The Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) is a contract between the NHL and the NHLPA (National Hockey League Players' Association) that governs all aspects of how the league and its players operate. A new CBA started on September 16th, 2026 and expires on September 15th, 2030.

NOTABLE CHANGES FOR THE 2026-27 SEASON

Effective September 16th, 2026.

CONTRACT TERM LIMITS

New contracts are now limited to 6 years for players signing with new teams, and 7 years for players who are re-signing with their current team.

SIGN AND TRADE LIMITATIONS

For players to sign a 7 year contract, they must be on their new team by the trade deadline the year prior.

This closes the ability for teams to do a sign-and-trade right before free agency opens to get the extra year. In the past, teams would sign a player to the 8-year maximum, then trade them to the acquiring team to jump the line when free agency opens, and to get the player an extra year on their contract.

Example:

Alex Tuch was signed for 8 years, then traded from Buffalo to Washington for a 3rd round pick and David Kampf. You can see Alex Tuch's trade tree here.

84 GAME SCHEDULE

The regular season has been extended from 82 games to 84 games. Divisional rivals are now guaranteed to meet 4 times.

Players were happy to agree to two more regular season games in the expectation that it will increase their salaries over time. It is also relevant to note that teams will play 2 less pre-season games; they are essentially playing the same amount of hockey, but for more money.

PRESEASON

There have been some changes to pre-season length and player requirements:

• Teams will now play a minimum of 4 pre-season games, down from a minimum of 6.
• Pre-season rosters must include 8+ "veteran players".
  • A "veteran player" is qualified by playing 100+ NHL games.
• Veteran players play a maximum of 2 pre-season games. Each game requires 8 veterans dressed.
  • Teams may choose to play an extra pre-season game by doing a split-squad game.
  • If a team plays a 5th pre-season game, veterans can play in a 3rd game.
• Players who have appeared in 50+ NHL games will take part in a maximum of 13 practice days during the pre-season.

NEW CHL AND AHL AGREEMENT

The NHL has finalized a deal with the CHL to allow 19-year-old players that were picked in the first round to be assigned to the AHL.

This new rule greatly benefits some specific first-rounders who would otherwise need to spend two full years in the CHL after being drafted. In the past, a lot of first round selections were "too good" for the CHL, but not quite good enough to play as an every day NHLer. They now have a 3rd option, which is to report to their AHL affiliated team. They may be returned from the AHL to their CHL team at any point during the season.

NECK GUARD REQUIREMENT

Players making their NHL debut in 2026-27 or later are required to wear a neck guard, or a comparable piece of protective neck equipment. Players who played a game prior to the 2026-27 season are allowed to choose if they wear one or not.

An example of this approach being taken in the past happened for the 2013-14 season, when players with less than 25 games of NHL experience were required to wear a visor on their helmet moving forwards. There are only a few remaining players who are allowed to not wear a visor.

EMERGENCY BACK-UP GOALIE (EBUG)

Starting in the 2026-27 season, every team needs to employ an EBUG. This goalie must be present for all home and away games (they will travel with the team). They are only eligible to play when both of their team's goalies are injured and removed from a game.

The EBUG will not count against their salary cap.

Requirements for EBUGs:

• No NHL game experience
• Less than 80 games of pro experience
• No pro hockey in the past 3 years

In the past, the home team provided an EBUG who was able to play for either team in the event that both of their goalies were too injured to continue playing. Although it is very rare that both goalies are injured during the same game, it has happened on a number of occasions, and it was always must-watch TV.

Example:

David Ayres was an EBUG for the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2020. He was an accountant by day, and a beer league player by night. His highest level of competition was Junior-B over 20 years prior. The then 42-year-old was thrust into action midway through the second period for the away-team Carolina Hurricanes (the Canes were leading 3-1 at the time). Ayres immediately surrendered 2 goals on his first 2 shots against, but then went on to stop the next 8. Carolina won the game 6-3, and Ayres played over 28 minutes of game-time.

The new EBUG rule will effectively put an end to the exciting and inspiring possibility of "average guys" suiting up for an NHL game.

FRONT-LOADED SALARY STRUCTURE

New contracts can no longer have heavy front-loading, or back-loading, of salary. Contract salary structure will be much more rigid and will not have much variance between years. (For ease of comprehension, "salary" is referring to salary + bonuses.)

• The difference in salary between adjacent years of the contract cannot be more than 20% in difference from the salary in the first year of the deal.
• The salary of any particular year is not allowed to be less than 71% of the salary on the highest year (of that same contract).

Example:

Mitch Marner's contract pays him $15M in the first year, and $10M in the final year (the average annual value is $12M). $10M is only 66.67% of $15M, whereas the minimum threshold will now be set at 71%. This contract would not be possible under the 2026 CBA.

This front-loaded salary structure was used by wealthier teams as another form of incentive to sign with them. From a player's perspective, they want to get as much of their money up front so that they can invest it and start making more money. It is speculated that this new rule is to level the playing field for all teams when trying to incentivize players to sign with them.

LEAGUE MINIMUM SALARY

The minimum NHL contract salary will increase to $1,000,000 by the 2029-30 season.

ENTRY LEVEL MAXIMUM COMPENSATION

The maximum value of entry-level contracts will be league minimum + $175K.

PERFORMANCE BONUS ELIGIBILITY FOR INJURED VETERANS

Adjusted criteria for players returning from serious injury when related to signing deals that include performance bonuses.

Players meeting the following criteria can sign with performance bonuses:

• The player was on LTIR for 100+ days OR spent the final 70+ regular season days on the Injured Reserve List.
• The player did not play in more than 2 playoff games.
• The player has played 400+ NHL games.
• The player signs a 1-year contract.

Signing a player to a bonus-laden deal can be beneficial for the signing team. Only the player's base salary counts against the team's daily salary cap. However, the team must add all achieved bonuses to their season-ending salary cap. If they do not have enough space remaining for all of those bonuses, they can be carried over to the following year's salary cap as a "performance bonus carryover cap charge". If a team is willing to carry cap over to the following year, they could in theory use that additional space to acquire more talent.

Teams are only allowed to have potential performance bonuses equal to 7.5% of the cap. If they exceed that number, bonuses will start to immediately use up cap space and cannot be deferred to the following year.

QUALIFYING OFFERS

The qualifying offer thresholds for RFAs (restricted free agents) have been updated.

When an RFA's contract is expiring, the team must extend them a minimum qualifying offer to retain their rights. If they do not, that player will become a UFA (unrestricted free agent).

EMERGENCY RECALLS

When a team doesn't have enough cap space to ice 18 healthy skaters, the team must play short 1 player for 1 game before they can use the "Roster Emergency Exception".

If a team meets the requirements for the Roster Emergency Exception, they will be allowed to recall a player of league minimum salary + $375K. A cap penalty of the remaining cap space a team has available will be applied.

This is an increase from the previous rule, which only allowed for league minimum salary + $100K. Recalled players also used to not count against the cap in any way.

For the full breakdown of everything that came out of the 2025 Memorandum of Understanding, read NHL CBA 2026: Salary Cap & Contract Changes Explained.