TORONTO — Marty Walsh has always had an open-door policy for players since taking over as executive director of the NHL Players’ Association.

And lately, it’s literal.

Take a peek at Walsh’s office at the NHLPA headquarters, and it’s what you might call “open concept” due to recent renovations. A few walls were knocked down, with the plans to add a couple of offices, a players’ lounge and a swag room.

Walsh, in his second full season on the job, enjoys his partial view of the bay, but a little redecorating was in order.

“We’ve still got some work to do,” Walsh said, smiling.

The most important work, however, is looming soon as the NHLPA and NHL will start getting into more serious negotiations over the next collective bargaining agreement in the next month or so. Walsh wrapped up his fall tour of the league last week, having met with players from every team for the second straight season.

The current CBA — negotiated during difficult conditions in the 2020 COVID-19 shutdown — doesn’t expire until September 2026, so there’s plenty of time. But there’s a sense that both sides are ready to get rolling in talks. There’s not nearly the acrimony the sport has seen in the past — leading to three lockouts over 30 years.

“I think the relationship is as constructive as it’s ever been,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said last week.

What is there to fight about? The league’s revenues hit a record $6.2 billion last year, with a new record in attendance. Franchise values are booming, with Sportico’s recent valuations having the average club worth $1.79 billion (a 37 percent bump in just one year).

In a couple of weeks, the league will open up the first 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, a much-anticipated reintroduction of international play featuring NHLers with the United States, Canada, Finland and Sweden competing. The NHL recently canceled player escrow payments for the rest of the season.

Walsh, 57, the former Boston mayor and U.S. secretary of labor, isn’t going to put a timetable on how long talks might take. He declined to get into specifics of CBA topics publicly, noting the negotiating committee still has to meet and go over its list and their plans. But there’s optimism on both sides.

“When I got interviewed by the players, I told them my approach is collaborative,” Walsh told The Athletic. “Not to be taken advantage of, but collaborative. Any time you go into a contract negotiation with the idea of being less than constructive, it’s not the way you want to go into it. You want to go into it positive. We’ve worked with the league and had great success with the 4 Nations, the Olympic agreement, working on escrow, working toward a salary cap (number).

“A lot of good things are moving in the right direction. Revenues are good, that’s exciting as well. You want to capitalize on the positive.”

So, good vibes all around — but there’s still plenty both sides will want to tackle.

To get a better sense of what’s most important to the players, The Athletic chatted with around 20 of them in the past month, offering them anonymity to speak openly about union priorities.

“I don’t think there are many big issues right now,” said one 15-year-NHL veteran player. “I think the NHL got a lot of what they wanted the last 10 years to give them an extremely advantageous position. You see that manifest itself by the explosion of franchise values and the revenue growing substantially. That being said, I don’t think they’d want to stop the league for any reason, so I can see little things here and there (tweaked), but I don’t think there’s anything significantly major.

“I think there has been more working together — call it ‘pulling the rope’ together. Realistically, right, there’s a 50-50 revenue split and escrow is essentially zero. We hope the cap is growing significantly, that’s a reality where both parts can be happy.”

Growing the game (and cap)

The dominant issue among players continues to be increasing the salary cap, which would involve boosting hockey-related revenues in any way possible.

“We’ve got to get the salary cap to compete with other leagues,” said a 16-year-veteran. “It’s criminal how some guys in other leagues are making the money they are and guys in our league haven’t jumped. A big part was COVID, but we’ve got to get that up.”

The NHL is not going to match other leagues like the NBA ($140 million salary cap) for the obvious difference in revenue and TV rights deals. But there is a sense from players that a significant increase from the current $88 million is in order.

The tricky part is when that is decided. Teams — and agents — would love to have more clarity so they can make decisions with as much information as possible. Like the Minnesota Wild knowing how much they can afford to pay Kirill Kaprizov, who becomes a UFA in the summer of 2026, and the Oilers with Connor McDavid.

There is a chance the upper limits for next year and the year after are announced this season, according to a league source, which would be unusual considering there’s not a new CBA yet for past the 2026 season.

That would create some questions on what escrow is estimated to be and how much that could change if revenue estimates end up being lower.

Bettman explained the balance recently in terms of advance notice on the cap.

“We know the players don’t want escrow to the extent they can have it reduced,” Bettman said. “So the higher you make the cap, the more likely you’ll have an escrow. If you nail it just right — which is hard to do with precision because you’re projecting revenues — ideally you find a place where the escrow is as little as possible and/or the clubs aren’t writing a check to make up the 50/50 (split). It’s a little science, but it’s a lot of work.”

