Once upon a time in baseball, it wouldnt have ended like this. And that, of course, is because, for close to 25 years, labor negotiations in baseball never ended like this.With peace. With stability. With a sport that has now gone so long without a work stoppage that the three other major professional sports in this land have combined for six of them since the last time a labor war erupted in baseball. How surreal is that?So even though the labor agreement of 2016 went down almost a week after Thanksgiving, this, my friends, was something to be thankful for. Peace is good. But more than that, peace is essential.As someone who has covered a few of those messy baseball work stoppages of yesteryear, Id be happy to hop up on the stand and testify. Whatever was gained on the inside from those strikes or those lockouts, it wasnt enough to undo the damage it caused on the outside.Baseball will never, ever be the same after the strike that wiped out the 1994 World Series. It will never regain the place it held in the American soul because of that strike. So no matter how vehemently people inside the game might want to defend the stands that they took back then, the truth is that in the big picture, only one good thing ever came of that strike.The people who run this sport got the memo: Peace is good. And they learned that they should never go down that ugly, self-destructive road again. And they havent.Theyve now made it through 21 consecutive years of labor peace since the strike of 1994-95. And thanks to the deal they made Wednesday night, we know theyre about to make it through five more. Hallelujah.As you look over the details of that deal today, could it possibly be more obvious that there was never an issue in the 2016 labor talks that was worth blowing up a $10 billion industry over? Never.Over the qualifying offer for a select group of free agents? Over containing spending on 18-year-old amateur players who happened to be born outside the United States? Over luxury-tax thresholds or tax rates? How did this sport ever drive itself to the brink of a lockout over issues like that? Incredible.We still have a lot to learn about the specifics of this new labor deal. So we cant fully judge the complete scope of everything that was agreed to yet. But the highlights that did leak out were fascinating, all right. Here are some quick reactions:? Wed been led to believe that owners were willing to shred the entire system that required teams to forfeit a draft pick if they signed an elite free agent (i.e., one who received and rejected a qualifying offer). Turned out we were dead wrong. Those teams no longer have to lose their first-round pick. And thats a significant achievement for the players union. But teams will still forfeit at least one pick for signing one of those players. And if theyre a team with a payroll that rises above the luxury-tax threshold, it will cost two picks -- second- and fifth-round picks. And thats still a big deal.Are a second- and fifth-round pick more valuable than a No. 1 pick? Of course not, one agent said Wednesday evening. But are they comparable? Certainly.? We also knew that as the two sides headed toward the wire, the luxury tax -- or competitive balance tax, if youre a fan of legalese -- was a major issue. Well, now we know why. Under previous versions of the luxury tax, the highest tax rate a team could pay was 50 percent, no matter how many times its payroll went beyond the tax threshold. But not anymore.If the Dodgers dont get their 2017 payroll under $235 million, it appears as if their tax rate would rise to an astounding 92 (yes, ninety-two) percent as a third-time offender subject to a 50 percent tax plus a 42 percent surtax for being $40 million over the threshold. Wow. Two different agents used the term soft cap on Wednesday night to describe the effect of a rate that high. But no matter what you call it, its the strongest deterrent to spending to ever appear in a baseball labor agreement. Theres no debate about that.? The union fought for months against the owners push to institute an international draft -- and ultimately won that fight. Instead, the two sides agreed to a hard cap on total annual spending for foreign-born amateur players, of about $5 million for every team. With no exceptions. And no flexibility to go above that amount.So the days of a Yoan Moncada raking in $31.5 million are over. As are the days of teams like the Dodgers blowing through their international bonus pool and then spending whatever they chose because they didnt mind the penalties. So it will take a while before we completely grasp the effect of this change on teams and players alike. But one thing to file away is this: Its the first time the union has ever agreed to any sort of hard cap in any area. Interesting.? The players did come away with a couple of scheduling concessions that theyd made a major priority in these negotiations. Starting in 2018, the season will start four days earlier, so that four extra off days can be included in the schedule. And there are new provisions requiring more teams to play day games when one or both teams face long flights after the game.In a sport that is now paying more than a half-billion dollars a year to players on the disabled list, these are more important elements of this