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CBA Notes: Minimum Salary, LTIR, Draftees, Salary Retention, Olympics, Neck Guards

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Earlier today, league Commissioner Gary Bettman announced a Memorandum of Understanding between the NHL and NHLPA for a new agreed-upon Collective Bargaining Agreement beginning in the 2026-27 season. New details continue to emerge regarding the new agreement, one of which is regarding minimum salaries.

According to Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff, the league minimum salary will jump from $775K in 2025-26 to $1MM in 2029-30. Seravalli didn’t know if there would be a mild year-on-year increase for the minimum salary, just where it would end up by the time the next CBA ends.

Although the NHL hasn’t projected an upper limit of the salary cap for the 2029-30 season, it marks an odd relative dip in payment for league-minimum salaries. Assuming the cap continues to rise at its current pace of 9% each season, the upper limit for the 2029-30 season would be approximately $134.8MM. This means that a $775K salary in 2025-26 would account for 0.8% of a team’s cap hit, while a $1MM salary in 2029-30 would drop to 0.7%.

Other notes from the new CBA:

  • One of the biggest points of contention was the playoff implications of LTIR. The CBA includes a new salary cap for the playoffs. However, according to Seravalli, teams will only benefit from cap savings equal to the previous year’s average salary, rather than the full cap hit of the player. The only exception to this rule is if the player does not participate in the entire Stanley Cup playoffs.
  • Seravalli also pointed out the new draftee signing rules in the upcoming CBA. A team will hold the signing rights for four years on any 18-year-old that they draft tonight, and three years for any 19-year-old selected. Additionally, for those playing in the NCAA, their signing rights will only expire 30 days after they’ve confirmed with their drafting team that they’re no longer playing at the collegiate level.
  • According to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, the new CBA will mandate a 75-day window of allowable salary retention. In essence, the new rule effectively eliminated three-team trades at the deadline. If a team wants to orchestrate 75% salary retention on any given player, they’ll need to wait nearly 11 weeks to do so.
  • It’s now confirmed that NHL players will be included in the next two Olympic Games. According to TSN’s Chris Johnston, the new CBA includes language allowing the players to participate in the 2030 Winter Olympics in the French Alps region of France.
  • As a new equipment rule, Seravalli announced that the NHL will make neck guards mandatory for any new player entering the league in the 2026-27 season and beyond. The new equipment rule is no doubt inspired by the late Adam Johnson, who tragically lost his life after getting cut in the neck by a skate in an EIHL game during the 2023-24 season.

Blackhawks Select Anton Frondell Third Overall

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The Chicago Blackhawks have added another high-end forward to their deep cupboard of prospects. With the third overall pick of the 2025 NHL Draft, the Blackhawks selected Anton Frondell from the SHL’s Djurgårdens IF.

There’s a reason Frondell was listed as the top available European skater in this summer’s draft. The 6’1″, 205lbs Swede scored 11 goals and 25 points in 22 games for Djurgårdens IF HockeyAllsvenskan team, with another three goals and seven points in 16 postseason contests.

He shone on the international stage, too. The Trångsund, Sweden native scored one goal and three points in five tournament gams for Sweden’s U18 team at the U18 World Junior Championship this past season. Overall, Frondell was far and away Sweden’s top talent, scoring eight goals and 18 points in 19 international contests.

It’ll be interesting to see if Chicago decides to let Frondell make the jump to North America right away or continue his development overseas in the SHL with Djurgårdens IF, who have recently been promoted. At any rate, the Blackhawks organization and their fans will likely see Frondell participating in the 2025-26 U20 World Junior Championships.

As a natural center, Chicago may have cemented a powerful one-two punch down the middle with Frondell’s selection. Connor Bedard has already carved out his role as the team’s top center moving forward, which would allow Frondell to thrive on the second line or play on Bedard’s wing.

Islanders Select Matthew Schaefer First Overall

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As expected, the New York Islanders have selected defenseman Matthew Schaefer with the first overall pick of the 2025 NHL Draft. Schaefer is the first defenseman chosen first overall since Owen Power in 2021, and only the sixth defenseman to achieve this since the 1992 NHL Draft, when the Ottawa Senators selected Chris Phillips.

Despite playing on the opposite side of the blue line, Schaefer’s presence at the top of the draft order made trading Noah Dobson all the more palatable for the Islanders. They’ll now have a younger defenseman with a higher ceiling, while acquiring additional assets in return.

