NHL ‘reevaluating’ All-Star Game, what tariffs could mean for HRR and cap, more: GM meetings wrap

MANALAPAN, Fla. — The overwhelming success of last month’s 4 Nations Face-Off may prove to be a sea-change moment for the NHL.

Gary Bettman acknowledged Wednesday that the popularity of 4 Nations left the league strongly considering making a change for the February 2026 All-Star Weekend, which has already been awarded to the New York Islanders and UBS Arena. Implied in Bettman’s answer at the conclusion of the annual March GM meetings is that the traditional all-star format is no longer a viable option. League officials understand it would undoubtedly be viewed as a letdown following the 4 Nations spectacle that shattered everyone’s expectations in terms of interest and attention.

“We’re reevaluating how we want to do things because I think we’ve raised the bar about as high as you can for an All-Star Game in any sport,” Bettman said in confirming a report from The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun last week. “So we want to make sure whatever we do is up to the standards that we’ve created.”

The Islanders were officially awarded 2026 All-Star Weekend in February 2024. Canceling it or significantly altering the format would be made more complicated by the fact that the team and its season-ticket holders are expecting an event. That’s still being worked through now.

The NHL does want to take advantage of the fact that its top players will be flying into the New York area before catching charter flights to the Milan Cortina Olympics in February anyway, so it’s extremely likely there will be something happening, even if it doesn’t end up including the traditional skills competition and three-on-three tournament.

Neither Bettman nor deputy commissioner Bill Daly would disclose anything specific about options under consideration.

“I don’t want to start speculation,” Bettman said. “We’ve promised the Islanders an event, and Islander fans deserve events that we’ve promised, so we’re focused on what we need to do.”

Daly said the league needs to make a final decision before the playoffs start next month.

Tariffs could affect NHL’s bottom line

With Canada and the U.S. involved in a trade war that has seen both countries enact new tariffs in recent weeks, the NHL is a keenly interested bystander.

Bettman acknowledged that the league’s bottom line could be impacted with seven teams taking in Canadian revenues while all 32 clubs pay the majority of their bills in U.S. dollars.

“If the Canadian economy is impacted to the extent that the dollar declines — the Canadian dollar vis-a-vis the U.S. dollar — that will have an impact potentially on our Canadian clubs and (hockey-related revenue),” Bettman said. “We’re hoping this is a moment in time and we get through this.”

The commissioner made it clear that he was taking no political stance on the issue.

Based on information circulated to NHL teams in January, four of the top 10 clubs in terms of gate receipts (net of taxes) this season are based in Canada.

If there’s a significant change to HRR, the league and NHLPA could find themselves needing to revisit the salary-cap figures they released in January, when they forecasted the cap ceiling jumping from $95.5 million to $104 million to $113.5 million over the next three seasons.

“Listen, if we have to make an adjustment, we will,” Bettman said. “Our hope and our expectation is we’re still on track.”

One-and-done decentralized draft?

Bettman made it clear, again, that he is not in favor of the decentralized NHL Draft that will take place June 27 and 28 at the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles.

The vast majority of teams wanted it — the final vote was 26-6 in favor when conducted last year, according to league sources — and now they’re going to get it even though some are having second thoughts. Among the reasons for a change of heart is teams discovering that the money they’re saving by not bringing their staff to a centralized location is still being eaten up by having to fly scouts and staff members to their individual war rooms.

The league is inviting roughly 50 prospects for the TV show that will take place at the 5,000-seat theatre at LA Live, with the home clubs being in separate locations.

“This is what the clubs said they wanted,” Bettman said. “A number have said, ‘Well, maybe we should have the other form.’ And we’ve said, ‘Listen, we’ll go through this experience and if there’s a surge of interest to go back, we’ll put it back to the clubs again.’

“We thought we ended the old framework with a bang doing it in the Sphere (last June). … But if there’s a desire to go back because the clubs miss each other, miss being on the floor together, we’ll put it back to a vote again. We can be flexible. This is us executing the will of the clubs.”

Steve Mayer, the NHL’s president of content and events, made a presentation to the GMs to explain how the technology will work. After a player is drafted, there will be what they’re calling a “Hockey House” he walks into to meet his NHL club’s staff virtually.