agreement than you might think. If the primary cause of injury is fatigue, it makes sense for everyone to do what they can to combat as much fatigue as possible.There is so much more to sift through when the details get announced. So there will be more surprises and more changes, many of them subtle, some of them not so subtle. And only then will we know how all the pieces of this puzzle fit together.But Ive covered enough labor talks in my day to know that most of you dont care about any of that. You only care about one thing:Did they get this frigging deal done or not?Well, ladies and gentlemen, the deal got done. Woo-hoo. The hot stove can keep on burning. The trade rumors can keep on flowing. The game can keep on growing. And that, in the end, is what had to happen. Any other outcome would have been an embarrassment. Not to mention a disaster.Once upon a time in baseball, it wouldnt have ended this way. So thank heaven we dont live in that time anymore. Thank heaven we live in this time -- because no matter who emerges from this agreement unhappy about how this deal affects them -- peace always beats the alternative. And never more than right now. Trey Lyles Jersey . JOHNS, N. Tim Duncan Spurs Jersey . 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ARLINGTON, Va. -- The gangs almost entirely back for the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins and Presidents Trophy-winning Washington Capitals, Steven Stamkos re-upped with the Tampa Bay Lightning and the retooled Florida Panthers look ready for their close up.Get ready for a competitive race among those four teams in the Eastern Conference. Throw a healthy Carey Price back in net for the Montreal Canadiens and they could challenge, too, especially if defenseman Shea Weber fits well after a stunning summer trade from Nashville for P.K. Subban.Of course, it starts and ends with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and the Penguins.Theyre the Stanley Cup champs, theyre the No. 1, Capitals right winger Justin Williams said. Theyre the team to beat until somebody knocks them off.Pittsburgh was the best team in the playoffs last spring, going through the New York Rangers, Capitals, Lightning and San Jose Sharks to win the fourth Cup in franchise history. Washington was the best team in the regular season, 11 points ahead of the next-closest team, and is again the Metropolitan Division favorite.Here are some things to watch in the East:SUNSHINE STATE HOCKEYDont look now but two of the best young defensemen in hockey are playing in Florida: Aaron Ekblad for the Panthers and Victor Hedman for the Lightning. The Panthers have Finnish standout Aleksander Barkov and a real chance to win the Atlantic Division. Florida also added defensemen Keith Yandle and Jason Demers as part of its makeover and could take the next step after a surprise playoff appearance.Some of the guys we signed in the offseason gave us some more speed, a little more offense, president of hockey operations Dale Tallon said. Weve had two winning seasons in a row and weve made the playoffs and I think the fact that we got beat in the first round will be a motivating factor.OVECHKIN WATCHAlex Ovechkin led the NHL with 50 goals last season and isnt showing any signs of slowing down at age 31. He and the Capitals still havent won the Cup, and with several key players set to be free agents, this could be their best and last chance.ddddddddddddWashington isnt just Ovechkin, as Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender Braden Holtby and all-star centers Evgeny Kuznetsov and Nicklas Backstrom are all at the top of their games. More regular-season dominance should follow, but the playoffs are always the question.PRICE IS RIGHTAfter missing most of last season with a knee injury, a healthy Price is a welcome sight for the Canadiens. Price looked back to his old self winning the World Cup of Hockey with Canada, which general manager Marc Bergevin said puts everyones mind at ease, even our fans. The 2015 Hart, Vezina and Pearson winner is good enough to carry the Canadiens to the playoffs on his shoulders.NEW YORK, NEW YORKThe Islanders got deeper by adding wingers Andrew Ladd, Jason Chimera and P.A. Parenteau and defenseman Dennis Seidenberg. The Rangers got younger by signing college free agent Jimmy Vesey and trading for Mika Zibanejad. John Tavares and the Islanders are looking to build off their longest playoff run in 23 years in their second season in Brooklyn. Henrik Lundqvist and the Rangers are trying to stay at the top because the elite goalie isnt getting any younger.MATTHEWS MANIATop pick Auston Matthews is immediately the face of the Toronto Maple Leafs under coach Mike Babcock. Itll be a while before Toronto is a playoff contender, but Matthews at 18 was a man among men playing professionally in Switzerland and looked comfortable against elite competition at the World Cup at 19.Hes shown that hes going to be responsible on both sides of the puck, has a great sense of how to use his body on the ice, said Edmonton Oilers coach Todd McLellan, who had Matthews for Team North America at the World Cup. Hes a big man that protects pucks well. Hes able to use speed when he needs it.---Follow Stephen Whyno on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/SWhyno ' ' '