The National Hockey League has canceled its entire schedule of games for November as a result of the NHL lockout. The Friday announcement means the Dallas Stars will lose eight more home games, including two that usually draw big crowds: the Chicago Blackhawks and Washington Capitals.
With the latest announcement, the Stars have now lost a quarter of their schedule for the season.
The NHL had already made two rounds of game cancelations since the lockout started in mid-September. But the Stars lost only four home games, all of which were against Western Conference teams. With the latest announcement, the Stars have now lost a quarter of their schedule for the season.
These new cancelations ensure the NHL will not have a full slate of 82 games this season. The NHL held out hope for a full season, but the league determined play would have to start by November 2.
The league’s two previous lockouts resulted in a 48-game season in 1994-95 and the cancelation of the 2004-05 season. The NHL and the NHL Players’ Association are at a stalemate over negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement. The two sides last traded proposals last week with no agreement.
The major sticking point of negotiations is the split of hockey-related revenue for player salaries and benefits. The NHL is proposing a 50-50 split of hockey-related revenue for the life of the contract, which would be a 7 percent cut and include an immediate rollback of player salaries. The NHLPA offered three different proposals that also called for a 50-50 split but brought player salaries down gradually over the life of the deal.
