Macklin Celebrini’s family-centered journey to the top of the 2024 NHL draft class
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Ryan S. Clark, NHL reporter
NORTH VANCOUVER, B.C. — At the foothills of the North Shore mountains is an unassuming mid-century modern home that blends in with the other houses in the neighborhood.
Inside this house is a large, round walnut dining table. There are six chairs around this table, one seat for each member of the Celebrini family, even when they are not all under the same roof.
Macklin Celebrini sits off in the distance while he listens to his mother, Robyn, along with his two brothers, Aiden and R.J., share stories.
So much has been said about why the San Jose Sharks are going to take the Boston University center with the No. 1 pick of the NHL draft. But as for the path Macklin took? Few know the story in the way that only his family can tell. What becomes evident is that family is the No. 1 priority for the NHL’s next No. 1 pick.
“Our parents have done such a good job of teaching us how to act the right way, how to carry ourselves the right way,” Macklin said. “That’s something me and my siblings have all learned. You’re never bigger than anyone because of success or anything. It all comes from how good of a person you are and that’s something they’ve preached to us. Just be a good person first.”
A good person is a father who takes a job with the Golden State Warriors to give his family an even better life. A good person is a mother who drives her children five hours round trip so her three sons can train at a rink while she hits tennis balls for three hours with her daughter. A good person is a 19-year-old older brother who was already drafted by an NHL team but has the humility to admit that his younger brother is the better player. A good person is the 11-year-old youngest child who proudly states he wants to be like his two older brothers because they are his role models.
“I definitely think I want to do what they’re doing,” R.J. said of his brothers. “They’re having lots of success and I want to follow their footsteps.”
The love that comes from having all of those good people in his life has remained the constant for an 18-year-old who has spent the last few years building the expectation he could be the NHL’s next superstar.
Having that love is what allowed Aiden and Macklin to go to Shattuck-St. Mary’s School, nearly 2,000 miles away from home in Faribault, Minnesota. That same love allowed them to handle what it meant to be apart when they played junior hockey in different leagues before reuniting at BU.
That strong support system played an instrumental role in Macklin being able to do things that haven’t been seen in many years. The 32 goals and 64 points he scored in 38 games led to winning the Hobey Baker Award as the nation’s top men’s collegiate player and were the second-most points in a single season by a 17-year-old.
These are among the numerous reasons why Macklin is expected to go first to the Sharks in the 2024 NHL draft (Friday, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN).
Even if it’s a foregone conclusion that he’s going to go first to the Sharks in what’s been referred to colloquially as the “Celebrini Draft,” Macklin won’t make any assumptions with what he describes as “the uncertainty of the draft.”
“Well, I’m not going to get ahead of myself for sure,” Macklin smiled. “I can’t really speak on something that hasn’t happened yet.”
The way Robyn explains it, Rick’s job was to pick their children’s names — with the understanding she had veto power.
There was a long list of names they considered, but none of them seemed to fit. Rick continued to look for options when he came across Macklin. They liked how it sounded along with the fact it could be shortened to “Mack” or “Mackie” by his friends. And as Robyn joked, she calls him by his full name, Macklin, whenever he’s in trouble.
Rick and Robyn were soccer players who wanted to raise “healthy and happy” children regardless of what sports they played. That gave Macklin — whom Robyn described as “curious and rambunctious and mischievous” — an outlet.
Macklin and his siblings did everything between gymnastics, swimming, soccer, tennis and hockey.
“We certainly didn’t imagine this with what’s happening right now,” Robyn said. “Nor did we ever limit their goals and their dreams. We knew it was possible but we would never tell our kids, ‘No, that’s never going to happen.’ But at the same time, we never set out for this to happen.”
Robyn had an inkling that Macklin was good at hockey. Aiden said his feelings about his brother were confirmed when he played at The Brick Hockey Invitational Tournament. First played in 1990, The Brick is an annual youth tournament that sees teams from across the continent compete against one another.
And yes, there are highlights of a 10-year-old Celebrini at The Brick. He was a defenseman at the time, but still found ways to score goals. Like when he got the puck at center ice, beat his defender and scored on a wrist shot. There was another where he exited the defensive zone, sped through the neutral zone and passed the puck once he was in the offensive zone, only to be in position to score a goal seconds later.
