As Darren Dreger reported earlier today as the NHL's unofficial leak man, the NHL schedule up to December 14th has been cancelled, as well as the NHL's All Star weekend festivities.

The reaction so far among fans has been somewhere between "oh this again?" and "they should cancel the All-Star Game every year".

What this actually means as far as a CBA agreement is approximately nothing. When the NHLPA and NHL last got together a couple days ago, they were negotiating for a December 15th start to a 64 game season, so that is still quite clearly on the table.

However they wanted a November 1st start, then a November 15th start, then a December 1st start, so that doesn't mean we'll have NHL hockey on December 15th. The two sides are closer to an agreement than they would let on though, many reports estimating that they're about $1.2M or less per team per year apart, which is pocket change at this level.

Remember what's being cancelled in these announcement is the NHL schedule, not the games.

Official Press Release: