After nearly four months – 111 days, to be exact – NHL fans’ long, international nightmare has finally come to an end.  Commisioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA head Donald Fehr at last reached a tentative agreement to a new 10-year CBA literally hours ago.  Most of us were sleeping when the good news finally broke just before 6, but it was a pretty good thing to wake up to an hour or so later.  With negotiations at a critical point just a couple days ago, it was federal mediator Scott Beckinbaugh who spent countless hours with both sides over this last week (including twelve hours Friday shuttling back and forth between the NHL and PA hotels) to finally help bring this agreement to a reality.  First and foremost, if you had any vested interest in seeing the NHL back, you owe this man a big thank you.

If hockey fans are relieved that this is over, I’m sure the poor reporters who have been covering this thing round-the-clock (sometimes in the cold at night) are doubly so, as well as the talk show hosts who were stuck talking about compliance buyouts and CBA length for four months instead of goals, saves and trades.  Obviously people who work for the league, for teams and for the arenas that have been darker without hockey the last few months are more than relieved.  Not to mention businesses around those arenas, which have suffered due to this lockout – exhibit A, I haven’t been to Newark since August.  At least I know I’ll be going back at some point this month, and many others as well.  As Derek mentioned in his last blog, TV partners (NBC/CBC among them) have also felt the pinch, and sponsors have been angry over what was ‘supposed’ to be a shorter lockout, at worst.

Debating who won or lost this CBA is for another day, as well as forecasting what – if any – long-term damage will be wrought by the NHL’s third work stoppage in two decades.  What we do know about this deal is that it’s a CBA for ten years with an opt-out after eight, so at the very least we won’t have to deal with either of these warring factions for several more years.  This season’s schedule length and content should be announced as early as this afternoon according to commissioner Bettman, but it will be either a 48 or 50-game season starting within the next two weeks, no later than January 19.  Teams will have a few days to hold training camps and fill out rosters – in the Devils’ case they already had a couple of question marks up front and that was before Adam Henrique‘s injury in Albany, which will have the talented, young pivotman on the shelf for the first couple weeks of the season.

Other details of the CBA are trickling in slowly – 50/50 HRR for the length of the CBA, which the owners wanted.  A $64.3 million cap with two compliance buyouts (a lower cap was neccesary for next year considering the drop in revenues from missing 32-34 games plus preseason and the Winter Classic/All-Star game) is also in the agreement.  Players finally agreed to contract lengths of 7 years for free agents, 8 years if you’re re-signing with your own team after the owners had previously declared their 5/7 split ‘a hill to die on’.  While the Olympics aren’t discussed in this CBA, the NHL is expected to okay the presence of NHL players for 2014 in Sochi, after discussions with the IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation).

Whether you wanted hockey back, or were rendered indifferent by the nearly four-month work stoppage, one thing’s for sure – we’re all thankful in some way or another not to be discussing labor minutae anymore.  If you’re an NHL fan, the next few days will be a whirlwind, with trades and roster moves up the wazoo as teams try to finalize their rosters.  At least the ongoing AHL season (as well as juniors and college hockey) has helped teams to be able to evaluate their prospects, many of whom will get a further look in an abbreviated camp.  Questions remain about all three local teams, as well as the other 27 NHL clubs but that, too is for another day.  Another day in the very, very near future thankfully.