The NHL delivered an early Christmas present to NHL fans yesterday, another block of cancelled games. Games were already cancelled through December 30th, and the NHL extended it through January 14th. Merry Christmas and a happy new year.

That brings the number of cancelled games up to 625, 50.8 percent of the season.

Gary Bettman has come out and said that they are not interested in having a season with less that 48 games. January 15th could be the “drop dead date” for getting that many games in, though some feel that it could be a week or so later.

The 15th is also the day the players would collect a paycheck. That may provide some extra incentive for them to want a deal done.

The NHL has cancelled an impressive 17.7% of their regular season games since Oct 2004 (1 in every 5.6) and 10.6% since Oct 1994 (1 in 9.4).

— Daniel Tolensky (@dtolensky) December 20, 2012

Both sides didn’t talk yesterday, and have only done so a couple times in the last week.

Today is final day for players voting on whether to give the executive board the authority to file a disclaimer of interest. It is expected that players will vote ‘yes.’ The board will then have until January 2nd to file.

The players also have to deal with the NHL’s lawsuit.

A court summons says the NHLPA has until Jan. 7 to respond to the NHL’s class-action lawsuit filed in New York last week.

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) December 20, 2012

Both sides have continued to tell the media that they are willing to meet with the other side, with Bill Daly even saying they’d be willing to meet on Christmas.

It is said that if an agreement is reached, teams would need seven to ten days to get all players back, and have a week long training camp. So, if the 15th is indeed D-day, there could be a couple weeks left of little talk and movement.