players for four years; now those rights will be held until a player is 22. The change comes at a time when the NHL developmental pipeline is in flux after the NCAA decided that juniors players can be eligible to play U.S. college hockey. As the OHL hopes for another top NHL pick, Canada's junior hockey landscape faces change 'That would make a little more sense for development,' Washington Capitals assistant general manager Ross Mahoney said. 'An example would be you would take a player out of the CHL, maybe he plays as an 18-, 19-year-old and now you want to sign him, but maybe he's not quite ready for the (minors). So is it better to have him in (the American Hockey League) and have him healthy-scratched for a third of the games, or is it better for him to go play at North Dakota for two years and then sign?' Emergency backup goalies, the beloved 'EBUGs,' will soon be a thing of the past, years after the likes of David Ayres and Scott Foster went into games and won after a team's two roster netminders were injured. Each team will be able to keep an extra goaltender around to practice with and enter a game, rather than having a beer league replacement on standby. The fashion walk — most are familiar with videos and photos of well-dressed players walking into arenas before games — will also change as one of hockey's older traditions goes by the wayside. Some teams have done away with requiring suits for players, instead going to warmup jackets and sweatpants, but now players can choose their own looks.
National Post
10 hours ago
- Business
- National Post
What the National Hockey League's CBA extension means for Canada's teams
The National Hockey League and NHL Players' Association have decided to give labour peace another chance. Article content Before the first round of the NHL draft was held Friday night at the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles, commissioner Gary Bettman and Marty Walsh, the executive director of the union, held a news conference to announce a four-year extension of the collective bargaining agreement. Article content Article content Article content The deal needs to be ratified by the NHL's board of governors and the members of the NHLPA. The players will begin voting next week, and the board of governors saw most of the details during a meeting last Wednesday in Los Angeles. Article content The current agreement will expire in Sept. 2026. The new deal ensures members of the NHL and the fans that there is no chance of labour uncertainty until 2030. The NHL has had several work stoppages, including the 2004-05 lockout that wiped out the whole season. Article content The most recent lockout was in 2012-13. Article content 'This was a very thorough, constructive and professional process, and I think that bodes very well for the future of the game and the relationship between the players and the league going forward again, while we have an understanding and agreement,' Bettman said on Friday. Article content Walsh echoed those sentiments. Article content 'The process for us now is to take this agreement to the entire membership for ratification; we're going to do that over the next week or so,' Walsh said. 'I'm happy with the process. Hopefully, the players will be happy with the outcome.' Article content So, what does this mean for hockey fans in Canada? Article content All teams will have to be cap-compliant for the playoffs, which will help even the playing field. Article content THE ALMIGHTY DOLLAR Article content The cap will rise significantly over the next three seasons, which will make life more challenging for small-market teams in places such as Ottawa and Winnipeg in a league where the salaries are paid in U.S. dollars. Article content This year, teams can spend up to $95.5 million US, but in 2026-27, that number will rise to $104 million. It will go up to $113 million in 2027-28. Article content If Winnipeg and Ottawa want to spend up to the cap in 2027-29, it will cost the seven clubs north of the border $154 million in Canadian currency, based on the current exchange rate. Article content 'What we were trying to do was catch up after a number of years of a flat cap, and so we were trying to do that on an orderly basis,' Bettman said of releasing salary projections for three seasons. Article content 'Over the years, our projections have been pretty good, and while we can always agree to make adjustments if circumstances warrant, we think the projections that we made and the caps that we put in place for the next three years are where they should be.'
CNA
13 hours ago
- Business
- CNA
NHL, NHLPA reach terms on labor pact that goes through 2029-30 season
The National Hockey League and union representing its players announced on Friday that they have agreed to a four-year extension of the collective bargaining agreement that will carry through the 2029-30 season. The two parties, who made the announcement during a joint news conference, signed a memorandum of understanding and the deal requires ratification from both NHL owners and the NHL Players' Association membership. "We can all look forward to at least five years more of labor peace of the Players' Association and the NHL working together," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters ahead of the 2025 NHL Draft in Los Angeles. "While we didn't agree on everything, we had a very constructive, professional, collaborative collective bargaining process, which I think you all know started (at the) end of March and April. The current CBA, which was signed in 2013 with a four-year extension ratified in 2020, expires in September 2026. Among the changes that have been reported is the regular season expanding to 84 games per team from 82 while the pre-season drops to four games from six per team. Reaching an agreement well before the current CBA expires is a welcome sign for a league that has experienced three lockouts in the last 30 years. "We thought that it would be good to get this conversation moving," said NHLPA Executive Director Marty Walsh, a former U.S. Labor Secretary who took on his current role in February 2023. "The process for us now is to take this agreement to the entire membership for ratification; we're going to do that over the next week or so.
Reuters
13 hours ago
- Business
- Reuters
NHL, NHLPA reach terms on labor pact that goes through 2029-30 season
June 27 (Reuters) - The National Hockey League and union representing its players announced on Friday that they have agreed to a four-year extension of the collective bargaining agreement that will carry through the 2029-30 season. The two parties, who made the announcement during a joint news conference, signed a memorandum of understanding and the deal requires ratification from both NHL owners and the NHL Players' Association membership. "We can all look forward to at least five years more of labor peace of the Players' Association and the NHL working together," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters ahead of the 2025 NHL Draft in Los Angeles. "While we didn't agree on everything, we had a very constructive, professional, collaborative collective bargaining process, which I think you all know started (at the) end of March and April. The current CBA, which was signed in 2013 with a four-year extension ratified in 2020, expires in September 2026. Among the changes that have been reported is the regular season expanding to 84 games per team from 82 while the pre-season drops to four games from six per team. Reaching an agreement well before the current CBA expires is a welcome sign for a league that has experienced three lockouts in the last 30 years. "We thought that it would be good to get this conversation moving," said NHLPA Executive Director Marty Walsh, a former U.S. Labor Secretary who took on his current role in February 2023. "The process for us now is to take this agreement to the entire membership for ratification; we're going to do that over the next week or so. "I'm happy with the process. Hopefully, the players will be happy with the outcome."
