The NHL officially announced on Friday that the league had canceled all regular season games through Nov. 30 due to ongoing collective bargaining negotiations with the NHL Players Association.
In total, 326 games (26.5 percent of the regular season schedule) have been canceled from Oct. 11 through Nov. 30. In addition, it means that the prospects of playing a full 82-game schedule are unlikely.
Following the passing of Thursday's deadline, it became apparent that the league was going to cancel more games. The NHL presented the union with a new proposal last Tuesday, which included a 50-50 split of hockey-related revenue with no salary rollbacks. After the players decided not to accept the deal, the owners withdrew the offer because it was made in the hopes of starting a condensed regular season on Nov. 2.
As of this time, no future negotiations are scheduled.
In terms of the Pittsburgh Penguins, captain Sidney Crosby stated that if all of November was canceled, he would have to consider playing in Europe, via the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:
Sidney Crosby, who has joined about 25 other NHL players for a week of training in Plano, Texas, had said he would "have to seriously look at" his European options if the entire November schedule was whacked.
"It would force me to think about it much differently," he said. "If they say they're going to end talks for a while, I'm going to have to think about things."