Newly Ratified NHL and NHLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement: Standardized Retention of Draft Pick Rights

On June 27, 2025, the National Hockey League (“NHL”) and National Hockey League Players’ Association (“NHLPA”) announced the ratification of the extension of the collective bargaining agreement through 2030 (the text of which is not yet publicly available, but has been reported on).¹ While a number of changes are expected in the new agreement, this article focuses on the anticipated elimination of the distinction between negotiating with draft picks from the Canadian Hockey League (“CHL”) or National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) and standardizes the retention of rights to exclusively negotiate with draft picks.

Players from the CHL (which is comprised of the Western Hockey League, the Ontario Hockey League and the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League) will be eligible to play for men’s NCAA Division I hockey programs starting in the 2025-26 season. Previously, players who had played in the CHL were not eligible to play in the NCAA due to the NCAA’s amateurism rules.

Going to the NCAA presents a unique opportunity for prospective NHL talent and CHL players. First, playing in the NCAA allows players to compete against older opponents than those typically found in the CHL, which generally consists of players aged 16 to 20. Second, largely due to changes to various local state laws and the Supreme Court of the United States’ decision in National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston, 592 U.S. 69 (2021), the NCAA relaxed its policies effective July 1, 2021, to permit athletes to generally profit off of their name, image and likeness (“NIL”), creating opportunities for NCAA athletes to earn compensation while participating in collegiate athletics. However, it must be noted that the ability of Canadian athletes in the NCAA, including those coming from the CHL, to profit off of their NIL may be limited by U.S. immigration laws, which exclude them from earning certain income at the risk of losing their student visa status.

Under the current NHL collective bargaining agreement (the “Current CBA”), the period during which clubs retain the exclusive right to negotiate with their draft picks differs depending on whether the drafted player was selected from a CHL or NCAA team.² This distinction was important when CHL players were not NCAA-eligible.

Pursuant to Section 8.6(a) of the Current CBA, NHL teams generally retain the exclusive right to negotiate with players drafted from the CHL for two years so long as they remain in the CHL through age 20. Pursuant to Section 8.6(c) of the same agreement, NHL teams generally retain the exclusive right to negotiate with players drafted from the NCAA (or entering the NCAA immediately after the draft) until either (i) August 15 following such player’s graduation if the player graduates, or (ii) 30 days after the NHL receives notice that the player is no longer a university student if the player does not graduate. This distinction has allowed NHL teams greater flexibility to evaluate and retain NCAA-drafted talent and now potentially punishes NHL teams that draft CHL players who remain in the CHL through age 20 and then go on to play in the NCAA.

It is expected that in the new collective bargaining agreement (the “New CBA”), NHL teams will now retain the exclusive right to negotiate with draft picks regardless of whether they are drafted from the CHL, the NCAA or a European league for the following periods: (1) if the player is drafted at age 18, until the fourth June 1 after they are drafted; (2) if the player is drafted at age 19 or older, until the third June 1 after they are drafted; and (3) as an exception to the foregoing, if the drafted player is playing in the NCAA at the time of expiration under (1) or (2), until 30 days after the NHL receives notice that the player is no longer playing in the NCAA. It is likely that the long-term effects of this change will include fewer players entering the NHL’s professional development system (i.e., the American Hockey League or East Coast Hockey League) prior to the end of their NCAA eligibility and more players choosing to leave the CHL early to pursue opportunities in the NCAA, likely reducing the quality of competition and talent pool in the CHL.

We will continue to monitor the publication of the New CBA and continue to analyze the important changes to come.