NHLPA and NHL agree to three more seasons of lockout free hockey

In case you missed the news earlier today, the NHL Players Association (NHLPA) elected to NOT re-open their collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the NHL, effectively guaranteeing that the league will continue to operate without stoppage for at least three more years.

Both the league and the union had an opportunity to open up the CBA for negotiations, but both sides have elected to continue working under the current agreement until at September 15th, 2022. With today’s news that the union has elected to NOT open the CBA, both sides are locked into an agreement through the 2021-22 season. 

There were suspicions that the NHLPA would in fact open up negotiations as several players had come forward to express their frustrations with the NHL’s escrow policy. Evidently though, the NHLPA either didn’t have the appetite to enter into these negotiations or there simply wasn’t enough support from its members to do so.

In any case, all you need to know is that AT LEAST the next three years will be a lockout free zone. Finally sanity prevails.