An 84-game season is among the changes coming to the NHL as part of the new labor deal

An 84-game season is coming to the NHL as part of an extension of the collective bargaining agreement that has been tentatively agreed to by the league and the Players' Association.

They announced a memorandum of understanding Friday in Los Angeles before the first round of the draft. It still needs to be ratified by the Board of Governors and the full NHLPA membership.

Two games are being added to to the regular season, the maximum length of contracts players can sign is being shortened and a salary cap will be implemented in the playoffs for the first time, two people told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The NHL and NHLPA began negotiations in earnest this spring after agreeing at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February to jointly hold a World Cup of Hockey in 2028. With revenue breaking records annually and the cap increasing exponentially in the coming years, Commissioner Gary Bettman and union executive director Marty Walsh voiced optimism about reaching an agreement quickly. There were no disagreements on a host of major issues like in previous bargaining talks.

“There’s been tremendous growth, and what’s ahead is spectacular on many fronts,” said Toronto's John Tavares, who's going into his 17th season. “The predictability of things goes a long way, I think, for everyone in the sport. It’s great to have that partnership and how collaborative it’s been, which has been very different from 2012. It’s great to see and happy that the growth of the game and the sport and the business side of it is all kind of in sync and in synergy and we’re able to kind of continue to build off the many great things over the last few years.”

The extension through 2030 provides the sport extended labor peace since the last lockout in 2012-13, which shortened that season to 48 games. Here is what is changing:

Going from 82 to 84 games beginning in 2026-27 — making the season 1,344 total games — is also expected to include a reduction in exhibition play, to four games apiece for the 32 teams.

The additions would be played within divisions, evening out the schedule to ensure four showdowns each season between rivals like Toronto and Boston, Dallas and Colorado and Washington and Pittsburgh. Currently, there is a rotation that has some division opponents facing off only three times a season.

That imbalance is coming to an end, and this is not the first time the NHL has had an 84-game season. The league experimented with that in 1992-93 and '93-94, when each team added a pair of neutral site games.

Since 2013, players have been able to re-sign with their own team for up to eight years and sign with another for up to seven years. Under the new CBA, each would be reduced by a year, to seven for re-signing and six for changing teams.

Top players, given the injury risks in the sport, have preferred the longest contracts possible. The same goes for general managers, eager to keep talent in the fold as long as possible. Nathan MacKinnon, Sebastian Aho, Leon Draisaitl, Juuse Saros, Travis Konecny, Mathew Barzal and, as recently as March, Mikko Rantanen are all among the top players who have signed lucrative eight-year deals.

“I guess that could be a rarity now,” said Trent Frederic, who on Friday signed an eight-year contract to remain with the Oilers. “Eight years is better than seven. It’s good to lock in before that changes.”

But with the salary cap getting its biggest increases season by season over the next three years, the thinking had already begun to change. Auston Matthews re-signed for only four years with Toronto last summer, and Connor McDavid could also opt for a short-term contract extension with Edmonton.

Currently, teams with players on long-term injured reserve can exceed the salary cap by roughly the amount of the players’ salaries until the playoffs begin.

Several times over the past decade, Stanley Cup contenders have used LTIR to activate players at the start of or early in the playoffs after they missed some or all of the regular season.

Florida did so with Matthew Tkachuk before winning the second of back-to-back titles, Vegas has done it with Mark Stone on multiple occasions, Tampa Bay with Nikita Kucherov and Chicago with Patrick Kane.

The rule has been criticized as an unfair loophole, a way to stockpile talent and then add even more for the postseason. After he and Carolina were eliminated by the Lightning in 2021, Dougie Hamilton quipped that the Hurricanes “lost to a team that’s $18 million over the cap.” Tampa Bay went back to back, and players wore T-shirts with that saying on it during their Cup celebration.

That will no longer be possible, though it's not exactly clear how it will work.

There are some other changes in store, too: The league will standardize draft pick rights until players turn 22, clear the way for full-time emergency traveling goaltenders and will stop teams to instituting a dress code for players, according to a person familiar with the CBA who spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Friday because details of the agreement were not being released.

Teams have been able to hold the rights to juniors players for two or three years, depending on their age, and for college players for four years; now those rights will be held until a player is 22. The change comes at a time when the NHL developmental pipeline is in flux after the NCAA decided that juniors players can be eligible to play U.S. college hockey.

“That would make a little more sense for development,” Washington Capitals assistant general manager Ross Mahoney said. “An example would be you would take a player out of the CHL, maybe he plays as an 18-, 19-year-old and now you want to sign him, but maybe he’s not quite ready for the (minors). So is it better to have him in (the American Hockey League) and have him healthy-scratched for a third of the games, or is it better for him to go play at North Dakota for two years and then sign?”

Emergency backup goalies, the beloved “EBUGs,” will soon be a thing of the past, years after the likes of David Ayres and Scott Foster went into games and won after a team's two roster netminders were injured. Each team will be able to keep an extra goaltender around to practice with and enter a game, rather than having a beer league replacement on standby.