What he did at The Brick had Aiden thinking about Macklin’s path.
“He obviously liked scoring goals more,” Aiden said, smiling. “He wasn’t the top scorer but there was a level of exceptional about him that I just knew. I saw him compared to the other kids and I’m biased, but I had faith he’d come out on top. There was a compete [level] in him at such a young age and that’s what really separated him. He was a winner. That’s his biggest quality now. He’ll do whatever it takes to win.”
Underneath Macklin’s approachably friendly demeanor lies a drive to win at all costs. There are stories about how Macklin gets angry when he loses at anything.
Board games, chess, pickleball — it doesn’t matter.
“We’ve had our fair share of fistfights over you name it,” Aiden said with his mother cackling in the background. “Whether it’s pickup basketball, soccer, mini-sticks, chess. There’s always — something’s about to blow. It’s gotten more civil nowadays. Maybe it’s because we’ve both matured a little bit. But there’s no escaping the competitiveness in this family in general.
“When I say everyone in this family hates to lose, I mean hates. There have been chess matches where the competitors didn’t talk to each other for a while. I can’t really name two people because we’re all guilty of it.”
R.J., however, provided more insight into how things really work. He said Aiden is the best chess player in the family and that he usually wins.
It’s what made R.J.’s first victory over his brother one he’ll always remember.
“That was the best day of my life!” R.J. said.
Both Rick and Robyn grew up in Vancouver, and that’s where they met. All their family and friends are there. They weren’t actively looking to leave. But when Rick was offered the opportunity to be the Warriors’ director of sports medicine and performance, it was clear that taking the job would be the best thing for their family.
Moving away meant making adjustments, particularly when it came to hockey. Vancouver has an affinity for the sport at practically every level. Its youth have gone on to play in the NHL and the PWHL. The city’s love-hate relationship with the Canucks (that’s currently love) is a year-round obsession. This is all to say that there’s seemingly endless opportunities for youth hockey players.
The Bay Area does have hockey infrastructure. The Sharks have been around since 1991 and have built a passionate following. But it’s not the same as living in a hockey-crazed locale such as Vancouver, where the game is much more accessible.
“Our kids went to regular school when we lived [in Vancouver] and when we moved, we realized getting on the ice or getting extra ice time down there was very difficult,” Robyn said. “So, they did online school. We just decided to keep them home and do online school and access more of the on-ice opportunities and development opportunities during the day when all the other kids were at school, because that was the only way we were going to be able to try to maintain the hours they did. It was a big sacrifice.”
The Celebrinis moved to the Bay Area in August 2019. Macklin was thriving while playing Triple-A hockey for the San Jose Jr. Sharks U14 team, scoring 49 goals and 94 points in 54 games.
In March 2020, that situation was upended by the pandemic.
With most facilities shuttered, the Celebrinis were looking for a rink where Aiden, Macklin and R.J. could continue their on-ice training while living in San Jose. They eventually found a small rink that was open just outside of Sacramento.
Five days a week for several weeks, Robyn and her children piled into their car at 6 a.m. and made what was a five-hour round-trip trek. Aiden, Macklin, R.J. along with their sister, Charlie, would do their schoolwork on those car rides before arriving at their destination.
That’s when Aiden, Macklin and R.J. all did what Robyn described as “self-directed skating and skill development” during what amounted to be 90-minute individual sessions. After Robyn dropped off her sons at the rink, she and her daughter, Charlie, would find a tennis court where they would practice and hit balls for at least three hours before returning to the rink to pick up the boys and head back to San Jose.
Making those trips allowed Macklin to continue his development. It led to both him and Aiden spending two seasons playing at Shattuck-St. Mary’s, the same program that developed future NHL stars such as Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews, Zach Parise and Nathan MacKinnon. Macklin scored 51 goals and 141 points in his first season for the 14U team, and he scored 50 goals and 117 points in 52 games the next season playing for the 18U team.
