As the story goes, last time there was a lockout in 2004-05, ESPN, the primary carrier of NHL games at the time, panicked. The Bristol behemoth and “Worldwide Leader” suddenly had a ton of airspace to fill, and all other ” legitimate” sports were spoken for. One can only imagine the tense, sweat-soaked and empty Chinese food box laden meetings, that went on among network brass since their 12-year run of success with the sport had come to an unexpected end. I’m not sure who exactly it was, but I can imagine one underling meekly raising his hand to suggest …
