There was a period where folks working the hockey beat would measure the passage of time in terms of NHL labour stoppages, they happened that frequently. But on the heels of a renewal of the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NHL and the NHLPA that was hashed out during the COVID-19 stoppage in 2020, we may have another extension – the second one without a work stoppage – announced as early as Friday.

Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli was the first to report on the potential extension, noting on Thursday morning that a Memorandum of Understanding could be unveiled on Friday prior to the opening round of the 2025 NHL Draft in Los Angeles. As of Seravalli’s report on Thursday, one last issue was being ironed out. The four-year extension would run from Sept. 16, 2026 to Sept. 15, 2030, and be locked in roughly 14 and a half months before the current deal expires.

For fans of the Calgary Flames, there are good things and bad things emerging from the expected terms of the extension.

Currently, the regular season is 82 games long. But because of the way the schedule is structured, there are two divisional opponents every team plays just three times (as opposed to four for every other team); it’s that quirk that resulted in just three Battles of Alberta in the past two seasons. Well, all indications are that the regular season will increase to 84 games for 2026-27, resulting in balanced schedules, with pre-season calendars being trimmed from eight games down to four. For Flames fans, this means that the final regular season in the Saddledome will feature one additional home game.

However, Flames fans might not like another change: the maximum contract terms are being trimmed down by a year – teams can re-sign their own players for up to seven years (down from eight) and free agents for up to six (down from seven). Since this would impact contracts beginning in the 2026-27 season, that means that it cuts down the maximum contract length for Dustin Wolf, perhaps the Flames’ most important player, to seven years.

Other things being included in the CBA extension include:

• Introduction of a playoff salary cap in response to complaints about abuse of LTIR to stash players during the regular season, only to activate them in the post-season when there’s no more cap. The specific mechanisms involved will be interesting, especially since team rosters often expand in the post-season.
• Regardless of which league a player is drafted from, the team that drafts them has until they’re 22 to sign them.
• According to Elliotte Friedman, “The ability for some first-round picks from the CHL to have AHL eligibility earlier than currently allowed” will be part of the extension.
• A permanent emergency backup goalie will be added, rather than relying on local amateurs in each market. They’ll travel and practice with the team. It’s unclear precisely how this will work, but indications are they won’t count against the cap but also won’t make anywhere close to NHL league minimum salary.
• And something that may impact the Flames in the future years as their revenue increases with the opening of Scotia Place and they move towards the league’s median earners, per Friedman: “A revenue-sharing tweak to help some of the more middle-class teams.”

The early details sound generally promising, and it’ll be nice to go another five years without a lockout, but the devil will be in the details, so we’ll see what the MOU for the new deal looks like when it’s officially announced.