The NHL announced Monday that all games through Dec. 30 have
been canceled, as the league and the NHL Players Association still cannot agree
on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.
With the new cancelations, 526 regular-season games will
have been lost, equaling 42.8% of the season. While optimism surrounded talks
last week, the two groups again broke off discussions without a new deal agreed
upon.
The lockout has made life difficult for the league's main
U.S. TV partner, NBC. Hockey programming was supposed to fill much of NBC
Sports Network's winter schedule. At last week's B&C/Multichannel
OnScreen Summit, Jon Litner, group president, NBC Sports Group said that
"it is hurting our business."
While there is still hope that a season can be salvaged,
there would likely need to be an agreement within the next few weeks.
