The NHL’s collective bargaining agreement does not expire until Sept. 15, 2026. That discussions are set to begin on a new deal in early 2025 is already one step ahead of where hockey has been in labor negotiations in the past.
Commissioner Gary Bettman earlier this week said he expects talks with the NHL Players’ Association to begin in February, around the time stakeholders are together for the 4 Nations Face-Off that stands as the latest example of collaboration in the sport.
Both sides have issues to broach and changes they want, but the trajectory of the league combined with the strong working relationship between Bettman and union executive director Marty Walsh means there is reason for optimism in a sport that has had three labor stoppages in the past three decades.
Bettman is in the midst of canvassing owners and general managers and Walsh his membership of over 700 players to figure out the issues that are most important to them.
The salary cap system and 50/50 split of revenue that has been in place are not likely to change, and there is already an agreement in place to send NHL players to the Olympics in 2026 and 2030. That leaves a handful of topics to go over.
What are the issues?
After previous negotiations centered on how to share money, owners and players have shifted their focus to growing the revenue available to all. Revenues are setting records each season thanks to new U.S. media rights deals, with another coming to Canada in ’26, and fresh sources of income like the 4 Nations event, jersey and helmet advertisements and a series of sponsorship agreements.
Points of contention
Expansion fees have gone entirely to owners, including $500 million when Vegas joined and $650 million from Seattle. Bettman has said there are no current plans to expand beyond 32 teams, but it is no secret there is interest from ownership groups in Atlantaand elsewhere, and whether that counts as hockey-related revenue – which is shared with players – could be a talking point.
The salary cap
Hockey-related revenue, which includes ticket sales, TV money and more, is what determines the salary cap. After remaining flat and increasing minimally out of the pandemic, the cap for each team is now $88 million, with $92.5 million projected for next season.
With more revenue coming in, there is debate over whether players want to push for a quicker increase in the cap, which would boost salaries for players across the league.
“I like smooth and steady,” Bettman said Sunday in Boston. “No discussions yet, so when I say smooth and steady, that doesn’t mean I have any numbers in mind and it doesn’t mean the cap couldn’t conceivably go up faster, but we’re not anywhere near to having anything like a substantive discussion on that.”
Walsh said players would love to see the cap go up because “it lifts everyone up.”
“It’s not just talking about the top, marquee players,” Walsh said. “It’s talking about there’ll be opportunities for all other players to increase, as well. And I think that’s important about the cap going up, and it’s important for the revenue.”
The 2020 CBA extension included caps on the escrow kept from players’ paychecks to even out the 50/50 split. Something like that is expected to continue as discussions heat up.
“It’s just deciding what things are important to you, what things you’d like to maybe be different,” Washington Capitals alternate player representative Trevor van Riemsdyk said Monday. “That’s a tough thing about all this is not everyone’s in the same position. Some guys are in the midst of long deals, some guys are looking to get new deals, so you’re going want different things.”
From a league perspective, long-term injured reserve rules and how much money teams are spending over the cap may be among the tweaks requested. Player pensions, medical care and who gets the final say on surgeries and the schedule that has a protracted preseason and hockey until late June could come up from the union side.
Why so hopeful?
The NHL, like other professional leagues, has a history of work stoppages. The 2004-05 lockout wiped out an entire season, and talks in 2012-13 pushed the start until January.
It is hard to envision that sort of trouble this time around. The early start has led to some speculation that a new agreement could be done by late spring or early summer – more than a year before the deadline.
Bettman said Walsh, a former federal labor secretary and before that mayor of Boston, “has a very professional, sophisticated approach” and understands that “everybody does better when you collaborate.”
“That doesn’t mean you don’t fiercely represent your constituents, but you pick and choose the things that are important – and the places where you can work together, you should for the greater good,” Bettman said. “He gets that better than anybody I’ve ever seen.”
This will be Walsh’s first CBA negotiation. Don Fehr, known for his long run heading the Major League Baseball Players Association, was the union’s executive director for the 2012-13 and 2020 talks, and before that it was Bob Goodenow in 2004-05.
“Marty obviously has a ton of experience working with unions,” van Riemsdyk said. “He’s a hard-nosed guy, he worked in Boston and we have the utmost confidence in him and his ability to portray to the owners what’s most important to the players.”
Walsh said hockey has been in a transition period far enough away from bargaining talks to not have it be a day-to-day focus, and Bettman has warned against setting any sort of artificial timeline for a new deal.
The NHL is also in a strong place given the quality of the game on the ice and business booming around it. It does not benefit anyone to halt that momentum.
“You’ve had probably the greatest financial year, greatest gate year, one of the greatest if not the greatest TV year as far as audience,” Walsh said. “Going into collective bargaining, that’s a good place to be.”
Ex-Wing Hronek out 8 weeks
Former Red Wings defenceman Filip Hronek will miss approximately eight weeks following a successful procedure on his lower body, Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin announced on Tuesday.
The 27-year-old Hornek, who signed an eight-year, $58 million extension with the team this past off-season, had one goal and eight assists in 21 games for Vancouver.
Hronek suffered the injury in the final minute of a loss to the Penguins last week. He went shoulder-first into the end boards after a hit from defenceman Jack St. Ivany. He left the ice and was favouring his right shoulder. It is unclear when the lower-body ailment occurred.
“I think when you play in this league long enough, whether it’s as a player or as a coach, you’re going to have adversity and you’ve got to come together as a group,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said Friday.
“It’s a committee thing. You can’t take it upon yourself as an individual to take over the team type of thing.”
Tuesday’s NHL games
▶ St. Louis 4, (at) Winnipeg 1: Jordan Kyrou scored twice and Dylan Holloway had a goal and assist to help lift the Blues to victory over the Jets.
