The NHL needs ESPN.

To be perfectly clear, I'm not the biggest fan of ESPN. I think they love the East Coast too much, they have commentators that are fools, and I hate some of their programming. Who the hell wants to watch some kids play Madden on a Playstation? However, because ESPN is the foremost authority of televised sports, the NHL has got to find a way to get back on ESPN.

Let's just look at some numbers:

Total households that have ESPN: around 94 million
Total households that have Versus: 74 million

ESPN also has ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN News, ESPN Classic, and ESPN Deportes. I've even heard that they're trying to get ESPN broadcasted in BOTH Heaven and Hell.
Versus has Versus and.....absolutely nothing else.

According to Comcast, Versus covers "...the NHL, America's Cup, Field Sports, Professional Bull Riding, the Tour de France, Mountain West Conference College Football and more.

First off, the America's Cup? I bet if you ask 10 people that are into sports, 7 of them wouldn't be able to tell you what the America's Cup even is. The only reason I know is because of some Al Michaels narrated VHS tape about great sports moments in the 80's. And can anyone name a team in the Mountain West conference? Boise State, maybe? The point is Versus shows crap. And as long as the NHL is on Versus, it will forever be buried on a network that does nothing to promote the sport. For godsakes, the NHL games being played in Europe this year weren't even broadcasted on Versus.

For the sake of promoting the NHL to a broader base, the NHL absolutely needs ESPN. As we all know, ESPN can and will market and promote anything. They even have funny bowling commercials to promote a bowling tournament. Bowling! The NHL has now become a league for the skilled players and has gotten away from the holding and clutching that once made this great game boring to watch. If Gary Bettman is serious about making hockey more popular, he has to leave Versus and bring ESPN into the fold again.