If I was the hockey commissioner and trying to attract new fans I would essentially give the programming away to bigger networks to get more eyes on it. Not bury it away on a little-known network. Die-hard hockey fans will find it but few others. And hockey gets marginalized.
Ask anyone (for example Howard Stern) to have moved to satellite. Their listeners have fallen off a cliff and it is unlikely that someone will just dial on in. How many new listeners is Stern getting these days? The same thing will happen to the NHL - except that it started from a much weaker position.
That’s what the NBC contract is, NBC pays nothing directly to the NHL, instead splitting the ad revenue. Unfortunately it’s only 20 odd games a year.