Story highlights
National Hockey League and players still can't agree on a contract
All games now canceled through Dec. 30
Mediators couldn't bridge differences to get contract and end player lockout
NEW: Efforts underway to revive talks, but nothing scheduled yet
The National Hockey League canceled more games on Monday due to a labor dispute that has wiped out the season so far.
Negotiations with federal mediators that ended last week in New York failed to resolve differences in contract negotiations aimed at ending the lockout of unionized players.
The NHL has now scrapped games through Dec. 30, according to a league statement.
The league first canceled preseason games and now has called off the first half of the schedule plus the marquee Winter Classic outdoor match up on New Year’s Day and the All-Star game.
The door, however, still is open to a possible deal to salvage the second half of the season and the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has said any abbreviated regular season should probably have a minimum of 48 games per team, a threshold the league will cross in early to mid January.
No new contract talks have been scheduled.
“Trying to set up something for this week, but nothing finalized yet,” NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement on NHL.com.
The league and the players have been without a collective bargaining agreement since September.
A total of 526 games, nearly 43 percent of the season, were scheduled from the start of the regular season on October 11 through December 30, the NHL said.
A similar labor dispute canceled the entire 2004-05 NHL season.