Still, Schaefer is not your typical first overall selection, and there’s no questioning that the Islanders are making a gamble. Due to a broken collarbone suffered during the 2024-25 World Junior Championships, Schaefer finished the season with seven goals and 22 points in 17 games with the OHL’s Erie Otters.

Having that level of injury concern is never ideal entering your draft year, but a collarbone fracture shouldn’t carry any long-term issues. His talent speaks for itself, and that’s the exact reason he was chosen as this summer’s top selection.

Due to his lack of playing time throughout the 2024-25 season, Schaefer becomes an exercise in scouting raw talent for the NHL level. Without any shadow of a doubt, he has the capabilities to become a top-pairing defenseman long term.

In their 2025 NHL Draft Guide, Elite Prospects broke down Schaefer’s talent perfectly, saying:

“Schaefer controls games from the back end, making the play flow through him. An elite puck-rusher, he takes off from behind his net, using it as a shield against the forecheck, and traverses the defensive zone with a few long strides. He spots teammates in every direction, making both one-touch plays and elaborate, deceptive feeds. Attacking down, he grabs the spotlight and draws opponents to him, before turning and relaying the puck across.“

Trade Notes: Dobson, Marner, Karlsson, McBain

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The opening day of the 2025 NHL Draft got off to a quick start earlier today when the New York Islanders traded defenseman Noah Dobson to the Montreal Canadiens for Emil Heineman and a pair of first-round picks. If the Islanders’ old General Manager, Lou Lamoriello, had it his way, Dobson would have already been wearing a different Canadian team’s uniform.

According to Arthur Staple, formerly of The Athletic, Lamoriello attempted to package Dobson with other pieces at last season’s trade deadline to acquire forward Mitch Marner from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Ultimately, likely due to Toronto’s disapproval at the time, no trade materialized between the two teams.

It stands to reason that the Islanders may have known Dobson was out of their price range on a long-term extension for some time, and the new administration faced similar issues as the last. At any rate, the Islanders now have approximately $21MM in cap space entering the offseason without a big-ticket extension on their horizon.

Other trade notes:

  • It’s a well-known fact that the Vegas Golden Knights are looking to trim their salary cap table so they can put together a legitimate pursuit for Marner. Still, it doesn’t appear that long-time forward William Karlsson will be a part of that exodus, as David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reported that there’s little activity on the Karlsson trade front. The 11-year veteran is coming off an injury-riddled season and has two years left until he reaches unrestricted free agency, making him a difficult sell to other organizations.
  • According to Josh Yohe of The Athletic, the Pittsburgh Penguins are looking to capitalize on the lack of progress in contract negotiations between the Utah Mammoth and forward Jack McBain. Yohe indicated that McBain would be an ideal fit for the Penguins’ hole at third-line center, and his physicality and tertiary scoring ability are of great intrigue to General Manager Kyle Dubas.

Sharks To Buy Out Marc-Édouard Vlasic

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June 27: Vlasic has cleared waivers and can now be bought out, according to Chris Johnston of The Athletic and TSN.

June 26: The current active longest-tenured member of the San Jose Sharks will see his run with the team conclude. According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Sharks have placed defenseman Marc-Édouard Vlasic on unconditional waivers for contract termination. The Sharks organization has confirmed the news from Friedman.

Vlasic’s buyout from the Sharks marks an unceremonious end to an incredible tenure in San Jose. As it currently stands, Vlasic is the franchise’s second all-time in games played, eighth all-time in points, and first all-time in defensive point shares.

In his decision regarding the buyout, General Manager Mike Grier stated, “This was a difficult decision to make today, with how much Marc has meant to the San Jose organization for 19 years. I was fortunate enough to be here with Marc for his first season with the Sharks, and knew he would become a great defenseman. Over the course of his career in the NHL, Vlasic was one of the premier shutdown defensemen, earning tough defensive assignments on the ice against the best players in the world and doing it with effectiveness.”

There are no discrepancies in Grier’s statement. In his prime, Vlasic was arguably the game’s top shutdown defenseman, averaging nearly 22 minutes a game from 2009 to 2020, accruing 1,545 blocked shots and earning several nominations for the Lady Byng and Norris Trophies.

San Jose drafted Vlasic with the 35th overall pick of the 2005 NHL Draft, making his debut a few years later. Vlasic finished sixth in Calder Trophy voting that season, scoring three goals and 26 points in 81 games, and earned a spot on the NHL’s All-Rookie Team.

