While there won’t be a repeat of the 4 Nations Face-Off next year, the tournament’s success has been enough to change how the league will use its winter break. There was initially expected to be a 2026 All-Star Game in the leadup to the Winter Olympics, but that won’t be the case – at least in its traditional form, league commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters today (including Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff). The Islanders will still be hosting some sort of event as initially planned, but whether it’s a revamped ASG format or an entirely different event remains to be seen.
More updates from Bettman today:
- Discussions with the NHLPA on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement will commence the week of April 1, Eric Engels of Sportsnet relays. Negotiations with PA executive director Marty Walsh are expected to be smooth, avoiding the third work stoppage of the century. The league’s and NHLPA’s confidence in ratifying a new CBA quickly was underscored by their rather unprecedented move in January to release salary cap projections three years out. The current CBA, ratified in 2013 and extended in 2020, is set to expire on Sep. 15, 2026.
- Bettman is “not a fan” of league GMs voting in favor of a decentralized draft format for 2025, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. This year’s run will be hosted by the Kings, but not at Crypto.com Arena – instead in the 7,100-seat Peacock Theater, while league front offices will conduct their business remotely. Top prospects will still be at the event, but picks will likely be read out by the commissioner instead, as GMs won’t be present. The league may move back to its usual draft format with everyone on the floor for 2026.
- He’s also not enthused with the idea of extending 3-on-3 overtime past its current five-minute length, according to Seravalli. 10-minute 3-on-3 at the 4 Nations round-robin games was viewed as a test run for extending the OT period and having fewer games end in shootouts, but concerns over the deterioration of ice conditions and “additional wear and tear” on players – a few of which expressed their concerns following the tournament – remain paramount. In that vein, Friedman relays that no rule changes were proposed at this weekend’s GM meetings in Florida.
- Lastly, there’s still no appetite from the league to alter the current playoff format, per Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic. A large contingent of fans and a few players have expressed support for ditching the wild-card system and returning to a one-through-eight conferenced-based seeding approach, but the divisional brackets are likely here to stay for the foreseeable future.
Bettman not wanting to be booed 32 times in the 1st round…
No it actually sounds like he wants to be booed 32 times in the first round plus trades and man this is one of my favorite possible decision by the little guy.
Could they consider a 4 Nations tournament every year? Might devalue some of the appeal, but other events like the World Juniors are annual and still are a big deal. The only issue would be figuring out what nations would participate each year, or how practical it would be to expand the tournament.
Yeah the NHL would never take a special event and make it happen every year…
The playoff format needs a definite change as it’s the same routine battles in the 1st & 2nd rounds. Going to a conferenced based seeding would be more interesting & in some cases, unpredictable than the wild-card system currently in place.
If you don’t want to change the playoff format then maybe shake things up by changing the teams in their current divisions a little. You have teams for example in the Atlantic Division that are not even near the Atlantic lol.
I just think a little shake up would be a bit refreshing for the league & create some new possibilities in various circumstances.
Any format that leads to more air time for Bettman needs to be srapped (and does Gary really want to be booed 32 times?). And GM’s having some face time with their peers once a year shouldn’t be too much of an incovenience.
And yes, go back to the 1 thru 8 playoff format!
GB is pathetic. Just because the NBA does it doesn’t mean it’s right, but try convincing him of that. Centralizing the draft is the worst idea since trying to expand (often repeatedly) to EVERY NBA city. Let the usually shortsighted GMs actually have their ONE good idea! And “wear and tear”? Such disingenuousness. They want to add games, and make teams travel overseas for no good reason, among other things, but not extend 3-on-3…the best thing they’ve ever done since ending ties? They should be eliminating the shootout entirely (wear and tear on the goalies!) and going to 3-2-1 pt system.