Bettman confident 'very constructive' relationship with NHLPA will lead to quick CBA

MANALAPAN, Fla. — NHL commissioner Gary Bettman emerged from two days of meetings with the league’s Board of Governors at the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa projecting confidence the league and NHL Players’ Association would hammer out a new collective bargaining agreement well in advance of the current CBA's expiry in September 2026.

The relationship between both parties seemed eternally frosty, leading to lockouts in 1994, 2004 and 2012. It appeared to be anything but warm and fuzzy in 2020, when a four-year extension of the current CBA was ratified.

But how Bettman referred to the current relationship with the PA’s leadership on Tuesday should only inspire hope a new agreement will be achieved quickly and peacefully.

“I find working with (executive director) Marty Walsh and (assistant executive director) Ron Hainsey, as does (NHL deputy commissioner) Bill (Daly), very constructive, very professional, very cordial.

“We’re not going to get ahead of ourselves and prognosticate as to what’s going to happen, but we hope to do this as quickly and as seamlessly as possible.”

Bettman reiterated formal discussions are set to begin in February, but also said discussions between both parties have been ongoing; that the league met with the PA last week and will meet with them again next week, and that there are plans to discuss bumping the salary cap up for the 2025-26 season beyond the five-per-cent threshold outlined in the current agreement.

When the commissioner was asked if moving from a $92.4-million cap to a $96-million or $97-million cap for next season would have to be sorted in a new CBA, he opened the door to the possibility it could be agreed on between the league and the PA before the new agreement is in place.

"I wouldn’t necessarily view the (negotiation of a new) CBA as the only point in time where you can make adjustments,” Bettman said. “We might decide to make an adjustment and then deal with the CBA, we might decide to make it all part of the package, and it’s a little more free-flowing and is not as structured as the question would suggest.”

We don’t have any certainty on whether they’ll agree to bump the cap up from where it’s currently supposed to go, but there’s incentive from both the owners and players to do it — particularly in a controlled manner rather than in dramatic fashion.

The players paid a fixed percentage of their earnings into escrow over the last three seasons prior to eliminating the debt owed to the owners, who initially covered revenue losses incurred over the COVID-affected seasons from 2020-2022. Sources have indicated they’re not looking for a massive bump in the 2025-26 cap if it means significant withholdings of their pay for escrow.

Meanwhile, without a reasonable bump up of some kind from $92.4 million, their current 50-50 split of hockey-related revenue with the owners could see them paid more than 100 per cent of their earnings based on the $6.6-billion revenue projection Bettman shared with the media Tuesday.

What is certain is that we’ve moved beyond just speculation of the cap increasing more than what was previously agreed to for the 2025-26 season.

“As we look at revenues, we’re going to have discussions with the Players’ Association about escrow levels and whether or not the cap can or should be tweaked a little more on an ongoing basis,” said Bettman, “but that’s something we have to really work out with the Players’ Association.”

“But we’re having those discussions,” he added.

Both he and Daly wouldn’t comment on anything else that might be on the table as the NHL and NHLPA work towards a new agreement.

They were asked about a truncated pre-season and the potential to hand the Stanley Cup out by the end of May rather than the end of June, but Bettman characterized the idea of potentially starting training camps in August as “absurd.”

“There’s a certain amount of competition that has to be played, and you need a certain amount of days to do it,” he said. “You can only squeeze it so much, and we respect the compressing of the schedule — particularly when you take breaks for the 4 Nations, or the World Cup, or the Olympics. So you just can’t say, ‘OK, it would be great to finish in May.’ You just can’t do that without there being consequences on the other side.”

Bettman also said there is plenty of opposition among owners to starting earlier and competing with the NFL’s beginning of season and Major League Baseball’s final push towards the post-season.

No active tampering investigations

Despite sending a memo about consequences for tampering to all 32 general managers in November, Bettman said the league isn’t currently investigating any tampering cases.

“I don’t like tampering, and obviously if somebody alleges tampering and it can be proven, there are consequences to that,” Bettman said. “But I’m not weighing in on any particular cases right now.

“When you have rules, you like the rules to be followed.”

Ottawa Senators owner Michael Andlauer accused the New York Rangers of “soft tampering” upon his arrival to these meetings Monday, expressing discontent at the New York Post’s report the Rangers were interested in Senators forward Brady Tkachuk.

Andlauer said no trade conversations about Tkachuk between the Rangers and Senators had been held at any point and insinuated — without outright stating — the information was leaked by the Rangers to entice Tkahcuk, who’s currently completing Year 4 of a seven-year, $57.56-million contract.

The Rangers retorted Andlauer had made “an irresponsible accusation” and said they were deferring to Bettman’s office on the matter.

When Bettman was asked about the incident Tuesday, he had no comment.

As for the NHL’s desire to clamp down on tampering, Daly told us investigations would only be initiated by the league if allegations brought to them were supported by hard proof.

Regarding the memo that went out in November, it was believed to be in response to how quickly free-agent signings were reported after free agency opened July 1.

We asked Daly if there was a push to restore the free-agent talking window — from 2013-19, NHL owners and GMs could meet with unrestricted free agents to discuss general parameters of deals without formally agreeing to them in the week leading up to July 1 — and he said it was being discussed.

If those discussions don’t go anywhere — and it’s possible they don’t, considering the players ultimately requested the free-agent talking window be eliminated — contract announcements on July 1 could trickle out considerably slower than they did last summer.

Other bits and bytes

• Our Elliotte Friedman reported the Florida Panthers are “closing in on hosting an outdoor game as early as next season” at LoanDepot Park, where the Miami Marlins baseball team plays.

• Daly said the NHL met with the International Ice Hockey Federation in November after having several discussions with European nations and leagues about the revival of the World Cup of Hockey in 2028. “Hope to hear back from them sometime before the end of the calendar year,” he said regarding next steps.

Daly also said the Olympic agreement for the 2026 Milano-Cortina Games is edging toward finalization and that the arena project in Milan is advancing on schedule, with an October 2025 completion expected and a trial tournament being scheduled for December 2026.

• Bettman reiterated the league continues to receive “expressions of interest” for expansion, but that expansion is not being discussed with the governors at present. It wasn’t on the agenda at these meetings, nor is it expected to be on the agenda at future meetings until a new CBA is in place.

Still, with future expansion fees likely to exceed $1.5 billion and perhaps reach as high as $2 billion, it’s more a question of when than if as to whether the NHL will expand. Especially with interest coming from prospective markets like Houston, Atlanta and Arizona, among other places.

• When Bettman was asked why the relationship between the NHL and NHLPA is as healthy as he’s suggesting, he responded, “I think Marty Walsh’s focus on how this relationship should work is probably a little different than we’ve experienced.”