NEW YORK — The NHL has called off all games through Dec. 14, plus the 2013 NHL All-Star Weekend scheduled for Jan. 26-27 in Columbus, Ohio.
The league made the announcement Friday, the 69th day of the NHL’s lockout of its players.
The new cancellations come as little surprise. The two sides had an unproductive negotiating session on Wednesday that produced no movement to break an impasse over splitting more than $3 billion in revenue and also player contracts.
“We’ve identified what’s important to players, but they seem to be so far at least unwilling to treat those concerns in a serious way,” union head Donald Fehr said after the last round of talks, at which the union presented a new proposal to the league.
A total of 422 regular-season games, more than 34 percent of the season, have now been lost.
NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said losing the 2013 NHL All-Star Weekend in Columbus is “extremely disappointing.”
“We feel badly for NHL fans and particularly those in Columbus, and we intend to work closely with the Blue Jackets organization to return the NHL All-Star events to Columbus and their fans as quickly as possible,” Daly said in a statement Friday.
The Columbus Blue jackets, the club hosting the All-Star game and the skills competition, said fans with tickets to events on that weekend could receive refunds.
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