The NHL collective bargaining agreement is the basic contract between the National Hockey League (NHL) team owners and the NHL Players Association (NHLPA), designed to be arrived at through the typical labour-management negotiations of collective bargaining. The most recent agreement, tentatively reached on July 13, 2005 after a 2004-05 NHL lockout which caused the cancellation of the 2004-05 season, was ratified by the NHLPA membership on July 21 and by the league's Board of Governors on July 22.