NHL cancels remaining preseason games as lockout continues

The NHL preseason was supposed to start on Sunday night with Ottawa and Montreal. That game and every other one through Sept. 30 were canceled last week by the NHL as a new collective bargaining agreement remains still to be agreed upon by the League and Players' Association.

John Shannon of Sportsnet reported that the NHL will wipe out the remaining 46 exhibitions games on Thursday, cancelling those preseason contests as the lockout continues. Yahoo! Sports has confirmed the report.

While special games like Kraft Hockeyville, the Frozen Fury in Las Vegas and Baltimore Hockey Classic were eliminated last week, gone now are the other notable matchups like the New York Islanders hosting the New Jersey Devils in the first-ever sporting event at the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn and the New York Rangers and Los Angeles Kings Colorado Avalanche facing off in the annual game in Kansas City on Oct. 6.

While most of us wouldn't usually lament the axing of preseason games, with the way the labor negotiations are going, who wouldn't rather be debating your teams' No. 8 defenseman?

Given that it's now Sept. 27, we're drawing ever so closely to the next announcement from the NHL in which regular season games are canceled.

Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy