NEW YORK -- The NHL and NHL Players' Association are expected to begin talks on a new collective bargaining agreement early in 2025.
"We will probably begin having more discussions with the Players' Association after the first of the year," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said at the NHL Board of Governors meeting at the Westin New York on Tuesday. "We've said that it could be as early as November, but I think everybody's still got some homework to do. You know that the union's on their fall tour, so no big deal. It's just, I think, in terms of timing, that's probably the most realistic. Which is still well, well in advance, and we think we're collectively, in terms of the relationship, in a good place."
The current agreement is set to expire September 2026.
"I don't want to speculate. If we had it done by my media avail at the Stanley Cup Final, everybody would be very happy," Bettman said. "That's not a discussion in terms of the timetable that I've had with (NHLPA Executive Director) Marty Walsh. So, I don't want to put any unfair or undiscussed parameters on it. It'll be what it'll be. But I think based on the status of our relationship, this will be fine."
Commissioner Bettman also said the NHL salary cap for next season is expected to be around $92.5 million, which would be up $4.5 million from the $88 million it is at this season, but cautioned it was "way preliminary."
When asked about the possibility of reducing the amount of preseason games and increasing the amount of regular season games, Bettman said it was "on the list of things to think about."
Bettman also said the topic of expansion "never came up in any form" at the meetings, although he did note that "there are a number of places that have expressed interest that talk to us."
The NHL added the Vegas Golden Knights and Seattle Kraken in the past seven years. Vegas won the Stanley Cup in 2023, its sixth season in the League, and the Kraken made the Stanley Cup Playoffs in their second season in 2022-23, improving by 40 points from 2021-22.
"We feel no compulsion to [expand] right now," Bettman said. "We just came off our most successful season in our history. We've got collective bargaining to deal with. We've got new media arrangements to do in Canada. If something came in and checked all the boxes, and we felt that it might make sense, we might consider it but we're not there right now."
The Board of Governors, also approved Ottawa Senators owner Michael Andlauer purchasing an additional 12 percent stake in the team from George Armoyan, and the transfer of the controlling interest in the Tampa Bay Lightning from owner Jeff Vinik to a group led by Doug Ostrover over three years.
The date for rosters to be submitted for the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off was also discussed at the meeting. NHL players from Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States will participate in the tournament, which will run from Feb. 12-20 at TD Garden in Boston and Bell Centre in Montreal.
"The date in our agreement is December 2," NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said. "We do think we might be able to move that up by a couple days. Having said that, I understand several general managers at the 4 Nations would actually want us to move it back. And I don't think that's going to happen, because I think the Players' Association have a pretty strong interest in making it as early as possible so that players can make plans. I think we're kind of penciled out at Nov. 29 to Dec. 2, type of period for the announcements.”
Daly also said teams would be able to make adjustments to their rosters if an injury occurred to a player previously named.
"You can replace players for bona fide injuries up to and including Feb. 12, and with those players that could be injury replacements be named ahead of time," Daly said. "If somebody gets a season-ending injury, you can name his replacement early."
