The NHL and NHLPA have a new CBA set to take effect with the start of the 2026-2027 season and then run for four years. That is, all rules in the current CBA hold through this coming season and next summer. However, rules about contracts for the 2026-2027 season will be in play next summer.

The NHL is not releasing this new document, which exists now as another memo of understanding, until it is ratified from both sides. The Board of Governors will vote on July 7, per reports. However some issues have been leaked to the press. Most of the below comes from Frank Seravalli and Elliotte Friedman.

Note: none of this is detailed or fully contextualized.

There are major changes to contract rules, something the team owners always want to protect them from themselves:

Contracts will be limited to seven years at most for a player signing with their own team and six years for signings with a new team. This will require 2026 UFA players to want an extension in place before July 1 next year if they want the eight-year term. If they wait, the most they can have is six years, since to qualify for the extra year the UFA has to be signing an extension before July 1 of his expiry year.

The deferred salary concept is now removed from the CBA.

Signing bonuses will be capped at 60% in a year. This has been reported as of the AAV, but I am not going to be surprised if it is actually based on the salary in a year. Currently the only limitation is that the base salary has to be the minimum NHL salary.

The variability rules – rules that govern how different the amounts paid in one year to the next in multi-year deals – will be changed as well. There are two different variability rules depending on whether a contract is front-loaded or not, so this point is not clear yet. But the effect will be to reduce the fluctuation in salary year-to-year. This is sometimes done to make a contract "lockout proof" or "buyout proof".

Minimum salary will rise over the four years, reported to be hitting $1 million by the final year of this CBA.

Draft rights will be based on age, not the league a prospect is picked from. Signing rights will expire at age 22.

The regular season schedule will have 84 games with the preseason shortened to four games. Players with over 100 NHL games played can appear in only two preseason games. The regular season will start earlier due to the shortened preseason.

There have been other things mentioned that are of value to players such as increased benefits and increased playoff bonus pool payment. Players are not paid salary in the playoffs, but a bonus pool exists to apportion out money to players.

Elliotte Friedman discussed on 32 Thoughts, the idea that players, hearing the leaks on contract changes were not very happy. But there is a lot more in the actual deal that is of benefit to them and they will get that information before they vote. So we should all realize there is much more information to come.

Some of that will involve whatever process will be used regarding the salary cap and the playoffs. Note: all the teams know what's in this agreement, and so will agents.

Some recent leaks of contract and LTIR rules:

Expect this sort of thing to continue. But as we should have learned with the Covid-era MOU, sometimes the quick tweet version of complex rules gives people the wrong idea about how things actually will work.

The final version should be public soon.