New NHL CBA Explained | Changes are Coming!!

New NHL CBA Explained | Changes are Coming!!

Big news straight from the NHL boardrooms or in my case the internet because that’s where I get all my information. Um, the NHL and NHLPA have agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement that’s about to shake up how our favorite teams build their rosters. Cap loopholes closed. Big money bonuses tightened up. Playoff LTR shenanigans not so easy anymore. So, how’s this going to affect the Bruins and the rest of the league? Let’s break it all right down now. So, buckle up, Bruins fans. I’m here to give you the latest info on your beloved Boston Bruins. If you’ve been liking my Bruins content, please leave me a like and subscribe if you’ve already done so. Thank you. And let’s get into it. The NHL and NHLPA have ratified a new CBA which takes effect September 26, 2026. And this should be good news for hockey fans. The reasoning being is we won’t be seeing a work stoppage anytime soon. Well, at least till 2030. That’s when the deal ends. As a longtime hockey fan, I am kind of tired of strikes and work stoppages. I don’t want to watch anymore. Kills the game. So, what is changing in the new CBA? Playoff LTIR rules have tightened. Remember all those rumors about teams stashing players on LTIR just to load up for a cup run like Tampa, Chicago, Vegas? Pretty much every team that’s won the cup over the last couple years. Let’s be honest here, they all do it. And the teams that don’t win a cup, everybody uses this LTIR loophole. Heck, so many teams use them at the beginning of the year. The Leafs are famous for Roboda Island. Well, the NHL’s had enough. Under the new CBA, teams can only get cap relief up to the league average salary if the players coming back that season. If they’re out for both the regular season and playoffs, fine, you get full relief. But here’s the kicker. During the playoffs, the total cap hit of your dress players must stay under the regular season ceiling. No more going full cooer off dead cap counts, too. We’ll still see this for next year’s playoffs, but it will be interesting how teams get around this or find the loophole. They teams always find a loophole in the CBA. But I’m really wondering because if you think about this, the Florida Panthers would never have been able to trade for Marshian or Seth Jones if this rule was in effect now. Just wouldn’t have happened. Next, goodbye double retention deals. Ever see a team use a third party to chop a huge contract into bite-sized cap hits? That double retention trade is now off limits within 75 days of the initial trade. for example, that’s what the Bruins did with Trent Frederick to get them to Edmonton. We can’t see that anymore. There have been many instances over the years of teams doing this or sending them to another team and so on and so forth. Like Arizona takes a little bit of the cap and then sends it somewhere else back in the day. We can’t do that anymore. This will obviously lead to less trades or hopefully it’ll lead to GMs giving out less terrible deals. We’ll see what happens. Shorter contract term limits. Long team friendly extensions just got a bit shorter. Free agents can sign a max of six years now. Players resigning with their own team get seven. That’s one year less than before. Now, this one was an interesting one because I’ve heard a lot of people say, “Well, why would the players agree to this?” I have a funny feeling the players have zero issue with this. We’re seeing a lot more players nowadays taking those short short-term deals. Like, there was a surprise that Marner took that 8-year deal in Vegas when there was reports out there that he wanted a four-year deal just like Matthews to maximize his contract value. We’ll see how this one shakes out. This also will stop GMs from giving out stupid deals. Um, maybe there’s like a rule, you can’t give out five-year deals to fourthline players. Maybe that’s a new rule that we should just as Bruins fans should put into effect. Signing bonus and salary structure rules. No more mega front-loaded deals. Year-to-year salary swings can be no more than 20% of the first year salary. And signing bonuses can’t top 60% of the entire contract. So, big bonus heavy contracts like Mitch Mers not going to fly under the new system. A lot of contracts are like this. I’m I’m very interested to see what they do with these plus 35 players. A lot of their contracts are heavy heavy heavy bonus ridd contracts. We see a lot of deals where they defer the money. That can’t be done anymore. That’s Seth Jarvis contract. That can’t be done anymore. A lot of the ways that teams were circumventing the cap are gone. We’re going to see a lot more trades, I think, because of this because you’re going to see more hockey trades. You’re going to have to trade salary for salary or when you sign guys. It’s just GMs are going to be a lot more careful or at least should be more careful when they’re inking deals. This one I’m sure the players did not want. Minimum salaries and ELC max bump up the league minimums going up. 2026 27 850k 2728 900k 282950 2930 $1 million. We complain about players contracts all the time. The minimum salary in 2930 is going to be a million dollars. The same goes for entry- level contracts. New rookies will set their max to 1 million starting in 2026. That’s just crazy. Kids coming straight out of college or the OHL are going to be able to ink a million dollar deal right off the bat. Mind you, McKenna over in Penn State supposedly is getting half of that just to go play there this year. So, I guess they can get it before they even get to the NHL. They’re now adjusting qualifying offers. Teams can still have to send their qualifying offers to RFAS, but their thresholds are tweaked. Players making less than 1.25 25 million 110% offer. 