NHL cancels 53 more regular-season games through Nov. 1

New York, NY, United States (4E Sports) – Without a clear labor agreement in sight, the NHL has announced the cancellation of 53 regular-season games through Nov. 1.

“The cancellation was necessary because of the absence of a Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NHL Players’ Association and the NHL,” the league said on its official website.

The league has already shelved 135 regular-season games from Oct. 11 to Nov. 1.

The cancellation was announced after no positive development emerged during a series of meetings between the league and players union in Toronto.

During the meeting, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman proposed a new six-year CBA, with a mutual option for a seventh year, including a 50-50 split of hockey-related revenues over the life of the deal.

The deal, if accepted within 10 days, would allow for a full 82-game season to begin on Nov. 2.

“The Players’ Association came back and basically made three alternate proposals on the players’ share, all variations, to some degree, of the one proposal that they made over the summer and really haven’t deviated from since,” Bettman said after the meeting.

“And none of the three variations of players’ share that they gave us even began to approach 50-50 revenue split either at all or for some long period of time and it’s clear that we’re not speaking the same language in terms of what they came back to us with,” he said.

Despite the slow progress in negotiation, Bettman is hoping that an 82-game season could still happen.

“It is still my hope that we can accomplish my goal, the League’s goal of getting an 82-game season, but I am concerned based on the proposal that was made today that things are not progressing,” he said.

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