The National
Hockey League and the NHL Players’ Association today made official that they
have ratified a new collective bargaining agreement valid through the 2025-26
season.
Tom Gulitti,
writing on NHL.com, said that the new agreement includes, among other things, a
return to play in Toronto and Edmonton beginning on August 1.
Gulitti
quoted NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman as saying: “Today, the NHL and the NHLPA
announced a significant agreement that addresses the uncertainty everyone is
dealing with, the framework for the completion of the 2019-20 season, and the
foundation for the continued long-term growth of our league. I thank NHLPA Executive
Director Don Fehr and Special Assistant to the Executive Director Mathieu Schneider,
the more than 700 NHL players – particularly those who worked on our Return to
Play Committee – and the NHL’s Board of Governors for coming together under
extraordinary circumstances for the good of our game. While we have all worked
very hard to try to address the risks of COVID-19, we know that health and
safety are and will continue to be our priorities. We know that all of our fans
are excited about our return to the ice next month, and that has been our goal
since we paused our season on March 12.”
Fehr also thanked
“Bettman, Bill Daly and the NHL staff for their efforts towards finding
solutions to the problems we face.” He also echoed the sentiment that it is
great for the game to get back to playing and finishing the season.
Phase 3,
according to Gulitti, will begin this Monday (July 13) in qualifying teams’
local markets. Gulitti says the teams will then travel to the Edmonton and
Toronto, the two hub cities, on July 26. The Eastern Conference teams will play
out of Toronto while the Western Conference teams will be located in Edmonton.
Play in those cities will begin August 1, which begins Phase 4.
The qualifying
round will see the eight teams play a best-of-five series against their opponents,
while the top two teams in each of the four divisions will play each other in a
round-robin style mini tournament to determine seeding for them.
Once the
play-in best-of-fives are done, the playoffs will begin proper. Eastern series
will take place in Toronto and be best-of-seven and Western series will take
place in Edmonton and also be best-of-seven.
Both Conference
Finals will take place in Edmonton and be best-of-seven and the Stanley Cup Final
will also be best-of-seven in Edmonton. According to Gulitti, the Conference
Finals will begin September 8 and the Stanley Cup Final will start on September
22 “and will end no later than Oct. 4.”
The Second
Phase of the NHL Draft Lottery will be held on August 10 after the play-in best-of-fives
are over. Gulitti says that the “eight teams eliminated from the qualifiers will
have an equal chance (12.5 percent) at the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft.” Once
all of that is set, the NHL Draft will be held on October 9 and 10. Free agency
will commence once the Draft is over, although Gulitti did not specify an exact
date for that.
The CBA also
includes the NHL All-Star Game, NHL Winter Classic and NHL Stadium Series all
to be played. Also, Gulitti mentioned an “international calendar and events including
the Winter Olympics.” So, NHL players will be returning to the Olympics after
taking the 2018 PyeongChang Games off.
On the Olympics,
Gulitti said that the players will return at the 2022 Beijing Games and will be
competing at the 2026 Milano Cortina Games. This is “pending agreements being
reached with the International Ice Hockey Federation and International Olympic
Committee.”
On the financial
end of things, Gulitti reports that “the NHL salary cap will remain at $81.5
million for the 2020-21 season with provisions for it to increase incrementally
in the following seasons if hockey-related revenue reaches certain thresholds.”
For the players,
he said that “escrow (the percentage withheld from player salaries and placed
in an account used to calculate a 50-50 split of hockey-related revenue) will
be capped at 20 percent for the 2020-21 season, 14-18 percent in 2021-22, 10
percent in 2022-23, and 6 percent in 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26.” He added that
“a year will automatically be added to the CBA, through the 2026-27 season and expiring
Sept. 15, 2027, if after the 2024-25 season the players’ escrow debt exceeds $125
million but is less than $250 million.”
Other financial
notes include: players deferring “10 percent of their salaries for the 2020-21
season that will be paid out in equal installments over three seasons beginning
in 2022-23.” The playoff bonus pool will be doubled from $16 to $32 million. Gulitti
says that “the compensation to each player will increase each round.”
Minimum salary
in the NHL “will increase from $700,000 to $750,000 in 2021-22 and 2022-23, and
$775,000 in 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26.” Likewise, “the maximum entry-level salary
will increase from $925,000 for 2019, 2020 and 2021 NHL Draft picks to $950,000
for 2022 and 2023 NHL Draft picks, $975,000 for 2024 and 2025 NHL Draft picks,
and $1 million for 2026 NHL Draft picks.”
It goes
without saying that getting a new CBA in place and avoiding labor problems in
the next few years is great. Too many hockey games have been canceled in the
last 25 years or so due to lockouts (and a brief player strike in 1991-92 as
well). It is great that the NHL and the NHLPA could come to an agreement to do
away with any future problems. Getting the season restarted seems just a happy
byproduct of the whole thing.