Sources - NHL, NHLPA in final stages of extending CBA to 2030 - ESPN

The NHL and NHLPA are in the final stages of agreeing to a four-year extension of the CBA that includes an 84-game regular season, provides a solution for emergency goalies and limits player contract lengths to seven years, sources confirmed to ESPN on Thursday.

The deal could be announced as soon as Friday — ahead of the NHL draft — but would still need to be signed by both sides and ratified. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman gave the board of governors a detailed update at its meeting in Los Angeles on Wednesday, outlining the key issues.

The current CBA expires after the 2025-26 season. A four-year extension would carry the league and its players through September 2030.

Moving from 82 to 84 games in the regular season would shorten the preseason to a maximum of four games per team, sources told ESPN, instead of the current format of up to eight preseason games. An increased regular season would allow the NHL to keep its regular format of every team visiting an opponent once, while giving divisional rivals four games against each other every other season.

The new CBA will limit contract lengths for players to seven years, sources told ESPN. It will also eliminate deferred salary, which was bubbling up as a trend some teams were using to keep cap hits low. As of now, players can re-sign for eight years with their current team or seven years in free agency. Going forward, players can re-sign for a max of seven years with their current team and six years in free agency.

The new deal also includes revised language that would establish a new position within organizations of full-time emergency backup goaltenders — often called EBUGs — who can practice and travel with the team, sources told ESPN. Over the past several seasons,