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.