NEW YORK -- Commissioner Gary Bettman said the NHL will open collective bargaining agreement talks with the players at the start of 2025 and is optimistic about getting a deal done.
The current CBA expires Sept. 15, 2026. Bettman informed the league's board of governors about opening negotiations during their meeting Tuesday in New York.
"In terms of timing that's probably the most realistic, which is still well in advance [of its expiration]," Bettman said. "In terms of the relationship, we think we're in a good place."
NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh recently started his tour of all 32 teams to better understand what the players want out of the next CBA. This will be the first agreement negotiated by Walsh, who took over for Don Fehr in February 2023.
Bettman said he didn't want to speculate about how quickly a deal could get done.
"If we had it done by my media availability at the Stanley Cup Final, everybody would be very happy," Bettman said. "But that's not a discussion, in terms of the timetable, that I've had with Marty Walsh, so I don't want to put any unfair parameters on it. It'll be what it'll be, but I think based on the status of our relationship, this will be fine."
Among the topics the owners and players will discuss for the next CBA is an adjustment to the league's schedule. Reducing the number of preseason games and expanding the NHL's 82-game regular season is "on a list of things to think about" for the owners ahead of the next CBA, Bettman said.
Sources told ESPN in December 2022 that the NHL had discussed expanding the season to 84 games to create more regional rivalry matchups. The league has been considering alternatives to its current schedule after some teams complained about an imbalanced number of divisional games against rivals.
In other board news, Bettman said the "way, way, way, way preliminary" salary cap figure for 2025-26 is $92.5 million, compared with $88 million this season.
The league and the NHLPA have also given the Columbus Blue Jackets a special dispensation to start the season under the $65 million salary floor following the death of star forward Johnny Gaudreau in August. His contract carried an average annual value of $9.75 million.
"We had had a tragic set of circumstances," deputy commissioner Bill Daly said. "It was most of the way through the summer and we worked with the players association as to what made the most sense in terms of working with that situation."
The NHL told Columbus that the allowance will continue for a "reasonable timeframe." When asked what that duration might be, Daly said it "depends on the circumstances."
One topic that did not come up at the board meeting was further NHL expansion, Bettman said.
"It's no different than the last time I answered the question. There are a number of places that have expressed interest, that talk to us some on a regular basis, but that's where we are," he said.