Hurricanes end long day in NHL by trading first-round pick to Blackhawks
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Carolina traded 29th pick to Chicago for second- and future round selections
- NHL and NHLPA agreed to a CBA extension through 2029-30 pending ratification
- Draft featured new format, with 26 of 32 teams supporting decentralization
The National Hockey League had an interesting, eventful and long day Friday.
First came an announcement about an extension on the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Then, some noteworthy trades. Finally, on Friday night, the 2025 NHL Draft.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman kicked off the draft in Los Angeles. In a new-look format to the draft, Bettman announced the first overall pick — the New York Islanders taking defenseman Matthew Schaefer from the Erie Otters of the OHL.
The Carolina Hurricanes had the 29th overall selection in the opening round and had NASCAR driver William Byron ready to announce the pick. But the Canes traded away the selection to the Chicago Blackhawks, obtaining picks No. 34 and No. 62 in the second round, and a fifth-round selection in the 2027 draft.
It was the second straight year Carolina traded its first-round choice to the Blackhawks, looking to add an extra draft asset.
There were no other trades Friday by the Canes, no contract extensions. Plenty of social media chatter, for sure, but nothing officially done by the team other than the draft-pick swap with Chicago.
Grabbing attention Friday were the Montreal Canadiens, who made a deal with the Islanders for defenseman Noah Dobson after Dobson signed an eight-year extension. The Columbus Blue Jackets picked up forwards Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood from the Colorado Avalanche.
“My phone was lively,” Canes general manager Eric Tulsky said of the day. “There was a lot of chatter about trades.
“This year, it’s been a difficult year to get some of these things done because almost every team in the league is looking to get better. Most years, you have a few teams deep into rebuilds or starting rebuilds and are willing to move veterans for picks. This year almost every team is saying if they move a player they want players back. That makes it hard to get deals done.”
CBA agreement
Hours before the draft came the news the NHL and NHL Players Association have agreed on an extension of CBA through the 2029-30 season.
The CBA was due to expire after the 2025-26 season but both sides have approved a four-year extension, pending formal ratification by both NHL teams and the NHLPA. Bettman and NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh held a joint news conference Friday in Los Angeles to discuss the CBA agreement, although offering no specifics.
“We can all look forward to at least five more years of labor peace,” Bettman said.
It’s believed the amended CBA will include:
– An 84-game regular season and no more than four preseason games.
– Limiting player contracts with their teams to a maximum of seven years, and six years for free agents.
– Deferred salary will not be allowed in contracts.
– Playoff game rosters must be salary-cap compliant.
Moving from 82 to 84 games would create more scheduling flexibility and allow all divisional teams to play each other four times each season.
Other points under discussion, and likely to be in the finalized CBA extension, would be eliminating mandatory dress codes for teams before and after games; and allowing teams to have a full-time emergency backup goalie.
Under the current CBA, players can sign eight-year agreements with their teams and free agents can sign for as many as seven years.
Some teams, including the Canes, have used deferred salary plans in contract construction to keep their salary cap hits lower.
Carolina defenseman Jaccob Slavin and forward Seth Jarvis both signed eight-year deals that include deferred payments. Jarvis’ salary hit was reduced from $7.9 million to $7.5 million a year.
“It helped me but also helped the team,” Jarvis said after the contract was signed. “That’s what we were looking for, something to help build around not just me but the team here to have more space to bring in other guys.”
The CBA extension will maintain the 50/50 split between teams and players of hockey-related income — a major point of contention in the NHL lockout in the 2012-13 season.
The NHL salary cap will be $95.5 million next season and is expected to increase to $104 million in 2026-27 and $113 million in 2027-28.
‘Everything is going well and will continue to fuel the growth that we’ve seen,” Bettman said. “It’s all good.”
In talking about the new setting and format of the NHL draft, Bettman said 26 of the 32 teams voted to have a decentralized draft this year. He did not rule out a return to having team delegations attending, saying it would be in the hands of the teams to make that decision.
“It makes it a lot easier to involve everyone in your conversations,” Tulsky said of the different draft setting.
This story was originally published June 27, 2025 at 11:19 PM.
