NHL to announce cancelation of entire preseason, according to report

The NHL will announce the cancelation of the remainder of the preseason on Thursday, according to John Shannon of Sportsnet. This means that there will be no hockey through Oct. 8.

This comes a little over a week after the league was forced to cancel all preseason games through Sept. 30. The cancellation of the preseason stems from the lockout of the NHL Players Association, which was enacted on Sept. 15 after the NHL and NHLPA failed to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement.

The two sides are tentatively scheduled to meet on Friday, which is the first time since Sept. 12 that the NHL and NHLPA representatives will formally sit down at the bargaining table. The meeting will take place in New York and is expected to focus on non-core economic issues.

Many believe that the quality of this round of negotiations will give an indication as to how long the lockout will last.

This story originally appears on SBNation.com.