Insider Trading: NHL clubs seek clarity on CHL, NCAA signing windows

TSN Hockey Insiders Pierre LeBrun and Darren Dreger join host James Duthie to discuss the clarity NHL teams are looking for on the CHL and NCAA signing windows, what the NHL schedule could look like in 2026-27, and more.

Duthie: Post trade deadline Insider Trading with Darren Dreger and Pierre LeBrun. Dregs, you've been reporting all year long on these changes to junior hockey, with CHL players going to be eligible to sign with the NCAA. NHL teams still trying to figure out how this affects them with the CBA and signing periods?
 
Dreger: Yeah, the signing window is especially, you're right. And, as we know, the CBA can be confusing at the best of times. And, really, that's what this boils down to. It is a CBA-related item, and there's a new CBA that's currently being negotiated on. So, just for a refresher: If you draft a player out of the Canadian Hockey League, NHL clubs have a window of two years to sign that player to an NHL deal. Otherwise, that player goes back into the draft. If you draft a player from the NCAA, you have a four-year signing window. So, now that we know that the NCAA rules have changed and CHL players can play in the NCAA, how does that impact these [signing] timelines? That's what general managers want clarity on. But, unfortunately they're not going to get it coming out of those meetings. Again, it will be a CBA item for sure.
 
Duthie: Another possible change coming would be [the NHL] schedule. Pierre, you and I have been yelling at everyone - mostly just into the wind - for years now about how we should get back to the Stanley Cup being awarded either at the beginning of June or the end of May, not the end of June. Tell me there is hope here with this. 

LeBrun: There was hope last year and you know that we reported this. The league and the NHLPA, last year, talked about the idea of moving things up so that the Cup was awarded by around June 10th and the regular season started closer to Oct. 1. Well, I got bad news for you, James, and probably for 99 per cent of hockey fans. The idea now is no longer on the table. And, in fact, what's being discussed for the 2026-27 season - when the new CBA extension would be kicking in - is to yes, start the season earlier.

I'm told in late September, they're talking about puck drop for the regular season and yet still have the Stanley Cup Final played out into late June. More days added to the regular season calendar is what the league is talking about behind the scenes right now. Part of that is because, as discussed before, the idea is to perhaps go to an 84-game season and to shorten pre-season, but also it's to help with the congestion of the schedule when the league now is committed to best-on-best hockey every two years between the Olympics and World Cups of hockey. So that's for 2026-27. For next year, it's more of the same. Regular season expected to start on Oct. 7, late June Stanley Cup, but very congested because of the Olympics in Italy. Teams have been warned over the past month. Lots of three games in four nights. Lots of back-to-backs. Don't whine to us, there's not much we can do. But, it's in two years, James, that I'm very sad. 

Duthie: On [the topic of] next year, where you say it's going to be condensed: We've had 4 Nations being a huge success. The Olympics next year. Will they cancel the All-Star Game just because there's no time for it? 

LeBrun: The short answer is probably not, if for no other reason than they've already announced it. So, last year, the All-Star Game in Toronto, the league announced that an All-Star game would be held ahead of the Winter Olympics in Italy. Don't ask me why, but they saw it as an opportunity to have, like a send-off with all those players headed to the Olympics. But, after the amazing success of 4 Nations, there have been talks behind the scenes of people saying, 'Are we really going to have an All-Star Game next year, which is basically a dog's breakfast after we just had this best-on-best event last year?' And, there are people asking the question like, 'How smart is it to have this All-Star Game, which we know we can't save in terms of the entertainment value?' Again, I think the New York Islanders, who are hosting that All-Star Game - they've already started talking to their season ticket holders about it. It's probably too late to put the toothpaste back in the tube, but it is a question being asked behind the scenes. 

Duthie: GMs meetings next week in Florida. Embellishment one of the topics likely to be discussed.
 
Dreger: Yeah, no question about that. And, look, almost always when the embellishment penalty is applied, it's connected to another penalty - a minor penalty for hooking, for tripping, for holding something along those lines. What about a new direction with this? You know, why not just isolate the embellishment and call that penalty? So, it's not a tweak or a rule change. It would be a new direction. The general managers need to talk about it, but it's not as simple as saying 'Yes, we're going to do this next season.' It has to go through the process, assuming the GMs want that penalty called - only that one penalty for embellishment. Then, it has to go on to the competition committee and ultimately on to the board. And, there are players that could push back on this simply because nobody wants to be associated with diving.
 
Duthie: Now that "trade bait" is done, do some of the guys that did not get traded on the Trade Bait List get signed to extensions, Pierre? 

LeBrun: Certainly one appears ahead of the other right now - Kyle Palmieri of the New York Islanders. Those contract talks, which started on deadline day, have continued and I'm told they're pretty close to perhaps getting an extension done. Although when the Islanders announce it doesn't seem clear, but I think they're getting close there. However, [Chicago Blackhawks centre] Ryan Donato, they had extension talks on deadline day. We talked about it at the time. They've kind of given that a breather since last Friday, but the expectation is that both sides will start talking again soon. Both the Blackhawks and the Islanders hoping to sign their respective UFAs before July 1.