2012 NHL Lockout: NHL Cancels Regular Season Games Through October 24th

The National Hockey League announced this afternoon that all regular season games through October 24th have been canceled. Sadly, this was expected for quite sometime as the NHL and NHLPA are not meeting, and when they do meet, there are more differences than similarities in their discussions. There is no clear end in sight, and the league is expected to announce more cancellations within the next two weeks. The 82-game schedule isn't off the table as of right now, but it is likely to diminish in the coming weeks if no agreement is met.

For the Rangers, they lose their first five games to start off the season, which were as follows: Oct. 12 at Los Angeles, Oct. 15 at San Jose, Oct. 17 at New Jersey, Oct. 19 at Buffalo, and Oct. 23 at Tampa Bay. The Rangers next scheduled game is on October 25th at Pittsburgh, which doesn't appear likely either unless there is some sort of miracle between now and then.

Here is the NHL's straight and to the point press release that they sent out earlier this afternoon.

NEW YORK -- The National Hockey League announced today the cancellation of the 2012-13 regular-season schedule through October 24. A total of 82 regular-season games were scheduled for Oct. 11 through Oct. 24.

The cancellation was necessary because of the absence of a Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NHL Players' Association and the NHL.

This isn't much fun...