By Patrick Knight - @patknightk102

Early this morning, the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players’ Association reached a deal on a new 10-year collective bargaining agreement.  The deal, pending ratification, came together after a lengthy 16 hour negotiating session between the two sides and Scott Beckenbaugh, a federal mediator. In fact, it was Beckenbaugh who brought these two sides together after it appeared talks had once again derailed late in the week.

“We have reached an agreement on the framework of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, the details of which need to be put to paper,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. He added that, “We have to dot a lot of I’s and cross a lot of T’s. There is still a lot of work to be done, but the basic framework has been agreed upon.”

According to TSN in Canada, here are some highlights of the new agreement:

• 10-year deal with a mutual opt-out after 8 years
• 50/50 split in hockey related revenue for all 10 years
• A salary cap, starting with the 2013-14 season, of $64.3 million
• Contract limits of seven years for free agents, eight if player resigns with his team
• The draft lottery will change. All 14 teams that don’t qualify for the playoffs will now have an opportunity to get the top overall pick.
• Revenue sharing among the teams will spread to $200 million
• Player participation in future Olympics and league realignment will be agreed to at a later date

The league is quickly working on putting together both a 50-game and 48-game schedule to use depending on how quickly the new CBA can be drafted and ratified. The initial plan was to start training camp later this week and have an all-conference 48-game season start on January 19^th. 

According to Star Tribune writer and KFAN contributor Michael Russo, Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher pulled Mikael Granlund from the Houston Aeros’ lineup Saturday night. The team didn’t want to risk him being injured if a new CBA deal was close to being agreed upon.

More to come.