A new Canadian TV deal will be coming for the 2026-27 season, which should provide a revenue boost. Events like the 4 Nations and 2026 Olympics should also boost the league’s international profile, as do series like Amazon’s “Faceoff: Inside the NHL.”

“We’ve got to somehow keep our traditional hockey culture but also do more things to showcase the people in the game,” another veteran player said. “I’m a big fan (of the Amazon series). I said if I was ever asked to do it, I’d be fully obligated to do it because it helps grow the game. I wouldn’t really want to. I wouldn’t want to expose my family to it. But I’d do it if it’d help.”

Some players wondered if there was a way they could get a piece of future expansion fees. One thought it’d be great if the NHL took a page from the NBA’s Larry Bird exception and let teams exceed the salary cap to re-sign free agents. That’d make a big difference for teams like the Avalanche, who recently traded homegrown superstar Mikko Rantanen because they didn’t think they’d be able to re-sign him as an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Any exception like that would have to be collectively bargained.

Health benefits

Another issue brought up by many players was wanting to have full benefits in retirement.

In the current CBA, eligible players can enroll in the NHL Health and Benefits and get a subsidy that will help with costs. This program has been improved since the 2012 CBA, with three tiers instead of one singular policy.

“I’d love to see more medical coverage for life for guys,” said a 12-year-veteran. “I’d like to help guys struggling, whether it’s physically or mentally. The league should step up and protect guys. We give so much to the league. We give you everything of us — physically and mentally. It’s probably in their best interest to protect us for life.”

The problem, of course, is cost. Where does the money come from?

There has been encouraging participation, meanwhile, in the CTE committee, approved in an NHLPA board meeting over the summer. The idea of the initiative is to help players understand chronic traumatic encephalopathy and the damage concussions can cause. While concussions aren’t a topic players typically talk about publicly, privately it’s definitely on the radar.

Schedule and playoff format

The schedule is a hot topic, with players saying they’d like to see tweaks to the number of back-to-backs and also start times.

“For us, we play 9 o’clock every playoff game,” one Western Conference player said. “That’s unfair for us, and that’s my biggest thing.”

There are arguments on both sides on whether the 82-game season is too long. Some players mentioned the idea of cutting some preseason games.

“I think the latest Game 7 of the Cup Final should be is June 1,” said one player.

Do players support a shorter preseason and longer regular season in the NHL?

The wrinkle with the NHL schedule is working with TV broadcasts and rights holders. There’s an emphasis on aligning the season to capitalize on moments where the league can jump to the forefront versus competing with other sports. The Stanley Cup Final ending in late June last season wasn’t ideal, but the NHL also got to go every other night with the NBA Final, giving it more exposure.

As much as some players would love for the league to return to the 1-8 playoff seeding format, Bettman has maintained that the league has no appetite to change the current division-based bracket.

If the playoffs started on Thursday, there would be some new matchups in the Eastern Conference, at least, with Tampa Bay Lightning–Washington Capitals, Toronto Maple Leafs–Ottawa Senators and New Jersey Devils–Carolina Hurricanes.

“I think what we have works extraordinarily well,” Bettman said. “Look at our regular season: Every game matters.”

Other ideas

Players had smaller tweaks they’d like to see as well, from one saying teams should be able to carry three goalies on the road — avoiding the EBUG situation — to a couple wanting changes to offside review.

“Just a time limit on it,” one veteran player said. “If (the offsides) doesn’t directly result in a goal, like there’s only a certain amount of passes or time in the zone, like 15-20 seconds, before it’s unchallengeable.”

As much as there might be some interest by some to make some alterations to the NHL Department of Player Safety and the appeal process, it’s a tough situation as the NHLPA is there to protect all players — the ones who commit the infractions on dangerous hits as well as the injured players.

A number of topics didn’t come up in the player tour for Walsh as often as last seaason, when the tenuous situation in Arizona, the Mike Babcock saga and Pride nights were being discussed widely.

“It’s a good relationship right now,” Walsh said. “There’s good things happening. Revenues are up. The game is in a strong place. Escrow for players is zero. Hopefully the salary cap can be another positive. 4 Nations is coming up. We have an Olympic agreement. Utah moving (from Arizona) has been a benefit to the players.

“There’s some good things happening. There’s obviously different types of bumps in the road. But, for the most part, things are heading in the right direction.”

Walsh has made a good impression on players during his tours and conversations.

“He made it pretty clear he’s working for the players,” one Eastern Conference player said. “Which is great. He just wants to help us.”

“We’ll see,” another player said. “There’s a lot of talking now and no action yet. But there’s a reason he got the job.”