Detroit AHL coach Dan Watson comments on recent CBA changes heading to the NHL in the near future.

The NHL made headlines earlier in the summer when revealing the details for the new collective bargaining agreement between the league and the players association. 

Major changes are on the horizon over the next few seasons with the most significant updates including an 84-game regular season, a shortened four-game preseason, and the introduction of a playoff salary cap. Contract extensions will be limited to seven years with a player's current team and six years with a new team. Minimum salaries are set to increase, and beginning in the 2026-27 season, all new players entering the league will be required to wear neck guards.

The changes will be interesting to see with Detroit's AHL head coach of the Grand Rapids Griffins, Dan Watson, believing the deal is " good for both sides." Watson expanded on his comments by saying the extra two games should help business with two more gates rather than pre-season ticket sales that normally aren't as strong. 

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"I I think both sides sort of gave up something. The negative side is with only four games, hopefully the guys that are knocking on the door of making the team will get enough reps and will get enough gameplay for teams to see them and be able to evaluate them," Watson explained. 

For a team like Detroit, this is a valid concern as the Red Wings have many prospects that are on the outside looking in for making the main roster and could've used the extra pre-season games to showcase their talents further and help the management team make a more informed decision. It's not for another two seasons before we see the CBA changes but it does bring to question how much harder it'll be for future prospects like 2025 first round pick Carter Bear or fifth round pick Nikita Tyurin. 

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Watson does believe a change that will help the younger players is the new contract lengths as it provides them more options in the future. He provided the example of players in their late 20s or age 30 will be limited to signing into their late 30s which should help with managing poor contracts on the management side. For the players, Watson explained that if the players signs his three-year entry level deal and follows it up with a max seven-year extension, it leaves the team with ten years of control while allowing the player to explore more potential options in an always growing NHL with new salary caps and opportunities to get paid more coming every couple of years. 

The NHL will need to better manage these contracts however, as the league is looking to finally close the loophole for the long-term injury reserve that teams have allegedly abused to manipulate their lineups heading into the playoff and roll out lineups that are over the salary cap. Watson believes the ECHL could be a tool in quickly learning the new process as the league includes similar restrictions when it came to the salary cap and add more transparency with lineups heading into crucial games. 

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"I think every team's going to know who they're playing and what players are going to be involved in the playoffs, and what that looks like. I came from a salary cap league in the ECHL, and I know it's completely different than the NHL, but we knew heading into playoffs, we knew every team's roster probably know their lineup a little bit more," Watson said "We weren't guessing if this guy's gonna be coming off an injured reserve and if he's going into a spot. What does that look like? Because every day, you had to be within the salary cap restrictions, and so I think it's very similar in terms of everyone has to get to the salary cap on those days that you play."

Teams won't be able to "technically hide players" as Watson described it and could limit trade deadline movement as team's that have players injured won't be able to go out and continue adding if they plan to use that available cap later for the returning injured player.

As the NHL moves toward implementing these sweeping changes, there are valid concerns, especially for bubble players and teams rich in developing talent like Detroit but the balance is continuing to even out for more everyday players and management, which will hopefully better the league for the future.

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