Since Corsi tracking began in the 2007-08 season, Vlasic had a rate of approximately 53.0% from 2007 to 2016, an impressive output for a defenseman who started nearly 57.0% of his shifts in the defensive zone. In that time, Vlasic never had an on-ice save percentage at even strength lower than 90.0%, proving his ability to keep pace with any opposing team’s top unit.

Vlasic’s value burned brightest during the Sharks’ run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2016. The veteran scored one goal and 12 points in 24 postseason contests, finished at the top among the qualified players with a +14 rating, and averaged 2.83 blocked shots per game. Unfortunately, San Jose was unable to capture their first Stanley Cup championship in franchise history, losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first half of their back-to-back run.

Due to his illustrious career with the organization, the Sharks signed Vlasic to an eight-year, $56MM contract in 2017, which was expected at the time to be his final contract in the NHL. Unfortunately, even two years into the deal, due to injuries and ’Father Time’ remaining undefeated, Vlasic’s contract quickly became an unappreciated anchor for San Jose.

Since the second year of the contract, Vlasic has scored 17 goals and 68 points in 358 games with a disastrous -90 rating. His possession metrics have similarly taken a nosedive, falling to 42.2% at even strength this past season. With several defensive prospects looking for regular playing time in 2025-26, the Sharks no longer had a necessity for Vlasic to remain on the roster.

Although the last several years will put a damper on his total output with the team, Vlasic concludes his career as a Shark with 84 goals and 379 points with a +42 rating in 1,323 games over 19 seasons, with an additional six goals, 39 points, and +20 rating in 142 postseason contests.

Now, San Jose will owe Vlasic a reduced rate of $4.67MM in 2025-26 and $1.167MM in 2026-27. According to PuckPedia, the Sharks have more than $44MM to spend this offseason and could become one of the most active teams in recent memory. Even if Grier doesn’t plan on exhausting all of San Jose’s financial flexibility this summer, he’ll need to spend more than $19MM to reach the cap floor.

Photo courtesy of Stan Szeto-Imagn Images.

Pacific Notes: Woodcroft, Klingberg, Perry

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Although he failed to find a new role as a head coach in this summer’s coaching carousel, Jay Woodcroft will return to the NHL next season. According to Frank Seravalli of the Daily Faceoff, the Anaheim Ducks are expected to hire Woodcroft as an assistant coach to serve on Joel Quenneville’s staff.

It’ll be a few days before the Ducks formalize Woodcroft’s hire. His previous contract with the Edmonton Oilers runs through July 1st, so an announcement should be coming then. Woodcroft hasn’t coached in the NHL since the 2023-24 season, when he was fired as the Oilers’ head coach on November 12th.

As valuable as the Ducks likely perceive Woodcroft’s previous head coaching experience, they likely targeted him to help improve the team’s offense. The Toronto, Ontario native coached Edmonton to a 79-41-13 record in 133 games (64.3% win percentage), while the team finished eighth in GF/G at the end of the 2021-22 season, and first in the league during the 2022-23 season.

Other notes from the Pacific Division:

  • After a largely successful return to the NHL this past season with the Oilers, it doesn’t appear that defenseman John Klingberg will return to the team this summer. Speaking on the Chris Johnston Show, host Chris Johnston reported that Klingberg is likely to become an unrestricted free agent. That doesn’t necessarily mean he won’t return to Edmonton, but he may find more lucrative offers elsewhere. Although injuries limited his return during the regular season, Klingberg finished the postseason on a high note, scoring one goal and four points in 19 games with a +3 rating, averaging 19:08 of ice time per game.
  • Unlike Klingberg, the same doesn’t appear to be true regarding veteran Corey Perry. In today’s episode of Sportsnet’s Around the NHL with Elliotte Friedman, a segment on Sportsnet 590, Friedman shares that Perry and the Oilers are working towards a new deal. Assuming a relatively cheap deal for Perry, there’s little to lose for Edmonton. The 40-year-old veteran is coming off his 20th NHL season, scoring 19 goals and 30 points in 81 regular-season contests, with another 10 goals and 14 points in 22 postseason games.

Hurricanes Sign Juha Jääskä To Two-Year Contract

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The Carolina Hurricanes have gotten some early work done with one of their depth forwards from the 2024-25 season. According to a team announcement, the Hurricanes have re-signed forward Juha Jääskä to a two-year contract worth $1.55MM. Per the team’s announcement, Jääskä’s contract will transition from a two-way agreement in 2025-26 to a one-way deal in 2026-27.

