The NHL officially announced on Friday afternoon that the league has cancelled the regular season schedule through Nov. 1 due to the ongoing collective bargaining negotiations with the NHL Players Association. A total of 135 games were scheduled over that span.
Despite the announcement, the league is reportedly still optimistic that a condensed 82-game schedule starting on Nov. 2 can still be played. According to previous reports, as long as a new collective bargaining agreement is ratified by Thursday, Oct. 25, the NHL could fit in the entirety of the 82-game schedule.
However, that would require for both the NHL and NHLPA to come to terms on an agreement within a week, which may be difficult based upon the quality of negotiations on Thursday. After the NHL presented a new proposal on Tuesday, which included a 50/50 split of hockey related revenue, the NHLPA countered with three separate proposals on Thursday that the NHL negatively responded to.
Despite the lack of optimism by both sides, there are still some who think the two sides are gradually getting closer to a new deal.
As of this time, no future meetings have been announced.