The NHL Players’ Association will not exercise its right to reopen the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the union announced Monday.
The CBA, a 10-year agreement that was ratified in January 2013, will now remain in effect through the 2021-22 season until Sept. 15, 2022.
“While players have concerns with the current CBA, we agree with the league that working together to address those concerns is the preferred course of action instead of terminating the agreement this season,” NHLPA executive director Don Fehr said in a statement. “We have been having discussions with the league about an extension of the CBA and expect that talks will continue.”
A clause in the CBA allowed the NHLPA to push its Sept. 15 deadline to make a decision on reopening the CBA to Monday because the original deadline fell on a Sunday. If the players elected to reopen the CBA, the two sides would have faced a Sept. 15, 2020 deadline to reach a new deal.
The NHL has lost games because of a labor dispute prior to ratifying the past three CBAs, including the entire 2004-05 season and 34 games in the 2012-13 campaign. The Blackhawks went on to win their fifth Stanley Cup in franchise history during the last one.