“Like everyone, you’re trying to find ice and where to train, because you didn’t want to lose any ground. But looking back, it is crazy,” Macklin said. “It’s the thing that we did. That’s one of the sacrifices my parents made for us. That’s seven hours of their day that they’re spending kind of catering to us and making sure we have everything we need. Looking back, it was crazy that we did that but at the time, it was our only choice.”
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Most Canadian kids with NHL aspirations traditionally use the Major Junior route as the primary development path to reach the game’s highest level. Major Junior leagues such as the Ontario Hockey League, the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League and the Western Hockey League have produced superstars such as Crosby, MacKinnon and Connor McDavid.
Moving to the United States means the Celebrinis were presented with another option beyond the WHL. College hockey has fostered the growth of elite Canadian players such as Toews but a recent surge has seen NCAA programs gain greater visibility for their roles in developing Cale Makar, Owen Power and Adam Fantilli.
The Celebrini’s chose the college route. That meant Aiden played juniors for the Brooks Bandits in the Alberta Junior Hockey League while Macklin played for the Chicago Steel in the USHL.
Aiden said that year apart was hard because their family is so close. But that time allowed him to find out more about himself as a person, which was also the case with Macklin.
Aiden and Macklin could have gone to different universities. But what made BU work is that they felt the Terriers had the coaching staff and facilities that could help them develop. There was also the chance that they could play together for at least one season, with the reality that they might never get another opportunity to be teammates.
“From each of us starting our individual process … we’ve experienced being in charge of our own journey but also being part of the other’s,” Aiden said. “Having that year where we played junior hockey apart, being able to go to school together was such an amazing thing for both of us. But at the same time, we wanted to make it for the right reasons. Neither of us wanted to make that decision for the other one, but wanted to find a place that was right for us.”
Going to BU was a chance for Macklin to refine the skills that not only made him the most dominant player on the ice, but could make him the sort of player who could be in the NHL at age 18. Aiden, a sixth-round pick by the Canucks in 2023, found BU appealing because it allowed him a slightly longer development runway.
That’s what made their year together even more rewarding. They were able to receive the individual development they needed. They were able to get that development while playing for a team that finished 28-10-2 and reached the Frozen Four, where they lost to the eventual national champion, Denver, in overtime.
But they were also able to spend time together away from hockey because they knew there was a chance everything could change if Macklin decided to leave BU after one season.
Playing at BU also allowed Aiden the opportunity to go through the time-honored challenge of seeing how their teammates could defend Macklin in practice.
“I’ve told him that as a defenseman, it’s difficult to defend him because he has that need, that want to score,” Aiden said. “At the same time, throughout the years I feel like I have learned to push his buttons and crack the code that is defending him. But it’s definitely not easy and it still isn’t easy. There’d be days I’d get the better of him and other days it feels like he’s a ghost.”
For a family as competitive as the Celebrinis, what allows Aiden to be comfortable admitting that defending his younger brother is a problem?
“Seeing him on the path he’s on, it’s not always easy being the brother,” Aiden said with Macklin just a few feet away. “You have your own challenges being compared to that, but at the end of the day, my love for him transcends all that. I’m so proud of him. I’m his biggest fan above all else. … I don’t think we see it as me versus him. We’re just so happy for each other’s successes. We’re there for our own journeys, but we’re there to help each other too.”
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After the Sharks won the NHL draft lottery, Robyn had a spark of inspiration. Her thought was that the casita that became Aiden and Macklin’s room could use some updates, now that it looked like her second-oldest child would be moving closer to his family.
That’s when Rick broke the news to his wife: Macklin is not going to be living with his parents while he’s playing in the NHL. Especially when his parents live in Livermore — a 40-minute drive with no traffic in a metro area where traffic is nearly ever present.
“I mean, it’s close but not that close for a daily commute,” Macklin said. “If this was a couple years ago when we rented a house 10 minutes from the practice facility, then I’d probably live at home. It’s just far enough that I don’t think that would happen.”
Speaking of San Jose, the fact that his family lives there and he spent time with the Jr. Sharks has led to a discussion about Macklin being the closest thing to a hometown talent the franchise has ever had.
