The National Hockey League and the NHL Players Association announced a tentative deal on Monday to return to play this season and extend their collective bargaining agreement for another four years.

The CBA agreement, along with both parties’ agreement on training camps and games protocols, paved the way for hockey to continue in less than a month. The training camps will open next Monday, July 13, and the games will resume on August 1 if the board of the tournament, the player’s executive committee and registration are completed. full tablets.

NHL is advancing to the playoffs with 24 teams continuing to compete. These teams will travel to one of the city’s two central cities on July 26 for the exhibition games. Qualification will start on August 1.

A person with direct knowledge told the Associated Press that NHL chose Toronto and Edmonton, Alberta, as the central city to hold the qualifying round and at least the first two playoffs.

This person spoke on condition of anonymity because the NHL Federation and Players Association has not yet released this information, which is included in the return agreement for play agreement. He said the tournament was cautious and allowed himself to be flexible in the event of a potential spike in COVID-19 infection when it was not determined which city would host the conference finals and the Stanley Cup.

The expansion of the CBA

The expansion of the CBA – currently taking place at the end of the 2025-26 season – is seen as a necessary step for hockey to return this summer amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Details of the CBA extension were not disclosed.

Among the issues discussed is the tournament likely to return to Olympic competition. NHL participated in five consecutive Olympics from 1998-2014 before skipping 2018 in South Korea.

Another major issue involved the sharing of escrow payments that players will owe to owners even reducing hockey-related sales by 50-50, something that was once associated with Players even before the pandemic cut league revenue this season.

The agreement requires the approval of two-thirds by the owners, and on the union side, the majority of the 31 members of the executive board represent.

Over the weekend, the tournament and players agreed on a series of back-to-play protocols involving training camps and games. Players will be allowed to refuse to compete in the extended playoff round and will have three days to make a decision after the deal is approved.