Commissioner Gary Bettman says the NHL and NHLPA will begin CBA talks in early April

MANALAPAN, Fla. (AP) — NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said Wednesday the league and the Players’ Association will sit down to begin negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement the week of April 1.

Bettman and other league officials updated general managers on the situation at their annual spring meeting this week and got their thoughts on potential CBA changes that could be considered. Unlike some more contentious situations in previous decades that led to work stoppages, there is optimism about getting a resolution done in the coming months — well before the current agreement expires in September 2026.

NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh has said he is entering talks with a positive attitude. The working relationship between the league and union is at its highest point in recent history with business booming and revenues setting records year after year.

“I don’t think on either side we’re looking at fundamental issues,” Bettman said. "I’m anticipating, based on everything I’m hearing from Marty, that we’ll have good discussions. And I’m hoping we can do this quickly, quietly and painlessly.”

Last month in Montreal at the 4 Nations Face-Off, an international tournament that showcased the NHL and NHLPA putting on an event together, Walsh pointed to hockey's immense growth as a reason for excitement.

"A lot of great things are happening," Walsh said. “There’s a lot of good momentum here. The last thing you want to do is ruin the momentum.”

Several weeks free of the 4 Nations glow and with the start of the playoffs and the chase for the Stanley Cup a month away from beginning, the sport's leading stakeholders are getting ready to get down to business.

“The Players’ Association was doing their tour and meeting with all the clubs, but casually I think we both have the sense that we should be on the same page or close to it in terms of the things we’re focused on,” Bettman said.

Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said he had a list tens of pages long of suggestions and ideas from GMs and other team and league staff and doesn’t know how negotiations will go until he, Bettman and the league speak with Walsh, assistant Ron Hainsey and the PA to go through the issues.

“There’s a lot of things that people want,” Daly said. “The question is what we’re prepared to do, what they’re prepared to do, and how we want to move forward. And until we sit down, there’s really no way for me to handicap that.”

While the league office has no appetite for adding more teams to the playoffs, one topic that could come up is expanding the regular season from 82 to 84 games and cutting down on exhibition play.

“Whether or not we want to change the preseason and the number of games in the regular season is something that we would have to discuss with the Players’ Association," Bettman said, cautioning against speculation. “It’s something that we should be discussing with the Players’ Association and a shorter preseason, and it’s something that we should discuss. But we need to take each other’s temperature and decide if it’s the right thing.”

One situation out of their control, but very important to a cross-border league with 25 franchises in the U.S. and seven in Canada, is the ongoing trade and tariff war between the countries that threatens to upend economic climates in North America and around the world.

“If the Canadian economy is impacted to the extent that the dollar declines, the Canadian dollar, vis a vis the U.S. dollar, we do everything in U.S. dollars, so that’ll have an impact potentially on our Canadian clubs and (hockey-related revenue),” Bettman said. "But we’re hoping this is a moment in time and we get through this. I’m not weighing in politically.”

The league and union have already agreed on and revealed salary cap figures for each of the next three seasons, with the ceiling going up by record amounts every year. That was early in U.S. President Donald Trump's return to the White House but before tariffs became a significant concern.

“If we have to make an adjustment, we will," Bettman said. “Our hope and our expectation is we’re still on track.”

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