The NHL's Cancellation Of European Premiere Games, And How It Affects The Rangers

The National Hockey League announced yesterday afternoon, that they have officially cancelled the European Premiere games for next season. The decision was made after growing concern around the renewal of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which expires on September 15th, 2012.

How does this affect the New York Rangers? Well, for one, the Rangers were scheduled to make their season debut in Europe for the next two seasons, due to the renovations at Madison Square Garden. Now that Europe is out of the picture, the scheduling for next season is in question as well.

This current season, the Rangers started in Sweden, followed by a five game road trip to Western Canada, along with multiple pre-season games throughout Europe. It will be interesting to see how the NHL puts together the Rangers' schedule, as they will have a large road trip to start up next season, since Europe will no longer take up a large chunk of the time.

What do you guys think about this? If you want to read up more information on the negotiations for next year's CBA, you can take a look right here.