NEW YORK -- After weeks of tough negotiations, the NHL and its players reached a deal with the International Ice Hockey Federation on Friday to put the season on hold again so the game's biggest stars can compete in next year's Olympics in Sochi.

Putting a stop to another season one year after the damaging lockout created a shortened, 48-game campaign was hardly an optimal plan for the NHL. But an agreement was made to allow the top players to take part in the Olympics for the fifth straight time.

"Our outstanding athletes take tremendous pride in representing their homelands on the global stage," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in a joint announcement with the players' association. "The decision to participate in the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi was in many ways a difficult one, but one that we know will be well received by our players and, most importantly, by the vast majority of our fans and sports fans everywhere."

Added NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly in an email to ESPN.com on Friday: "I think we were able to get the things we felt were necessary to make NHL participation in Sochi worthwhile and successful. More workable and efficient travel logistics, improved quality and scope of insurance coverage for our teams and athletes, increased access and enhanced ability to collect and distribute Olympic-related content on NHL media platforms, and an improved ability to promote the NHL's participation in the Winter Olympics. It was a process that took longer than we anticipated, but at the end of the day, I think we reached an agreement that all parties can be pleased with."

NHL players first went to the Olympics for the 1998 Nagano Games. Now they will be available to the 12 national teams that will comprise the hockey tournament from Feb. 12-23, 2014. More than 120 NHL players are expected to compete for their respective nations in Sochi while the league takes a break for two and a half weeks from Feb. 9-26.

"You find out pretty quickly that an Olympic-year schedule is a little more condensed and a little more intense than a typical year," Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said during a conference call. "You have to take advantage of your days off because it is condensed.

"Playing that condensed schedule then going right into basically a pretty intense playoff atmosphere, every game is like a Game 7. Then coming back from that, you basically go from being at that level of intensity to regular-season games."

Friday's announcement paved the way for the NHL to reveal the schedule for the upcoming regular season. That had been held up until a resolution was made on Olympic participation. The league said Friday the 2013-14 regular season will begin Oct. 1.

"The players are very pleased that an agreement has been reached that will allow the world's best hockey players to compete at the Winter Games in February," said Don Fehr, the players' association executive director. "Having the opportunity to wear their nation's sweater in Sochi is something the players look forward to."