Robert Thomas also had an empty-net goal for the Blues, who are on a four-game point streak. Joel Hofer made 22 saves for St. Louis, and Connor Hellebuyck stopped 28-of-31 shots.
Mark Scheifele was the lone goal-scorer for the Jets, who have lost four consecutive games and are 1-5-0 in their past six.
▶ (At) Minnesota 3, Vancouver 2 (OT): Kirill Kaprizov scored with 23.4 seconds left in overtime and the Wild rallied for their sixth victory in eight games.
Frederick Gaudreau and Jake Middleton also scored for Minnesota, and Filip Gustavsson made 30 saves. The Wild improved to 17-4-4, giving them an NHL-best 38 points.
Quinn Hughes and Jake DeBrusk scored for Vancouver, and Elias Pettersson had two assists. Kevin Lankinen made 26 saves but lost for the first time in 11 road starts.
▶ Colorado 5, (at) Buffalo 4: Artturi Lehkonen scored with 4:22 left, and the Avalanche overcame a four-goal deficit to beat the Sabres.
Nathan MacKinnon scored twice and added an assist as the Avalanche scored four third-period goals. Joel Kiviranta and Logan O’Connor also scored. Backup goalie Scott Wedgewood stopped all 22 shots he faced taking over after starter Alexander Georgiev allowed four goals on eight shots in the first 11:49.
Tage Thompson scored twice for Buffalo, which is 0-3-1 in its last four. JJ Peterka and Beck Malenstyn also scored and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen allowed five goals on 43 shots.
▶ San Jose 2, (at) Washington 1 (OT): William Eklund scored 39 seconds into overtime, Mackenzie Blackwood made 27 saves and San Jose ended Washington’s winning streak at four by beating them.
The Capitals fell to 4-2-1 since captain and leading goal-scorer Alex Ovechkin was sidelined by a broken left fibula. They fell behind early and failed to make it five comeback victories in a row, despite Logan Thompson making 29 saves and Nic Dowd scoring his seventh goal of the season.
Rookie Macklin Celebrini picked up the secondary assist on Eklund’s OT winner to extend his point streak to five games. The top pick in the draft has four goals and four assists during this stretch.
▶ (At) Montreal 2, N.Y. Islanders 1 (OT): Patrik Laine scored in his highly anticipated Montreal debut, Nick Suzuki scored in overtime, and they beat New York.
Laine, playing his first regular-season game in nearly a year, opened the scoring on the power play 7:23 into the second period. Suzuki scored at 2:39 of overtime, following up his own rebound. Sam Montembeault stopped 30 shots.
Anders Lee scored for New York, which lost for the fourth time in its last five games. Ilya Sorokin made 25 saves.
▶ Seattle 4, (at) Carolina 2: Yanni Gourde and Jaden Schwartz had a goal and an assist each and Seattle snapped a three-game skid, beating Carolina.
Gourde’s wrist shot at 10:48 in the third period broke a 2-2 tie. Brandon Tanev and Eeli Tolvanen also scored for Seattle and Matty Beniers added two assists. Joey Daccord stopped 15 shots.
Eric Robinson and Martin Necas scored for the Hurricanes, who lost their third straight. Necas added an assist to improve his team-leading point total to 39. The Hurricanes finished with a season-low 16 shots. Pyotr Kochetkov made 24 saves in his first start after missing four games with a concussion.
▶ (At) Pittsburgh 5, Florida 4 (OT): Bryan Rust (Novi) scored 1:31 into overtime and Pittsburgh avoided another late collapse by beating Florida.
The Penguins let a three-goal third-period lead evaporate when Florida’s Sam Bennett, Adam Boqvist and Matthew Tkachuk scored within a 4:32 span to pull the Panthers even at 4.
Rookie defenseman Owen Pickering scored the first goal of his career for the Penguins, and Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Marcus Pettersson also scored for Pittsburgh. Tristan Jarry made 37 saves.
17-year-old player dies
A 17-year-old hockey player collapsed during a charity game in New York and later died, authorities said.
Connor Kasin, a senior at Massapequa High School on Long Island, lost consciousness during a game Saturday night benefiting a foundation that was set up by the parents of another area teen, 19-year-old Sabrina Navaretta, who died in an April 2023 car crash.
The Nassau County Police Department said in a news release that people at the skating rink in Bethpage, New York, were performing CPR when officers and medics arrived.
Kasin was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. A police spokesperson said Monday that no information on his cause of death was available.
Massapequa High School announced Kasin’s death in a letter to students and families, the New York Post reported.
“It is heartbreaking to report that Connor did not survive. His passing is devastating to the Massapequa community, and we offer our deepest condolences to Connor’s family and friends,” the letter says.
The New York Islanders High School Hockey League, which organizes high school hockey competitions for Long Island schools, canceled all games scheduled for Sunday out of respect for Kasin’s family.
Michigan-area hockey schedule
Tuesday
Bruins 3, Red Wings 2 (OT)
Thursday
Red Wings at Senators, 7
Friday
Chicago at Grand Rapids, 7
Michigan at Minnesota, 9
Michigan State at Wisconsin, 8
Denver at Western Michigan, 7
Ferris State at Northern Michigan, 7
St. Thomas at Michigan Tech, 7
Cedar Rapids at NTDP U18, 7
Michigan women at Minnesota, 9
Saturday
Avalanche at Red Wings, 7
Grand Rapids at Chicago, 8
Michigan at Minnesota, 7
Michigan State at Wisconsin, 8
Denver at Western Michigan, 6
Ferris State at Northern Michigan, 6
St. Thomas at Michigan Tech, 6
Cedar Rapids at NTDP U18, 7
Michigan women at Minnesota, 7
Sunday
Grand Rapids at Chicago, 4