Macklin is aware of those conversations. He said while he loved living in the Bay Area, he was born and raised in Vancouver. That’s the place he considers his hometown while recognizing that the Bay Area has been a home for him and his family.
But having Macklin in the Bay Area where he could come visit or they could visit him while watching his games is more than what Rick and Robyn would have expected. Mainly because when a high-achieving couple like Rick and Robyn raise high-achieving children, it means nobody is in one place for too long.
As the Celebrinis spoke in Vancouver about Macklin’s path, they were missing Rick and Charlie. Rick was back in the Bay Area while Charlie was representing Canada at a tennis tournament in Mexico. Although Aiden and Macklin can spend time together, Robyn and R.J. have to travel to a youth hockey tournament in Montreal.
Being on the move between different countries — while operating in different time zones — is how the Celebrinis have come to navigate the world.
“I appreciate them more because I don’t get to see them a lot,” R.J. said. “It’s definitely awesome to have them here this summer. I just want to spend as much time with them as I can before they both go back to Boston or Mack to San Jose.”
Robyn jokes that everyone having such a hectic schedule is why they’ve not had many, if any, family vacations over the past five years. That’s another reason why the NHL draft holds such a special meaning.
It’s a celebration. But also a chance for the six of them to be together along with their grandparents, aunts and uncles in Las Vegas.
Thinking about what that moment will be like for his family causes Macklin to review the things his family did to get him there. He brings up how his dad moved to the Bay Area a year early and lived by himself while his mom raised him and his siblings by herself in Vancouver.
“It’s my dad leaving work early to take one of us to practice so my mom could take one of us to tennis or whatever,” Macklin said. “Their lives have been around helping us succeed and doing everything they can to help us achieve our goals. I don’t think any of us could say enough to let them know how much we appreciate them.”
The two race teams suing NASCAR over antitrust allegations filed for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction Monday to be recognized as chartered organizations for the remainder of 2025.
23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are locked in a lengthy legal battle over the charter system, which is the equivalent of the franchise model in other sports. 23XI, owned by retired NBA great Michael Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, and Front Row, owned by entrepreneur Bob Jenkins, last September rejected NASCAR’s final proposal on extensions and instead filed an antitrust suit.
The case is winding its way through the court system but now with urgency: The teams are set to lose their charters Wednesday and in the latest filing, they allege NASCAR has indicated it will immediately begin the process of selling the six tags that guarantee entry into every race as well as monetary rewards and other benefits.
Should the teams have their six combined charters revoked, the drivers would have to qualify on speed to make each week’s race and would receive a smaller percentage of the purse. They might also have to refund money paid out through the first 20 races of the year.
NASCAR accused 23XI and Front Row of filing “a third motion for another unnecessary and inappropriate preliminary injunction” and noted it has made multiple requests to the teams “to present a proposal to resolve this litigation.
“We have yet to receive a proposal from 23XI or Front Row, as they have instead preferred to continue their damaging and distracting lawsuit,” NASCAR said in a statement. “We will defend NASCAR’s integrity from this baseless lawsuit forced upon the sport that threatens to divide the stakeholders committed to serving race fans everywhere.
“We remain focused on collaborating with the 13 race teams that signed the 2025 charter agreements and share our mutual goal of delivering the best racing in the world each week, including this weekend in Dover.”
Later Monday, Rick Ware Racing and Legacy Motor Club had a scheduled court date in North Carolina over their fight for a charter. Legacy, owned by seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson, contends it had an agreement with RWR to lease one of its two charters in 2026.
RWR contends the agreement was for 2027, and it already has a contract with RFK Racing to lease that team a charter next season.
The NHL’s board of governors and the NHLPA’s membership have ratified a new collective bargaining agreement. The current CBA runs through the end of the 2025-26 season, with the new one carrying through the end of the 2029-30 season.
While the continuation of labor peace is the most important development for a league that has endured multiple work stoppages this millennium, there are a number of wrinkles that are noteworthy to fans.
ESPN reporters Ryan S. Clark, Kristen Shilton and Greg Wyshynski break it all down for you here:
Draft recap: All 224 picks
Grades for all 32 teams
Winners and losers
When does this new CBA take effect?
