NHL Lockout 2012 - News Update: Games Cancelled Up to January 14; Cancellation Deadline on the 15th?

The NHL has pushed the lockout to its limit as the league cancelled all games up to Jan. 14, 2013.

A report yesterday indicated that the NHL was going to set the deadline to save the season for mid-January. Now that all games have been cancelled until the 14^th, Eklund of Hockeybuzz states that the deadline will like be set for the 15^th to save the season.

Harrison Mooney of Puck Daddy Hockey Blog concurs and states that there have already been a total of nine different cancellation announcements. In total the league has now cancelled a total of 625 regular-season games or 50.8 percent of the season.

Eklund notes that the two sides are looking to move the conversation into new issues that have not yet been discussed in depth. Two of the issues Eklund states are being worked on include next season's salary cap and the possibility of a one-time buyout or amnesty. The NBA currently allows all teams one opportunity to get rid of one bad contract with little consequences to the team and it seems that the NHL would like to follow this model. Surprisingly, this clause is being put forth by the NHLPA. As for the cap issue it seems that the league wants the cap to be closer to $60 million while the union wants it closer to $67 million.

Despite the cancellation of the season being less than a month away, there are no scheduled talks between the two sides.