Bettman will introduce the No. 1 pick in the draft. With the draft being held in Los Angeles, there’s an enticing opportunity to have celebrities introduce the subsequent first-round picks, as Celine Dion did Montreal Canadiens’ Ivan Demidov last year and Michael Buffer did the Philadelphia Flyers’ Jett Luchanko.

CBA talks to begin April 1

The current collective bargaining agreement doesn’t expire until Sept. 15, 2026, but Bettman announced that formal negotiations toward a new CBA will begin with the NHL Players’ Association during the first week of April.

As evidenced during the 4 Nations Face-Off by Bettman and Daly holding a joint news conference with NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh and assistant executive director Ron Hainsey, the relationship between the two parties is friendlier than ever.

“I don’t think on either side there are any kind of fundamental issues,” Bettman said. “I’m anticipating based on everything that I’m hearing from Marty that we’ll like the discussions.

“I’m hoping we can do this quickly and quietly and painlessly.”

So while this won’t be a CBA overhaul as the big issues have largely been ironed out years ago with the implementation of a salary cap and ultimately a 50-50 revenue split between owners and players, there will be tweaks.

How long it takes to finalize those isn’t clear to those in charge of hammering out the next agreement.

“I won’t really know until we sit down to tell you the truth,” Daly said. “I mean, look, I have a list that’s multiple tens of pages long from the general managers, the assistant general managers, our people internally. There’s a lot of things that people want.

“The question is what we’re prepared to do, what they’re prepared to do, and how we want to move forward. And until we sit down, there’s really no way for me to handicap that.”

No rule changes, including extended overtime, recommended

In the games leading up to the championship at the 4 Nations Face-Off, overtimes were to be 10 minutes as opposed to five during NHL regular seasons. One of the more exciting finishes during the tournament came in Canada-Sweden when Mitch Marner ended the game six minutes in on the 12th combined shot between the two teams.

That led to a wave of positive reaction with Connor McDavid pointing out that nobody wanted to see that game go to a shootout.

But during this week’s meetings, there wasn’t a movement to extend overtime beyond the current five minutes.

The big reason is that more than 74 percent of games past regulation this season have been decided in three-on-three. That’s projected to finish as the highest OT-goal rate in NHL history for a third consecutive season. There have only been 56 shootouts in 2024-25, projected to be the lowest total in an 82-game season.

“I’m not a fan of the extended overtime because of ice conditions and the wear and tear on the players who would be playing the additional five minutes, and I worry about that in injuries,” Bettman said.

No playoff format change

Bettman, a long proponent of the current divisional playoff format over the old 1 vs. 8 format said that’s also not changing on his watch even though we could see a top Stanley Cup contender go out in the first round this season if the Colorado Avalanche play the Dallas Stars.

“You guys know I’m pretty dug in on this,” Bettman said. “I like exactly what we have, and if you look at the races that we’re having for the regular season, playoffs have started already. We’re in our play-in tournament, and I think it’s terrific.”

On Monday, the NHL showed the GMs virtually how the standings have changed daily since Jan. 1. In the Eastern Conference, eight teams have held a wild-card spot at some point since Jan. 1 and two points or fewer have separated teams at the playoff line for 97 percent of the season. Fourteen teams have been inside the playoff bracket since U.S. Thanksgiving.

In the West, the playoff line has been three points or fewer for the entire season and 86 percent of the season has occurred with the playoff line at one point or fewer.

On Tuesday night, the St. Louis Blues temporarily leapfrogged the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks to get inside the playoff bubble until the Canucks beat the Winnipeg Jets later that night. The Blues play the Canucks on Thursday with a chance to end a night inside the playoff bubble for the first time since Nov. 6.

“What can be more compelling and exciting and entertaining than that?” Bettman said of the constant fluxuations in the standings. “Best team to win the Cup has got to get through the best teams. Having great matchups in the first round. That’s terrific. That’s not a problem. That’s a great thing.”

Odds and ends

• The NHL expects Wayne Gretzky to start traveling to Washington Capitals games as soon as Alex Ovechkin gets within four goals of breaking his all-time goals record.

• About 15 league staff, plus an extensive crew of 10 cameras, will be on the ground for each Capitals game at that point, as well.

• The 2025-26 regular season will begin Oct. 7.

• Olympic rosters will be set by Dec. 31, with teams naming an initial six players by June 15. The U.S. and Canadian Olympic management groups were on hand for the GM meetings and both met to discuss roster changes from 4 Nations.

(Top photo: of Gary Bettman: Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)