The new NHL CBA is set to begin on Sept. 16, 2026 and runs through Sept. 15, 2030. Including the coming season, that gives the NHL five years of labor peace, and would make the fastest both sides have reached an extension in Gary Bettman’s tenure as NHL commissioner.
It’s also the first major negotiation for NHLPA head Marty Walsh, who stepped into the executive director role in 2023 — Shilton
What are the big differences in the new CBA compared to the current one?
There are a few major headlines from the new CBA.
First are the schedule changes: the league will move to an 84-game regular season, with a shortened preseason (a maximum of four games), so each team is still able to play every opponent while divisional rivals have four games against one another every other season.
There will also be alterations to contract lengths, going to a maximum seven-year deal instead of the current eight-year mark; right now, a player can re-sign for eight years with his own team or seven with another in free agency, while the new CBA stipulates it’ll be seven or six years, respectively.
Deferred salaries will also be on the way out. And there will be a new position established for a team’s full-time emergency backup goaltender — or EBUG — where that player can practice and travel with the team.
The CBA also contains updated language on long-term injured reserve and how it can be used, particularly when it comes to adding players from LTIR to the roster for the postseason — Shilton
What’s the motivation for an 84-game season?
The new CBA expands the regular season to 84 games and reduces the exhibition season to four games per team. Players with 100 games played in their NHL careers can play in a maximum of two exhibition games. Players who competed in at least 50 games in the previous season will have a maximum of 13 days of training camp.
The NHL had an 84-game season from 1992 to 1994, when the league and NHLPA agreed to add two neutral-site games to every team’s schedule. But since 1995-96, every full NHL regular season has been 82 games.
For at least the past four years, the league has had internal discussions about adding two games to the schedule while decreasing the preseason. The current CBA restricted teams from playing more than 82 games, so expansion of the regular season required collective bargaining.
There was a functional motivation behind the increase in games: Currently, each team plays either three or four games against divisional opponents, for a total of 26 games; they play three games against non-divisional teams within their own conference, for a total of 24 games; and they play two games, home and away, against opponents from the other conference for a total of 32 games. Adding two games would allow teams to even out their divisional schedule, while swapping in two regular-season games — with regular-season crowd sizes and prices — for two exhibition games.
The reduction of the preseason would also give the NHL the chance to start the regular season earlier, perhaps in the last week of September. Obviously, given the grind of the current regular season and the playoffs, there’s concern about wear and tear on the players with two additional games. But the reduction of training camp and the exhibition season was appealing to players, and they signed off on the 84-game season in the new CBA. — Wyshynski
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How do the new long-term injured reserve rules work?
The practice of teams using long-term injured reserve (LTIR) to create late-season salary cap space — only to have the injured player return for the first game of the playoffs after sitting out game No. 82 of the regular season — tracks back to 2015. That’s when the Chicago Blackhawks used an injured Patrick Kane‘s salary cap space to add players at the trade deadline. Kane returned for the start of the first round, and eventually won the Conn Smythe as playoff MVP in their Stanley Cup win.
Since then, the NHL has seen teams such as the Tampa Bay Lightning (Nikita Kucherov 2020-21), Vegas Golden Knights (Mark Stone, 2023), Florida Panthers (Matthew Tkachuk, 2024) also use LTIR to their advantage en route to Stanley Cup wins.
The NHL has investigated each occurrence of teams using LTIR and then having players return for the playoffs, finding nothing actionable — although the league is currently investigating the Edmonton Oilers use of LTIR for Evander Kane, who sat out the regular season and returned in the first round of the most recent postseason.
Last year, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said that if “the majority” of general managers wanted a change to this practice, the NHL would consider it. Some players weren’t happy about the salary cap loophole.
Ron Hainsey, NHLPA assistant executive director, said during the Stanley Cup Final that players have expressed concern at different times “either public or privately” about misuse of long-term injured reserve. He said that the NHL made closing that loophole “a priority for them” in labor talks.
