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NHL teams are in the final hours to re-sign players to eight-year deals before the max contract extension drops by a year. The league’s new CBA, negotiated between the NHL and NHLPA last summer, kicks in at midnight on Sept. 16. It stipulates that players can only sign seven-year deals with their existing teams (and six with new teams, also down a year from prior rules).
Teams have been busy in the final hours before the deadline.
Tuesday morning, eight-year contracts were announced for Capitals winger Ryan Leonard, 21; Senators winger Drake Batherson, 28; and Sabres center Noah Östlund, 22. All begin for the 2027–28 season.
A flurry of other deals landed in August and early September, most notably for Cale Makar and the Avalanche. Colorado locked up the 27-year-old defenseman for eight years in an agreement worth $163.2 million at a $20.4 million AAV—the richest in NHL history.
The new CBA’s surging salary cap has particularly been a windfall for emerging stars who want a guaranteed payday through a long-term deal, even in an era where franchises will have more and more cash to play with.
As the clock ticks down to the midnight changeover, and more deals may land, eyes are particularly on a few players who have yet to sign extensions: among them, Minnesota’s Quinn Hughes, Anaheim’s Cutter Gauthier, Columbus’s Adam Fantilli, and San Jose’s Will Smith. (Younger players, including Sharks superstar Macklin Celebrini, have recently re-upped with their teams on shorter agreements.)
The new NHL CBA, which begins as training camps open tomorrow, will bring more changes. Among them are an extended season with 84 games instead of 82 and a shorter preseason; the creation of a playoff salary cap; the elimination of deferred compensation; and a formal nixing of the league’s dress code.
