Neck guards to be mandated for new players starting in 2026-2027 under new CBA

As the NHL and NHL Players Association continue to move toward a new collective bargaining agreement that will extend labor peace between the two entities, details of the particulars of the agreement continue to emerge.

According to Daily Faceoff insider Frank Seravalli, all players who enter the league beginning in the 2026-2027 will be required to wear neck guards during game action.

Players with at least one NHL game played before that season will be grandfathered in to the existing rules and will not be required to wear them.

The sweeping move mirrors past measures that the league has taken to protect the health and safety of its players.

Following a rash of eye injuries in the early 2010s, the league moved to require all new players and those with under 25 games played prior to the start of the 2013-2014 season to play with a visor permanently affixed to their helmet.

Others were grandfathered into the old rules, and the only remaining active players who still have the option to go without one are Ryan Reaves, Ryan O’Reilly, Jamie Benn and Zach Bogosian.

Awareness of the additional safety that comes with wearing a neck guard has been increasing for years, but the issue’s relevance reached a high point following the death of former Pittsburgh Penguin Adam Johnson in October of 2023 after his neck was cut by a skate in a collision he was playing for the Nottingham Panthers of the Elite Ice Hockey League in the United Kingdom.

The players subject to this rule in the NHL will very likely be used to the equipment when they arrive. The WHL, OHL and QMJHL all made neck guards mandatory in the wake of Johnson’s death.

The AHL and USHL both followed suit before the start of the 2024-2025 season.