It is going to be the same kind of late June crunch schedule next year, too, with the Four Nations tournament coming up in February, the regular season ending April 17, at least two weeks too late. It will be the same in 2025-26 when the NHL returns to the Olympic Games in Milan.
There will be no time to breathe between the Cup Final and the draft, then no time to breathe between the draft and free agency. The compressed schedule has as much to do with cost as the elimination of the centralized draft. Well, almost as much. Well, it’s a factor, at least.
There will be an opportunity for the league and the NHLPA to address the critical date schedule during the next round of collective bargaining that’s not all that far removed, with the current CBA due to expire Sept. 15, 2026. Two more years.
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