NHL Makes First Cancellations, Eliminates September Preseason Games

There isn’t going to be any hockey this September. The NHL announced today that it was cancelling all pre-season match-ups until at least October.

With negotiations stalled between the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association, the league was forced to cancel the start of the pre-season. According to the Associated Press, pre-season games were scheduled to start on September 23. Regular season games are scheduled to start on October 11, but it doesn’t look good at the moment.

A person familiar with the situation also said that NHL employees will be switching to a four-day work week starting on October 1. This will save the league a lot of money but will also force employees to take a 20 percent pay cut.

Teams around the league have also been making cuts due to the NHL lockout. The Florida Panthers and the Ottawa Senators have both let employees go since the lockout went into effect.

Meanwhile, players like Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin have already made plans to play overseas.

Ovechkin said:

“If the league keeps holding its ground, the lockout may last the entire year… We are not planning to give up, either. That way I could spend the entire season with KHL. It’s quite possible.”

Do you think there will be an NHL season this year?