The fashion walk — most are familiar with videos and photos of well-dressed players walking into arenas before games — will also change as one of hockey's older traditions goes by the wayside. Some teams have done away with requiring suits for players, instead going to warmup jackets and sweatpants, but now players can choose their own looks.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

From left to right, Ron Hainsey, NHLPA Assistant Executive Director, Marty Walsh, NHLPA Executive Director, Gary Bettman, NHL Commissioner, and Bill Daly, NHL Deputy Commissioner, interact after a joint press conference before the NHL hockey draft Friday, June 27, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Marty Walsh, left, NHLPA Executive Director, and Gary Bettman, NHL Commissioner, conduct a joint press conference before the NHL hockey draft Friday, June 27, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

On stage from left to right, Ron Hainsey, NHLPA Assistant Executive Director; Marty Walsh, NHLPA Executive Director; Gary Bettman, NHL Commissioner, and Bill Daly, NHL Deputy Commissioner, conduct a joint press conference before the NHL hockey draft Friday, June 27, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

From left to right, Ron Hainsey, NHLPA Assistant Executive Director, Marty Walsh, NHLPA Executive Director, Gary Bettman, NHL Commissioner, and Bill Daly, NHL Deputy Commissioner, pose for photos after a joint press conference before the NHL hockey draft Friday, June 27, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

FILE - Boston Bruins' Zdeno Chara, of Slovakia, hoists the cup following the Bruins' 4-0 win over the Vancouver Canucks in Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals on June 15, 2011, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press via AP)

Florida Panthers Brad Marchand celebrates with fans during the NHL hockey team's Stanley Cup championship celebration, Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla (AP Photo/Michael Laughlin)

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Mohamed Salah scored and Egypt eliminated defending champion Ivory Coast to move into the Africa Cup of Nations semifinals with a 3-2 victory on Saturday.

Salah nabbed his fourth goal of the tournament — Egypt’s third of the game — in the 52nd minute and the Pharaohs needed it as Ivory Coast threatened to twice come back from two goals down.

But Egypt held on in Agadir despite relentless Ivorian pressure and booked a semifinal date with 2021 champion Senegal in Tangier on Wednesday.

Ivory Coast had a woeful start as Franck Kessie lost the ball in midfield after a poor touch and Odilon Kossounou fell over instead of cutting out Emam Ashour’s ball for Omar Marmoush, who scored in the fourth minute.

Ramy Rabia produced a brilliant block to preserve the lead then scored himself with a header from a corner in the 32nd.

Ivory Coast finally pulled one back in the 40th when Ahmed Abou El Fotouh bundled in a dangerous Yan Diomande free kick that Kossounou headed on.

Salah restored Egypt’s two-goal cushion early in the second half when Rabia caught the Ivorian defense out with a long ball for Ashour, who set up Salah with the outside of his boot.

Guéla Doué pulled one back again with his heel in a goalmouth scramble after goalkeeper Mohamed El-Shenawy clawed the ball away in the 73rd, but the equalizer never came.

Egypt is bidding for a record-extending eighth title.

Victor Osimhen scored one goal and set up another for Nigeria to down Algeria 2-0 for its place in the semifinals.

The Super Eagles, who had a far from ideal preparation with reports of bonuses not being paid, will face host Morocco in the second semifinal in Rabat on Wednesday.

They needed patience in Marrakech against the team with the best defense in the tournament after failing to take their chances in the first half — Akor Adams fired over when he had only Luca Zidane in the Algeria goal to beat, and Calvin Bassey had another effort cleared off the line.

Osimhen finally scored after the break when he headed the ball back across Zidane’s direction of movement from Bruno Onyemaechi’s cross.

It was the first goal at the tournament conceded by Zidane, whose parents were in the stands again.

But it was quickly followed by the second.

Patient buildup play preceded Alex Iwobi’s pass to Osimhen, who unselfishly played across for Adams, who eluded the out-rushing Zidane and poked the ball into the empty net in the 57th.

Algeria coach Vladimir Petković reacted with three changes including the withdrawals of captain Riyad Mahrez and star forward Ibrahim Maza but there was nothing the Fennec Foxes could do to get back in the game against the confident and assured Nigerians, who remained in control throughout.

Adams struck the post when he looked certain to score the third.

Three-time champion Nigeria, which lost the final to Ivory Coast in the last edition, is bidding to win the title for the first time since 2013. It would help make up for the disappointment of failing to qualify for the World Cup — in contrast to Algeria.

AP at the Africa Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-cup-of-nations

Egypt's Mohamed Salah, left, celebrates after scoring his side's third goal during the Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinal soccer match between Egypt and Ivory Coast, in Agadir, Morocco, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

Egypt's Mohamed Salah celebrates after scoring his side's third goal during the Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinal soccer match between Egypt and Ivory Coast, in Agadir, Morocco, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

Egypt's Mohamed Salah, right, scores his side's third goal during the Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinal soccer match between Egypt and Ivory Coast, in Agadir, Morocco, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

Nigeria's Calvin Bassey, front, and Algeria's Redouane Berkane challenge for the ball during the Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinal soccer match between Nigeria and Algeria, in Marrakech, Morocco, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Algeria's Fares Chaibi, left, and Nigeria's Akor Adams challenge for the ball during the Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinal soccer match between Nigeria and Algeria, in Marrakech, Morocco, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Algeria's Rafik Belghali, left, and Nigeria's Akor Adams challenge for the ball during the Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinal soccer match between Nigeria and Algeria, in Marrakech, Morocco, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Nigeria's Victor Osimhen celebrates with teammates after scoring the opening goal during the Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinal soccer match between Nigeria and Algeria, in Marrakech, Morocco, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Nigeria's Victor Osimhen controls the ball during the Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinal soccer match between Nigeria and Algeria, in Marrakech, Morocco, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)