Under the new CBA, the total salary and bonuses for “a player or players” that have replaced a player on LTIR may not exceed the amount of total salary and bonuses of the player they are replacing. For example: In 2024, the Golden Knights put winger Stone and his $9.5 million salary on LTIR, given that he was out because of a lacerated spleen. The Golden Knights added $10.8 million in salary to their cap before the trade deadline in defenseman Noah Hanifin and forwards Tomas Hertl and Anthony Mantha.
But the bigger tweak to the LTIR rule states that “the average amounts of such replacement player(s) may not exceed the prior season’s average league salary.” According to PuckPedia, the average player salary last season was $3,817,293, for example.
The CBA does allow an exception to these LTIR rules, with NHL and NHLPA approval, based on how much time the injured player is likely to miss. Teams can exceed these “average amounts,” but the injured player would be ineligible to return that season or in the postseason.
But the NHL and NHLPA doubled-down on discouraging teams from abusing LTIR to go over the salary cap in the Stanley Cup playoffs by establishing “playoff cap counting” for the first time. — Wyshynski
What is ‘playoff cap counting’ and how will it affect the postseason?
In 2021, the Carolina Hurricanes lost to Tampa Bay in the Eastern Conference playoffs. That’s when defenseman Dougie Hamilton famously lamented that his team fell to a Lightning squad “that’s $18 million over the cap or whatever they are,” as Tampa Bay used Kucherov’s LTIR space in the regular season before he returned for the playoffs.
Even more famously, Kucherov wore a T-shirt that read “$18M OVER THE CAP” during their Stanley Cup championship celebration.
The NHL and NHLPA have attempted to put an end to this creative accounting — in combination with the new LTIR rules in the regular season — through a new CBA provision called “playoff cap counting.”
By 3 p.m. local time or five hours before a playoff game — whatever is earlier — teams will submit a roster of 18 players and two goaltenders to NHL Central Registry. There will be a “playoff playing roster averaged club salary” calculated for that roster that must be under the “upper limit” of the salary cap for that team. The “averaged club salary” is the sum of the face value averaged amounts of the player salary and bonuses for that season for each player on the roster, and all amounts charged to the team’s salary cap.
Teams can make changes to their rosters after that day’s deadline, provided they’ve cleared it with NHL Central Registry.
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The “upper limit” for an individual team is the leaguewide salary cap ceiling minus any cap penalties for contract buyouts; 35-plus players or players with one-way contracts demoted to the minor leagues; retained salary in trades; cap recapture penalties; or contract grievance settlements.
The cap compliance is only for the players participating in a given postseason game. As one NHL player agent told ESPN: “You can have $130 million in salaries on your total roster once the playoffs start, but the 18 players and two goalies that are on the ice must be cap-compliant.”
These rules will be in effect for the first two seasons of the new CBA (2026-28). After that, either the NHL or the NHLPA can reopen this section of the CBA for “good faith discussions about the concerns that led to the election to reopen and whether these rules could be modified in a manner that would effectively address such concerns.”
If there’s no resolution of those concerns, the “playoff cap counting” will remain in place for the 2028-29 season. — Wyshynski
Did the NHL CBA make neck guards mandatory?
Professional leagues around the world have adjusted their player equipment protection standards since Adam Johnson’s death in October 2023. Johnson, 29, was playing for the Nottingham Panthers of England’s Elite Ice Hockey League when he suffered a neck laceration from an opponent’s skate blade.
The AHL mandated cut-resistant neck protection for players and officials for the 2024-25 season. The IIHF did the same for international tournaments, while USA Hockey required all players under the age of 18 to wear them.
Now, the NHL and NHLPA have adjusted their standards for neck protection in the new CBA.
Beginning with the 2026-27 season, players who have zero games of NHL experience will be required to wear “cut-resistant protection on the neck area with a minimum cut level protection score of A5.” The ANSI/ISEA 105-2016 Standard rates neck guards on a scale from A1 to A9, and players are encouraged to seek out neck protection that’s better than the minimal requirement.
Players with NHL experience prior to the 2026-27 season will not be required to wear neck protection. — Wyshynski
What’s the new player dress code?
The NHL and NHLPA agreed that teams will no longer be permitted “to propose any rules concerning player dress code.”
