REPLACING ABC AND ESPN with NBC and Versus last season was another aspect of Bettman's makeover of the NHL; unfortunately, the new television contract is not producing the same overnight success as the rule changes and the salary cap did. Versus has considerably lower subscription numbers than ESPN - and it's a small network­ looking to make its mark in the sports ­media industry.

"A big part of [the problem] was the relocation to a new station with a much smaller viewership than ESPN's," Bradley says. "The challenge [now] for the league is getting people to know that Versus is the home of the NHL. To do that, the NHL has to focus on creating a core audience at the gate. Then, out of that core, a television audience will eventually grow."

And, unlike in the NHL's prior contract with ABC, the league does not receive guaranteed money from its partnership with NBC. Instead, the NHL and NBC split advertising revenue. The lack of a rights fee is an agreement fit for the Arena Football League - not for one of the largest professional leagues in the country.

Bettman, though, thinks the league made the right decision. "We knew we were giving up in the short term some distribution [in exchange] for better coverage," Bettman explains. "It's something you can't judge in one or even two seasons, but I believe we're going to see growth over the next few years."

Therein lies the fundamental objective of the NHL's quest for notoriety in national television. The league is taking a temporary step back to take two steps forward.

And there is reason to believe that the current ratings are not representative of the future state of the NHL on national television. Fan approval of the NHL is at an all-time high, attendance is up 2.4 percent from the season prior to the lockout, and the league garnered $300 million more last season than it projected it would earn.