NHL Cancels Entire Month of November

The NHL is spending their Friday informing all teams that games through the entire month of November have been canceled.

After yesterday’s league-imposed deadline for a new CBA came and went without so much as further talks after the three-proposals-dropped-in-15-minutes meeting last week, another slab of canceled games was expected to come not long thereafter.

Yesterday, I wondered how dramatic the cuts would be and thought that they might only lob off the first two weeks of November, thereby at least trying to save the nationally-broadcast Thanksgiving Showdown that actually airs on NBC on Black Friday. But I left open the possibility of a full November cut, too–though I didn’t want to be right about that.

I especially didn’t want to be right about losing the Thanksgiving Showdown, since as a Boston Bruins fan who abhors the idea of joining the bloodthirsty crowds looking for holiday gift deals, I enjoy the idea of staying home and watching a hockey game while eating Thanksgiving leftovers.

For now, the Winter Classic is still safe. I say ‘for now’ because reportedly a decision to cancel it could be made as soon as next week. By the way, that would also mean the cancellation of a multi-day Hockeytown Winter Festival that would include minor- and AHL-level games played outside as well as fun and festivities for everyone.

The Detroit Red Wings confirmed that they won’t put on the festival if there’s no Winter Classic as the cornerstone of the event, which would mean a huge loss of revenue and potential tourism revenue for the Detroit and Ann Arbor areas. (Not like Detroit is in desperate need of good news or tourism dollars or anything.)

As of this writing, the league has no plans to return to the bargaining table with the NHLPA.