1.25 million to 1.75 million 105% and then 1.75 million plus 100%. Honestly, this is not a big one to me. Um, anytime I think of qualifying offers, I think of what Dale Talon didn’t do in Chicago, which got him fired. That’s the only time I ever think about qualifying offers. Goodbye to paper loans. Capstrap teams used to paper waiver exempt players to the miners just to squeeze more space. Now, any player sent down must actually play a game in the NHL before they come back up. Goalies are the exception. If you don’t have two healthy net miners, teams use this to bank cap, and that is no longer a thing. It’s they really want to force teams to not try any circumvention on the cap and stick to the cap, which is is very interesting. I’ve always thought that maybe we should do a luxury system where some teams get to spend above the cap, but then you spread that money out over. That’s just my opinion, but I don’t mind this. It just it makes the GMs have to do their job better. That’s what I think. Emergency goalie and roster exemptions, or as I like to call it, the Leafs losing to an Ebug. The Ebug rule has changed. There are now clear rules on who can suit up as an emergency backup goalie. No more beer leaguers with pro contracts stashed away. Mind you, we all thought it was amazing when the Leafs lost to their Zony driver. The roster emergency exception. When a team can’t isop roster, they now face cap consequences if they use emergency exemptions. play short, there’s still a carryover charge. I think the Ebug rule needed to be changed. Um, you need to be able to dress the proper player and have the proper situation. We all love the David Ayer story, but let’s be honest here. That should never have happened. And this one here, I don’t know how I feel about it because I’m surprised the players wanted it, but they got some concessions and that’s why the the GMs and the the league got what they wanted. But that’s 84 game season incoming. the players now are going to be playing in an 84 game season, but they’re going to be playing less pre-season and they don’t no longer have to do um uh the health tests when they come to training camp, which is something players don’t want to have to do and they didn’t want to have to do as much camp. So, I think that’s the concession. Players almost get more of a break in the offseason and coming into camp and then they get rolling right away for the 84 game season. I’m hoping this brings in more rivalry games. It’s remains to be seen. Um, this is the NHL. Who are we kidding? Performance bonus eligibility now includes players who spent 100 days on IR or the final 70 days plus minimal playoff action. European players aed 25 to 27 won’t need ELC’s. ELC’s are entry- level contracts. Something I’m actually happy about, neck protection will be mandatory for rookies starting 26 27. I always found this one interesting because growing up in Canada, we all had to wear neck guards and then all of a sudden they’re like, “Well, as you get older and the game gets faster and more dangerous, protection goes out the window. We all know what happened a couple years ago and there was a tragic death in the game.” So this I’ve seen a lot of players start Jacob Lo last year for the Bruins was wearing a neckard already. I see no issue with this and the players will just get over it real quick. Possible AHL exception for one 19year-old instead of sending him back to the CHL. This I also found interesting because I thought the CHL wouldn’t want this because they’re losing some larger players, but I guess they get to have more younger players. Plus, you’re getting a lot of the old players that are now going to go play for um the college teams now because they can just transfer anytime they want like McKenna just did. I don’t mind this. A guy like Steven Wright is a perfect example of someone that didn’t need to go back to the OA back to junior, sorry, and needed to go straight to the AHL. There are some exceptions of these players that should be going straight to the AHL. So, I don’t mind this. Plus, the teams get more control over the development of the player. No more tobacco or cannabis sponsorships. I didn’t even know this was a thing anymore. So, okay. For some reason though, gambling’s okay. Got you. NHL. One of the things I wanted to mention also is the retired players are going to get health benefits. The reason I mention this is my dad is a retired player and he just recently had knee surgery. Great news is it was covered because I live here in Canada and he did go through the NHLPA to get this done. But there’s a lot of players uh in the United States or other places in Canada that don’t have coverage on these things. And this is a fantastic thing that the players wanted for retired players to get health benefits after they leave the game. These players put their bodies on the line on a daily basis playing in the NHL. They should be getting benefits regardless whether they’re still playing an NHL team or not. Honestly, the the amount they’ve been given, I don’t even think is enough. I think that the teams needed to give way more on this one. The owners make a lot of money off these players bodies. They should have gave more. With all these new rules, how will it impact the Bruins? The CBA could change how Don Sweeney structures deals for big names like James Hengins and eventually David Pastnack in the future. Like I said before, you’re not going to have these bonus contracts. So, when these guys are older, they’re going to have to get actual AAV contracts. expect less bonus heavy contracts, more straightforward cap hits, and fewer loopholes to exploit at the deadline. We’re actually going to see GMs work a little bit harder. Right now, they use all the loopholes they can get. They will learn new ones, but this will force them to be hopefully smarter when signing new deals with contracts. They’re going to be also you’re going to see a lot more trades of money going in and money going out exactly to the penny. You’re not going to be seeing all these extra deals that are going to be done or teams going to take on salary. I just don’t see that happening. Even with the cap going up, you might see a couple teams taking on salary, but then they’re going to have to pay for it in the future when they try and move these guys. A lot of people asked for this one, so that’s why I did this video. So, all right, Bruins fans. How do you feel about these new rules? Good for the game, bad for the big spenders. Drop your thoughts and comments down below. That’s a wrap on today’s video. 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The NHL and NHLPA have ratified a new CBA, but what does that all mean? What are the key changes?

In this video, I break down the key changes in the new deal and how this will affect the Boston Bruins in the future.

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