American hockey fans watching Game Five of the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals between the Ottawa Senators and Buffalo Sabres on NBC this past Saturday afternoon got a rude surprise at the end of regulation time.

With the game set to go into overtime, NBC without warning abruptly cut to coverage of The Preakness, the second jewel in American horseracing’s Triple Crown. The only heads-up was NBC informing viewers who had Versus that they could switch to that channel to watch the OT.

Fine if you have Versus, but not for those who don’t.

That generated justifiable outrage, even some calls from American hockey fans and some bloggers and pundits that the NHL should dump NBC when the current contract with the network expires.

Don’t count on it. The NHL needs NBC much more than the network needs the NHL.

As I pointed out in a post on Tom Benjamin’s blog on the subject:

“(T)he NHL won't do this because they're desperate to keep their product on a major US network, despite shoddy ratings or mistreatment by said network.

Right now NBC is the only major network willing to broadcast their product due to the sweetheart deal they have with the NHL. That's why it was willing to extend the deal recently by another two years. They're not losing any money in the deal, they only have to provide minimal coverage, and they can influence both the NHL's regular season and post-season schedule to determine the best matchups.

Can you imagine NBC have that kind of sway over the NFL, NBA or MLB? They've got the NHL by the short and curlies and they know it, so they're obviously not gonna lose any sleep over any outrage from NHL hockey fans over switching unannounced to coverage of the Preakness.

And they certainly won't care how much Bettman stamps his little feet in protest. In fact, Bettman was probably outraged but didn't say a word to the good folks at NBC, because he needs them more than they need him.”

There was probably considerably more outrage at NHL headquarters than their tepid response that was published in The Globe & Mail. Bottom line, there's nothing the NHL can do about it.

Don't be surprised if the league points out how accommodating NBC has been in their playoff coverage by pre-empting shows (such as the documentary on Barbero).

A horserace like the Preakness trumps coverage of an NHL playoff game for any of the American networks. 

In other words, folks, your complaints and outrage will fall on deaf ears.

All of this is merely reflective of how far the NHL's value has declined in the all-important American sports market. 

The recent quadruple overtime marathon that opened the Vancouver-Dallas series last week has some in the hockey media suggesting that the shoot-out, used to settled tie games after a five-minute four-on-four period, should be carried over into the playoffs.

The rationale behind this is two-fold; first, that since the shootout is already used to decide regular season games it only makes sense for continuity to have it settle playoff games, and second, that too many overtime games in the NHL go on far too long.

I’m against carrying the shootout into the playoffs, since I believe it should be a team effort to win a playoff game, rather than an individual effort, which is what the shootout is, one shooter against one goaltender.

Now I can cite my reasons in detail why I’m against it, but I’m not going to bother because, quite frankly, I think television – American television in particular – will ultimately bring about the implementation of the shootout in the playoffs.

The NHL is trying desperately to raise its profile in the American sports market. They’re not trying to win back current American hockey fans, most of whom I expect probably feel the same way as most Canadian hockey fans, that the shootout doesn’t belong in the playoffs.

No, the NHL is trying to attract new fans, and by doing that they’re trying to get more face time on television, but a potential stumbling block during playoff time is overtime.

TV execs aren’t gonna like the possibility of an NHL playoff game going into one overtime period, and any games that go over that limit are likely to have them clutching their chest at the thought of potentially pre-empting other shows to fit in an overtime marathon.

Television is king in American sports (oh heck, in sports anywhere in the world). If NBC’s or Versus’s  execs were to tell the NHL that they love the product but hate the overtime in the playoffs and would prefer to see the shootout implemented to settle these playoff games in a timely manner, well, I think we know what direction the league will go.

For me, it’s not a question of whether the shootout belongs in NHL playoff hockey, but rather, how long will it take pressure from TV broadcasters to force the league into implementing it.