Inside the NHL’s Hottest Free Agency Secrets: What the Draft Combine Whispers Reveal

Expect the new agreement to bring labor peace until at least 2030 and not involve any massive changes, aside from the fact that there will now be salary cap accounting during the playoffs. How exactly that will work isn’t yet known, but here’s hoping the sides get it right, as it feels like a difficult thing to finesse given how cap accrual and trade deadline acquisitions work during the season.

There was, at one point, debate by teams over limiting contract term limits more than the current seven years for outside UFAs and eight for a team’s own players. But ultimately, the argument for the status quo won out. It centered on the benefit that small-market teams get from longer deals, something in evidence in the final with Draisaitl and Connor McDavid playing on the tail end of eight-year contracts and making only a combined $21 million for the Oilers.

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