CHICAGO — Summer break is over! Greetings from Chicago, where The Athletic’s hockey writers and editors are meeting this week to kick off the 2026-27 season.The NHL, meanwhile, held a digital meeting with all 32 head coaches and general managers on Tuesday in advance of the season. After conducting the same meeting in person in Detroit last September, many involved wanted this year’s to be over Zoom, to avoid traveling at a time of year when there’s plenty to do for the coaches and GMs, with camps opening next week.Because it was on Zoom, the meeting didn’t lend itself to as much interaction as one would expect in person. According to several people on the call, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a meeting that’s not public, it was pretty standard fare, with the league walking GMs and coaches through what to expect this season, especially with the new collective bargaining agreement coming into full effect Sept. 16.The NHL also has a board of governors meeting slated for Sept. 22 in New York City, at which point there should be an update of the expansion process, including the latest on Houston and Austin.One thing that wasn’t discussed Tuesday but was confirmed by the league to The Athletic was that the 2027 draft, on June 25 and 26, will be decentralized for a third year in a row. The league didn’t seek feedback from the 32 clubs after the second decentralized draft in June, probably because there wasn’t the same level of outcry as there was with the first attempt in 2025.So it would appear the decentralized draft is here to stay.What else is going on around the NHL as things kick into gear post-Labor Day? After catching up with other sources around the league, given anonymity to discuss talks that aren’t public, here’s what I’m hearing.Why sports leagues finally embraced Las VegasTifo SportsGauthier negotiationsAnaheim Ducks forward Cutter Gauthier remains unsigned as training camp approaches, though the sides have kept the dialogue going.The Ducks have been in a tough place in this restricted-free-agent negotiation from the moment they matched Leo Carlsson’s monster five-year, $90 million offer sheet from the Philadelphia Flyers. Whatever a Gauthier contract might have looked like before the Carlsson deal is very much different from what it will be now, in this new, ever-evolving salary landscape. Connor Bedard’s new five-year, $15 million cap-hit contract has been brought up as a comparable for Gauthier, who scored 41 goals and 69 points in 76 games in his second NHL season.It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out. The new CBA kicks in Sept. 16 — no more eight-year deals, but also less enticing structure language and rules for players and agents having to do with signing bonus money and limits on front-loading. All of which is to say, if the Ducks want eight years, the clock is ticking, but if Gauthier and agent Kurt Overhardt want the existing structure options before it’s too late, there’s also heat on them.