Under the previous CBA, the NHL was the only North American major men’s pro sports league with a dress code specified through collective bargaining. Exhibit 14, Rule 5 read: “Players are required to wear jackets, ties and dress pants to all Club games and while traveling to and from such games unless otherwise specified by the Head Coach or General Manager.”
That rule was deleted in the new CBA.
The only requirement now for players is that they “dress in a manner that is consistent with contemporary fashion norms.”
Sorry, boys: No toga parties on game days. — Wyshynski
Does the new CBA cover the Olympics beyond 2026?
Yes. The NHL and NHLPA have committed to participate in the 2030 Winter Olympics, scheduled to be held in the French Alps. As usual, the commitment is ” subject to negotiation of terms acceptable to each of the NHL, NHLPA, IIHF and/or IOC.”
And as we saw with the 2022 Beijing Games, having a commitment in the CBA doesn’t guarantee NHL players on Olympic ice. — Wyshynski
Did the NHL end three-team salary retention trades?
It has become an NHL trade deadline tradition. One team retains salary on a player so he can fit under another team’s salary cap. But to make the trade happen, those teams invite a third team to the table to retain even more of that salary to make it work.
Like when the Lightning acquired old friend Yanni Gourde from the Seattle Kraken last season. Gourde made $5,166,667 against the cap. Seattle traded him to Detroit for defenseman Kyle Aucoin, and the Kraken retained $2,583,334 in salary. The Red Wings then retained $1,291,667 of Gourde’s salary in sending him to Tampa Bay for a fourth-round pick, allowing the Lightning to fit him under their cap.
Though the NHL will still allow retained salary transactions, there’s now a mandatory waiting period until that player’s salary can be retained in a second transaction. A second retained salary transaction may not occur within 75 regular-season days of the first retained salary transaction.
Days outside of the regular-season schedule do not count toward the required 75 regular-season days, and therefore the restriction might span multiple seasons, according to the CBA. — Wyshynski
Can players now endorse alcoholic beverages?
Yes. The previous CBA banned players from any endorsement or sponsorship of alcoholic beverages. That has been taken out of the new CBA. If only Bob Beers were still playing …
While players remain prohibited from any endorsement or sponsorship of tobacco products, a carryover from the previous CBA, they’re also banned from endorsement or sponsorship of “cannabis (including CBD) products.” — Wyshynski
What are the new parameters for Emergency Goaltender Replacement?
The NHL is making things official with the emergency backup goaltender (EBUG) position.
In the past, that third goalie spot went to someone hanging out in the arena during a game, ready to jump in for either team if both of their own goaltenders were injured or fell ill during the course of play. Basically, it was a guy in street clothes holding onto the dream of holding down an NHL crease.
Now, the league has given permanent status to the EBUG role. That player will travel with and practice for only one club. But there are rules involved in their employment.
This CBA designates that to serve as a team’s emergency goaltender replacement, the individual cannot have played an NHL game under an NHL contract, appeared in more than 80 professional hockey games, have been in professional hockey within the previous three seasons, have a contractual obligation that would prevent them from fulfilling their role as the EBUG or be on the reserve or restricted free agent list of an NHL club.
Teams must submit one designated EBUG 48 hours before the NHL regular season starts. During the season, teams can declare that player 24 hours before a game. — Shilton
What’s the deal with eliminating deferred salaries?
The new CBA will prohibit teams from brokering deferred salary arrangements, meaning players will be paid in full during the contract term lengths. This is meant to save players from financial uncertainty and makes for simplified contract structures with the club.
There are examples of players who had enormous signing bonuses paid up front or had structured their deals to include significant payouts when they ended. Both tactics could serve to lower an individual’s cap hit over the life of a deal. Now that won’t be an option for teams or players to use in negotiations. — Shilton
What’s different about contract lengths?
Starting under the new CBA, the maximum length of a player contract will go from eight years to seven years if he’s re-signing with the same club, and down to just six years (from the current seven) if he signs with a new team.
So, for example, a player coming off his three-year, entry-level contract could re-sign only with that same team for up to seven years, and he’ll become an unrestricted free agent sooner than the current agreement would allow.
