The NHL held its annual General Managers meeting in Florida over the past three days. They had plenty to discuss, whether it was goaltender interference penalties, the success of the 4 Nations Face-off and what it means for future All-Star games and international representation, tinkers to the overtime layout and the upcoming debut of the decentralized draft.

Let’s get into the latest we’re hearing coming out of the meetings:

The current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the NHL and NHLPA is set to expire in September of 2026. Here is how the NHL defines the CBA:

“The Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the NHLPA and the NHL sets out the terms and conditions of employment for all professional hockey players playing in the National Hockey League, as well as the respective right of the NHL Clubs, the NHL, and the NHLPA.”

With the current CBA expiring in just over 17 months, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman stated that talks regarding the next CBA would start the week of April 1 – less than two weeks away.

The financial framework is done considering the NHL announced the following three seasons’ worth of the salary cap. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman mentioned that there could still be hurdles along the way, but usually, you can see the storm clouds coming if there are to be speed bumps. That doesn’t seem to be the case this go-around.

Commissioner Bettman stated he was hopeful talks would go quickly and painlessly. The hope is to have one announced in the week before the Stanley Cup Finals. But that is no guarantee.

It’s no stretch to say that the 4 Nations Face-off experience was a massive success for the NHL. With the overwhelming performance, going back to the traditional All-Star game will be challenging. Over the past few years, we’ve seen that the players’ effort level in such events is lacking.

However, Bettman noted that the NHL promised the New York Islanders, and they intend to keep that promise. But after the 4 Nations Face-off, it’s clear something needs to change:

“We’re re-evaluating how we want to do things,” Bettman said. “I think we’ve raised the bar about as high as you can for an All-Star game than any sport. So, we want to make sure whatever we do is up to the standards that we created.”

Friedman mentioned an alternative involving scrapping the All-Star Game but continued with the All-Star Competition – one that could include PWHL players, other prospects, etc.

While the NHL still plans to move forward with an All-Star break for the 2025-2026 season, Bettman mentioned how it can be a good appetizer for the 2026 Olympics in Milan, Italy. All NHL Olympians are set to fly out of New York to Milan, so having the All-Star event as a showcase would make some sense.

The NHL will be testing out their first-ever decentralized draft this season. But Bettman made it clear that this wasn’t his decision. This is what the NHL GMs voted for:

“This is what the clubs said they wanted. A number have said we should have the other form. We’ve said, ‘Listen, we’ll go through this experience, and if there’s a surge of interest to go back, we’ll put it back to the clubs again.’ We ended the old way with a bang, going to the Sphere, and if the sense is we’d rather be together – we’ve let the clubs make this determination, and we’ll execute it in accordance with their desire to be decentralized.

“Understanding the prospects, all of them, even if you have the number one overall pick and you know who you’re picking, they’re going to be with us in Los Angeles. But if there’s a desire to go back because the clubs miss each other and being on the floor together, we’ll put it to a vote again. We can be flexible. This is us executing the flexibility to clubs.”

TSN’s Darren Dreger shared that the top 50 prospects will attend the event. While there is no certainty on what it will look like, it could be similar to how the NFL coordinates their draft. NHL teams will live stream their Draft Room, with the Commissioner going to the podium to announce each pick, and the player will walk on stage to accept their jersey and take a picture with the Commissioner.

https://twitter.com/DarrenDreger/status/1902344456289890694

Friedman said that regardless of the outcome of the inaugural decentralized draft, the league and GMs will debrief and discuss how to move forward. He added that Bettman sounded like he didn’t like this idea but that he didn’t want to flip-flop between the two. After this year, they will decide how to proceed with the NHL Draft.

The former draft format is what makes hockey unique from various leagues.

Bettman shared that there will be no new rule changes coming for the 2025-2026 season. He indicated that it’s a good sign that the managers are certainly comfortable and more than pleased with the current state of the game.

However, there was heavy discussion about goaltender interference penalties.

Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli highlighted a ‘Hockey Fan’s Guide’ to help people understand the rules of the infraction. Click here to read about it.

Here is what Bettman had to say regarding goaltender interference and made sure to indicate that this is very much a judgment call:

“Those were the 54 most difficult calls that they had to make. Yes, it is a judgment call, but overwhelmingly the managers believe hockey ops has been consistent. It’s about consistency and the managers understand full well [the approach].”

The NHL Commissioner also stated that there will be no changes to the current playoff format or overtime rules. In fact, no rule changes regarding that were even mentioned:

“I’m not a fan of the extended overtime,” said Bettman. “Because of the ice conditions and the wear and tear on the players who would be playing the additional five minutes and have to worry about that and injuries. On the issue of whether that’s a better TV timeout format, we’ve had a lot going on, so we haven’t had a chance to debrief.

“Internally, that is something we need to focus on to see whether or not we think that’s better. We haven’t even evaluated it yet. We were just trying something different [in the 4 Nations Face-off]. It works both ways, maybe better for TV, maybe worse for concessions in building experience and bathroom wise. There’s a lot for us to consider and we haven’t done that yet.”

Despite the potential of seeing two of the conference’s top teams battle each other in the opening round might seem unfair, the Commissioner welcomes that:

“I like exactly what we have,” Bettman shared. “If we look at the races we’re having for the regular season, playoffs have started already. We’re in our ‘play-in tournament’. I think it’s terrific.”

“[The] Best team to win the Cup have got to get through the best teams. And, you know what? Having great matchups in the first round? That’s terrific. That’s not a problem. That’s a great thing.

– The 2025-2026 NHL regular season is set to kick off on October 7.

What do you think, Canucks fans? Are you happy with the outcome of the recent General Managers meeting in Florida? Let us know in the comments below!