(Reuters) -The National Hockey League and union representing its players announced on Friday that they have agreed to a four-year extension of the collective bargaining agreement that will carry through the 2029-30 season.

The two parties, who made the announcement during a joint news conference, signed a memorandum of understanding and the deal requires ratification from both NHL owners and the NHL Players' Association membership.

"We can all look forward to at least five years more of labor peace of the Players' Association and the NHL working together," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters ahead of the 2025 NHL Draft in Los Angeles.

"While we didn't agree on everything, we had a very constructive, professional, collaborative collective bargaining process, which I think you all know started (at the) end of March and April.

The current CBA, which was signed in 2013 with a four-year extension ratified in 2020, expires in September 2026.

Among the changes that have been reported is the regular season expanding to 84 games per team from 82 while the pre-season drops to four games from six per team.

Reaching an agreement well before the current CBA expires is a welcome sign for a league that has experienced three lockouts in the last 30 years.

"We thought that it would be good to get this conversation moving," said NHLPA Executive Director Marty Walsh, a former U.S. Labor Secretary who took on his current role in February 2023.

"The process for us now is to take this agreement to the entire membership for ratification; we're going to do that over the next week or so.

"I'm happy with the process. Hopefully, the players will be happy with the outcome."