This could benefit teams that have signed players to long-term contracts that didn’t age well (for whatever reason) as they won’t be tied as long to that decision. And for players, it can help preserve some of their prime years if they want to move on following a potential 10 (rather than 11) maximum seasons with one club. — Shilton
What does the new league minimum salary look like? How does it compare to the other men’s professional leagues?
Under the new CBA, the minimum salary for an NHL player will rise from $775,000 to $1 million by the end of the four-year agreement. Although gradual, it is a significant rise for a league in which the salary cap presents more challenges compared to its counterparts.
For example, the NHL will see its salary cap rise to $95.5 million in 2025-26, compared to that of the NFL in which Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott’s highest three-year average is $61.6 million.
So how does the new NHL minimum salary upon the CBA’s completion compare to its counterparts in the Big 4?
The NBA league minimum for the 2025-26 season is $1.4 million for a rookie, while players with more than 10 years can earn beyond $3.997 million in a league that has a maximum of 15 roster spots
The NFL, which has a 53-player roster, has a league minimum of $840,000 for rookies in 2025, while a veteran with more than seven years will earn $1.255 million.
MLB’s CBA, which expires after the 2026 season, has the minimum salary for the 2025 season set at $760,000, and that figure increases to $780,000 next season. — Clark
Is this Gary Bettman’s final CBA as commissioner?
Possibly. The Athletic reported in January that the board of governors had begun planning for Bettman’s eventual retirement “in a couple of years,” while starting the process to find his successor.
Bettman became the NHL’s first commissioner in 1993, and has the distinction of being the longest-serving commissioner among the four major men’s professional leagues in North America. He is also the oldest. Bettman turned 73 in June, while contemporaries Roger Goodell, Rob Manfred and Adam Silver are all in their early- to mid-60s.
That’s not to suggest he couldn’t remain in place. There is a precedent of commissioners across those leagues who remained in those respective roles into their 70s. Ford Frick, who served as the third commissioner of MLB, was 71 when he stepped down in 1965. There are more recent examples than Frick, as former NBA commissioner David Stern stepping down in 2014 when he was 71, and former MLB commissioner Bud Selig stepped down in 2015 at age 80. — Clark
Jake Retzlaff announced on Friday that he’s withdrawing from BYU, formally initiating his transfer process from the school.
Retzlaff, BYU’s starting quarterback last year, said in an Instagram post that he made the “difficult decision” to withdraw and that he plans to “step away” from the BYU program. The post makes public what had been expected, as Retzlaff began informing his teammates and coaches in late June of his intent to transfer.
According to ESPN sources, Retzlaff’s path to transfer to a new school is not expected to come from the NCAA transfer portal. With Retzlaff just short of graduating, which would make the transfer process more traditional, he plans to simply leave BYU and then enroll at a new school.
That path is not a common one, but there’s precedent. That includes former Wisconsin defensive back Xavier Lucas leaving school this winter and enrolling at the University of Miami.
Retzlaff expressed his gratitude for his time at BYU, saying “it has meant more to me than just football.” He added that he’s “excited to turn the page and embrace the next chapter.”
BYU officials generally avoided the topic of Retzlaff at Big 12 media days this week, deferring to him to make a statement on his next move.
In a statement on Friday, BYU athletics said: “We are grateful for the time Jake Retzlaff has spent at BYU. As he moves forward, BYU Athletics understands and respects Jake’s decision to withdraw from BYU, and we wish him all the best as he enters the next phase of his career.”
Retzlaff’s departure comes in the wake of BYU’s planned seven-game suspension of him for violating the school’s honor code.
That suspension arose after he was accused in a lawsuit of raping a woman in 2023. The lawsuit ended up being dismissed on June 30, with the parties jointly agreeing to dismiss with prejudice, but Retzlaff’s response included an admission of premarital sex, which is a violation of the BYU honor code.
Retzlaff went 11-2 as BYU’s starting quarterback in 2024, throwing for 2,947 yards and 20 touchdowns. His departure leaves BYU with a three-way quarterback race this summer to replace him, with no clear favorite.
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