Gary Bettman Drops New Update on NHL CBA Negotiations, per Elliotte Friedman

The NHL and their Player's Association always try their best to be in sync with each other. While it doesn't always work out, the league wants to make as much money as possible, while the NHLPA wants to make sure its players are not only protected, but properly rewarded for their efforts.

The CBA is set to expire in September of 2026, and while that's still a bit of a ways away, that will creep up a lot quicker than people anticipate.

So it's very unsurprising to see that Gary Bettman wants to take the bull by the horns and get things sorted out, which has led to the news that the NHL and NHLPA will come together to start talks on a new deal.

It's no April Fools Joke either, and will hopefully get a new CBA in place for the next decade or so.

The news was announced by NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman, who also went into more detail regarding what exactly might be going on.

There's a whole bunch of information, so let's try and break it down a bit easier.

There are several things that both the NHL and the NHLPA want to accomplish. It was announced the 2025-26 season starts on October 7, which is fairly standard. The League is also not in favor of extending the 3-on-3 OT period and remains confident in their current sudden death structure.

The biggest thing that may need a lot of retooling is the NHL All-Star Game. After the rousing success of the 4 Nations Face-Off, Friedman noted that they may need to go back to the drawing board in order not to fall flat; and may be making some big changes too.

You can't argue with the numbers and ratings the tournament did, and the NHL is a business after all. The ASG has not been anything worthwhile in over a decade, and finding a new way to honour your players while making as much money as possible is pretty much Bettman's only goal.

Plus, the main goal according to Friedman is how to best showcase the players, considering they are headed off to the Olympics right after the event.

Also, according to Pierre LeBrun, the NHL will not be adjusting its playoff format and revert to the old style (1v8, 2v7 etc.) and prefers the current structure.

While there's surely going to be a number of different factors, and these are all preliminary talks with nothing set in stone yet (except perhaps the start date).

It's something to keep an eye on, as a lot of the NHL's future reputation lies on whether or not the two sides can come together amicably.

We don't need another 2004-2005 season on our hands.