Gary Bettman says NHL’s CBA talks are ‘in really good shape’; not planning for Russia to participate at Olympics

EDMONTON, Alberta — Negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement are progressing well, though there is no timeline on reaching a deal, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh said Wednesday.

Bettman, at his annual state of the league address prior to Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, said the sides are “having very constructive, professional, cordial dialogue.” Talks did not begin until April, and there is still quite some time until the current CBA expires in September 2026.

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“I don’t have an announcement to make today that we have a deal, but we have more than a year to go and I think we’re in really good shape, having really good discussions,” Bettman said. “That’s a testament to Marty Walsh and Ron Hainsey and people at the Players’ Association who have been working tirelessly with us.”

Walsh said the league and union were having good ongoing conversations, adding there are not major issues on the table to quibble over.

“It’s moving steady, it’s moving forward, and I feel good with where we are, and we’ll see what happens,” Walsh said. “It gets complicated at certain times, any collective bargaining agreement, but it’s not where it was in the past here, where you’re seeing national disputes between organized labor and companies.”

Hainsey, the NHLPA’s assistant executive director, expects the constant meetings to continue during the final in Edmonton and South Florida.

“We’re all in the same place at the same time,” Hainsey said. “There are multiple days in between these games where we can find something for ourselves to do.”

Deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the league does not expect Russian players to participate in the Olympics next year. That would be status quo for the International Olympic Committee and the International Ice Hockey Federation, which has banned Russian teams since that country’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.

Walsh said players he has spoken to are disappointed not to be able to participate in Milan, the first Olympics with NHL participation since 2014.

“It’s out of their control, and there’s not much they can do,” Walsh said. “There’s not much they can do with what’s happening in Ukraine and Russia, and they want to play best on best. We hear it all the time. They want to play best on best, and we were hoping that by this point in time, the conflict or the war would not be where it is.”

Daly said the league is not engaging in a formal expansion process to go beyond 32 teams, but officials are listening to potential ownership groups about any proposals.

“If somebody wants to essentially apply for an expansion franchise and has all the requisite elements that we would look for in an expansion franchise, we would raise it with the Board of Governors and see if they have any interest in it,” Daly said. “There are some people we’ve talked to more than others, but there’s a lot of interest, which I think we’re gratified with.”

Bettman was asked one question about the ongoing Hockey Canada sexual assault trial, in which former Flyers goalie Carter Hart is one of five former pro players accused of sexually assaulting a woman in a London hotel room after a 2018 Hockey Canada banquet. The question asked whether Hart, Alex Formenton, Cal Foote, Dillon Dubé, and Michael McLeod would be allowed to immediately return to the NHL if they were exonerated.

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“We are not going to make any comments on what’s going on. We’re going to let the judicial process do what it has to do,” Bettman said. “We want to respect the process … what has been alleged is abhorrent, disgusting, and shouldn’t be tolerated.”

The five former NHLers, who are all free agents, were formally charged in February of last year. The evidence portion of the trial was completed on Tuesday, and according to TSN, closing arguments will begin on Monday.

Inquirer writer Gustav Elvin contributed to this article.