I'd love to see it, but what is Disney's incentive to sign back up for the NHL on ESPN? They cater to the hip-hop generation, and the NBA isn't going to be kicked out of prime time during the NBA playoffs for the NHL playoffs. I don't trust that Bettman is smart enough to expand TV viewership opportunities and television exposure.
Here's another example of Bettman's TV exposure idiocy. I'm in Omaha, 550+ miles and 8 hours away from Denver. A couple of years ago I went to order the Center Ice package so that I could get the Avs games after their owner backed out of Fox Sports RM and formed his own "Altitude" network. Guess what? Omaha is considered home team area for the Avs, so their games were blacked out on Center Ice subscriptions in Omaha. I'm closer to the NHL cities of St. Paul, St. Louis, and Chicago, not that those teams games should have been blacked out either. The only way to get the Avs games would have been to get a dish, which I didn't want to do. Oh, and neither of the 2 local cable companies carried Altitude.
I'd love to see Bettman replaced with a hockey guy - someone like Scotty Bowman or Sweet-Lou Lamoriello or Ken Holland (Detroit GM).
That should be the straw to break Bettman's back, but it won't be.
I believe game 5 of the Pens-Caps series was on saturday night on VERSUS.