After quality back-to-back campaigns with the Finnish Liiga’s HIFK, the Hurricanes signed Jääskä as an international free agent toward the back half of the 2023-24 NHL season. In those two seasons, Jääskä scored 22 goals and 67 points in 113 games, with another five goals and 11 points in 13 postseason contests.

A little old to be considered a true prospect (27), Carolina first deployed Jääskä with their AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves. He quickly reaffirmed the Hurricanes’ decision to sign him, scoring 12 goals and 33 points in 53 AHL contests. His scoring output was good for fifth on the team, and sat second among wingers behind prospect Bradly Nadeau.

Carolina rewarded Jääskä’s quality transition to North American hockey this past season. Spending all of January at the NHL level, Jääskä tallied three assists in 14 games with a +3 rating in a fourth-line role. Adding four more games played by the end of the campaign, Jääskä finished the 2024-25 season with four assists in 18 contests, averaging 8:56 of ice time.

It’s hard to make any assessment of Jääskä’s game at the NHL level in his brief stint. He responded well to head coach Rod Brind’Amour’s system as evidenced by his 61.7% CorsiFor% at even strength, but he was deployed rather safely with 61.7% of his shift starts coming in the offensive zone. Depending on whether the Hurricanes rearrange their bottom-six this offseason, Jääskä is destined for a similar role with the organization next season.

Panthers Acquire Daniil Tarasov From Blue Jackets

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The Florida Panthers are making quick work to fill in their hole at backup goaltender. According to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, the Florida Panthers have acquired netminder Daniil Tarasov from the Columbus Blue Jackets. In response to LeBrun’s report, Aaron Portzline of The Athletic shared that the Blue Jackets are acquiring a late-round draft pick in the trade. Columbus confirmed the trade, announcing they’ve acquired Florida’s 2025 fifth-round pick (160th overall) for their former backup.

As a potential non-tender candidate heading into the offseason, the Blue Jackets did decent work in not letting Tarasov leave for nothing. After being surpassed toward the end of the 2024-25 campaign by youngster Jet Greaves, there was little chance Tarasov would remain in Columbus for next season. Now, he’ll attempt to revive his career behind fellow countryman Sergei Bobrovsky.

There was a time when Tarasov was believed to be the future of the crease for the Blue Jackets. Columbus selected Tarasov with the 86th overall pick of the 2017 NHL Draft, and he quickly impressed a year later with the MHL’s Tolpar Ufa. After spending a few years in the Liiga and KHL, including a strong 2020-21 season with Salavat Yulaev Ufa, where Tarasov recorded an 11-3-2 record in 16 games and achieved a .925 save percentage, the Blue Jackets brought Tarasov to North America.

Unfortunately, his professional career in North America got off to a slow beginning. In his first two years with the Blue Jackets and their AHL affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters, Tarasov participated in just 43 games, which limited his development opportunities.

It wasn’t until the 2023-24 season that Tarasov became a full-time member of Columbus’ goaltending tandem. He managed an 8-11-3 record in 24 games with a .908 SV% and 3.18 GAA. His underlying metrics were strong, including 3.9 goals saved above average (GSAA) and a .565 quality start percentage, indicating that his development had returned to the right track.

Alas, this past season undid most of the positive steps he took a year ago. After starting the year as the backup again, Tarasov ended with a 7-10-2 record in 20 games, posting a .881 save percentage and a 3.54 goals against average, which caused his GSAA to drop to -10.5, resulting in the loss of his roster spot.

Given that Bobrovksy started 54 games for the Panthers during the 2024-25 season, and hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down, Tarasov should garner similar deployment next season. He’ll benefit from a stronger defensive core in front of him and may see his earning power grow before he becomes an unrestricted free agent before the 2026-27 NHL season.

Seattle Kraken Acquire Frédérick Gaudreau

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11:17 a.m.: Both teams have confirmed the trade.

10:32 a.m.: The Seattle Kraken are making their forward core tougher to play against.. According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Kraken have acquired forward Frédérick Gaudreau from the Minnesota Wild for a draft pick. Frank Seravalli of the Daily Faceoff quickly added that the Kraken are sending their 2025 fourth-round pick (102nd overall) to the Wild.

For a second time since the Stanley Cup Final ended, the Kraken have taken advantage of a team looking to clear salary from their roster. Similarly to the trade that brought Mason Marchment to Northwest Washington, Seattle has procured a quality middle-six option on the cheap.

