For years, reporting to NHL training camp meant more than getting back on the ice. Players could expect to begin camp with fitness testing, ranging from stationary bike tests and timed sprints to strength assessments and other conditioning drills.
Not anymore.
Under the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement, NHL teams are no longer permitted to conduct fitness tests on players during training camp or the regular season.[1]
At first glance, eliminating preseason fitness tests may not seem like a major labor issue. But the change shows how collective bargaining can regulate even the smaller details of a professional athlete’s working conditions. It also raises an interesting question: how much control should a team have over the way its players train and prepare for a season?
What Changed Under the New CBA?
The previous NHL CBA allowed teams to conduct fitness testing but placed limits on how those tests could be administered. Article 15.9 stated that testing had to be recognized or justified by the athletic training or medical community and could not expose players to an undue risk of injury.[2]
The new agreement takes a much simpler approach: fitness testing by clubs is prohibited during training camp and the regular season.
The change comes alongside other restrictions on training camp. Players have limits on how much time they can spend in on-ice and off-ice activities during the opening days of camp, and teams now have a shorter preseason before beginning an 84-game regular season.[3] These may seem like small details, but they show the role collective bargaining plays in determining working conditions. NHL teams still manage their players and decide how practices and training camps operate, but that authority is subject to the terms negotiated with the NHLPA.
The fitness-testing change also reflects how offseason preparation has evolved. Today’s NHL players generally train throughout the summer and often work with their own trainers. Sabres defenseman Connor Clifton told The Athletic that without having to prepare for a bike test, he could spend more of his offseason focusing on skating.[4]
Why Does Fitness Testing Matter?
Not everyone is convinced that eliminating testing is a good idea.
Fitness tests gave teams objective information about a player’s conditioning when he arrived at camp. They could also provide baseline measurements that strength and conditioning staffs could use throughout the season.
The new rule does not eliminate a team’s interest in whether a player is in shape. Coaches still have to evaluate conditioning, and players who report to camp unprepared can quickly be exposed once practices begin. What has changed is the method management can use to make that evaluation.
That distinction has already created some tension. Columbus Blue Jackets head coach Rick Bowness publicly expressed frustration with the conditioning of two players during the opening days of camp.[5] Under the new CBA, however, the team could not simply respond by requiring additional fitness testing.
That example highlights the labor issue behind the rule. A coach may want broad discretion to determine how players demonstrate that they are physically prepared to perform their jobs. But through collective bargaining, the players have negotiated a restriction on that authority.
Management Rights vs. Player Protections
The debate over fitness testing reflects a larger tension that exists in many unionized workplaces: the balance between management authority and employee protections.
NHL players are employees represented by the NHLPA, and their CBA establishes the terms and conditions under which they work. Collective bargaining therefore reaches beyond salaries, free agency, and the salary cap. It can also determine what teams can require players to do at training camp.
The evolution of the fitness-testing provision shows that balance particularly well. Under the previous agreement, teams could conduct fitness tests, but the CBA required medically justified testing and prohibited tests that created an undue risk of injury.[6] The new agreement goes further by prohibiting club-administered testing during training camp and the regular season altogether.
While the player-protection argument makes sense, does a complete ban strike the right balance? Teams make significant investments in players whose ability to perform their jobs depends heavily on physical conditioning. The protections in the previous CBA may have provided a better middle ground by allowing testing while regulating how it was conducted.
The NHL Scouting Combine also creates an interesting contrast. Fitness testing remains a major part of the Combine, where prospects complete physical tests that provide teams with objective information about their strength and conditioning.[7] The 2026 Combine included 12 fitness tests, including the Wingate bike test, VO2 testing, a 10-meter sprint, and a new squat test.[8] Top prospect Gavin McKenna even skipped the 2026 World Championship in part to prepare for the Combine.[9]
The CBA’s prohibition specifically applies to fitness testing conducted by clubs during training camp and the regular season, so the Combine appears to fall outside that restriction. Still, the distinction raises an interesting question. If objective fitness information is valuable enough for teams evaluating prospective players, why should similar testing be completely prohibited once those players become NHL employees?
What Comes Next?
Players are still expected to arrive at camp ready to play, and coaches will probably know fairly quickly who did and did not prepare during the offseason. The difference is that teams now have fewer tools available to formally test that preparation.
The fitness-testing rule is a small change in a much larger CBA, but it illustrates an important issue in labor law. Collective bargaining requires balancing employee protections against an employer’s ability to manage its workplace. In this case, whether completely eliminating fitness testing strikes the right balance may become clearer as teams adjust to the new rule.
Sources
[1] The Athletic, The NHL’s new CBA bans team fitness tests. Not everyone is happy with the change, Sept. 22, 2026.
[2] NHL-NHLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement, Art. 15.9 (prior agreement).
[3] NHL/NHLPA Memorandum of Understanding, Art. 15.
[4] The Athletic, The NHL’s new CBA bans team fitness tests. Not everyone is happy with the change, Sept. 22, 2026.
[5] Brian Hedger, Columbus Dispatch, Rick Bowness ‘not happy’ with two Columbus Blue Jackets for fitness, Sept. 17, 2026.
[6] NHL-NHLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement, Art. 15.9 (prior agreement).
[7] NHL, 2026 NHL Scouting Combine.
[8] NHL, McKenna, Stenberg among top draft prospects at 2026 NHL Scouting Combine.
[9] NHL, Gavin McKenna to skip World Championship to prepare for NHL Draft Combine.
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