Gaudreau is coming to the Kraken on the heels of one of the better campaigns of his career. He finished the 2024-25 campaign fifth on the Wild in scoring with 18 goals and 37 points in 82 games. Although he’s best in a third-line role, Gaudreau spent much of the year in Minnesota’s middle-six due to injuries at the top of their forward hierarchy.

Although he showed more thump in his offensive output this past season, there is reason for pause. Gaudreau finished the campaign with a 16.4% shooting percentage, nearly double his career percentage leading up to the season.

On the defensive side of the puck, he was largely a net-zero. He had a dismal 44.2% CorsiFor% at even strength, but maintained a palatable 48.2% success rate in the faceoff dot with a 90.4% on-ice save percentage at even strength while starting 53.7% of his shifts in the defensive zone. It’ll be interesting to see if Seattle deploys Gaudreau as a center, given they’ve got Matty Beniers, Shane Wright, Chandler Stephenson, and Joe Veleno down the middle already. Either they’re planning on shifting Gaudreau or one of the aforementioned players to the wing, or the Kraken are planning another trade from their forward core, similar to trading away André Burakovsky.

Meanwhile, the Wild’s take on the trade is fairly obvious. Trading Gaudreau relieves another $2.1MM from their 2025-26 salary cap table, giving them $17.7MM in available space leading up to July 1st. Now, even if they were to sign Marco Rossi for his asking price of $7MM per season, the Wild would have more than $10MM left to bring more quality pieces into the fold.

Still, it’ll be interesting to see how they re-work their options down the middle if they were to trade Rossi. Top free agent options such as Brock Nelson and Matt Duchene have already been taken off the table, while John Tavares is still expected to re-sign with the Toronto Maple Leafs. As of now, if they trade Rossi without acquiring a prominent center in return, they’d likely enter the season with Joel Eriksson Ek and Ryan Hartman as their top two options down the middle.

Dallas Stars, Jamie Benn Agree To One-Year Extension

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10:04 a.m.: The Stars have confirmed the signing. Johnston expanded on the bonus structure, reporting that Benn would receive a $500K bonus for 20, 30, 50, and 60 games played, $500K for a Western Conference Final win, and $500K for a Stanley Cup Final win.

9:05 a.m.: According to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, the Dallas Stars are close to re-signing their captain, Jamie Benn, on a one-year contract. LeBrun added that the contract should be completed today, while TSN’s Darren Dreger shares that the contract is bonus-heavy. According to Frank Seravalli of the Daily Faceoff, Benn’s contract will be a one-year deal worth $1MM, featuring performance bonuses similar to other contracts for players over 35. TSN’s Chris Johnston reports that the contract can become a $4MM deal, meaning Benn will have $3MM available to him in performance bonuses.

Once completed, the new deal will leave the Stars with under $1MM in cap space entering the offseason. It effectively eliminates any chance Dallas will retain trade deadline acquisitions such as Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci, or forward Evgenii Dadonov. Still, there was little expectation the Stars would pursue extensions with those players anyway, and they have effectively brought back the team’s core with some shrewd moves from General Manager Jim Nill over the last week. 

Benn may no longer be a high-scoring power forward who can contend for the Art Ross Trophy, but he remains a crucial leader in the Stars’ locker room and a valuable secondary scorer. His scoring has declined significantly in recent years, dropping from nearly a point-per-game average in 2022-23 to 60 points in 2023-24 and 49 points in 2024-25.

Like any aging player, Benn’s foot speed has also declined in recent years. Although he has never been known for his speed, Benn ranked in the 76th percentile with 504 bursts of 18-20 mph during the 2021-22 season, while the average was 300. In comparison, he recorded 383 bursts in the 2024-25 season, with the average at 326, according to NHL EDGE data.

Still, what he’s lost in offensive capabilities and speed, he’s made up for on the defensive side of the game. For the first time since the 2021-22 campaign, and only the fourth time of his career, the Stars deployed Benn in the defensive zone more than the offensive zone. He responded as well as he ever had, earning a 90.6% on-ice save percentage at even strength, while maintaining an 11.7% team on-ice shooting percentage while he’s on the ice at even strength, the second-best output of his career regarding the latter category.

Effectively, even with the potential of the contract becoming a $4MM agreement, Benn’s new contract appears to be a steal if he continues his defensive prowess. The bonus structure of the contract allows Dallas to push most of the overtures to their 2026-27 salary cap table, when the salary cap rises to $104MM.

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron-Imagn Images.

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