He alluded to something about hockey at the end of SportsCenter too (last night I believe) but I didn't catch it. Should have rewinded it to see what it was.

I was wondering why ESPN was pimping this year's version of New York's (of course!) latest version of an NHL all-star team that doesn't know how to play together. Also known as the Rangers.

And you don't think ESPN has power. They dropped the sport, ignored it, and subsequently it suffered from a lack of exposure. Now, the NHL has to come crawling back to them, begging for publicity and a TV contract. Worldwide Leader indeed.

I hope Versus doesn't waiver. Cable companies are starting to pick it up and Versus has reason to showcase the NHL. If ESPN gets it back, it'll go back to Friday night garbage duty.

Anonymous above is a moron. The Rangers are an all-star team ? They play with a salary cap in the NHL now silly little dunce, which doesnt make them able to overpay players like they didi in the past. They got Gomez and Drury and their defense is less that ALL-Star

I thought the Rangers played very well last year. You are probably some dopey islander fan who's a bit dissapointed that the only off season signing you got was Jon Sim.

Puck You Fruitcake

Every year, the Rangers hog the "national" headlines because they've just picked up the final pieces of the puzzle. From Gretzky to Robataille to Lindros to Messier (one more time) to Jagr to Shanahan.

And I'm supposed to get excited now that they have Gomez and Drury? Sorry, but I've heard it all before.

I hope it does come back to ESPN. The versus coverage is awful as is NBC's. Plus in a lot of cable systems you need the upper tier digital channels or a sports tier to even get versus. So just because a company has them doesn't mean everyone can see it without paying extra for it.

I am mixed on it. I want it back on ESPN because then more people get to watch which helps the sport. But on VS they at least are treated properly, and not pushed around by ESPN.

I wish more cable companies just picked up VS, or the NHL worked out a deal similar to what the NBA has with TBS and TNT and all those cabal companies.

cable* damnit

Hmm, must depend where you are. I've lived in three different areas over the last two years and have had OLN/Versus standard on each cable system.

Troublizing said it best..um there's a salary cap, this isnt 1999..

Screamin A shows up on O'Reilly.

talking about Sheffiled, HUH!

It's like the NFL guys.

Salary caps don't mean shit if you don't want to spend enough to reach it, like some teams do. And salary caps didn't stop teams like the Lakers, Patriots and the 49ers teams of the 90s from getting anybody they wanted.

It doesn't make sense for Versus to pull out now since they've already taken their lumps to introduce their coverage last year. As a network I've only heard of them as a disgruntled hockey fan and I've called my cable provider to get them.
The network should be picked up more around the country this year, as it takes about one lost season for providers to accomodate fans, as they did with NFL network and the YES network before that.
If anything, I don't see why NBC shouldn't deal their coverage to ESPN (except that ESPN is ABC). I've never seen a single hockey commercial on NBC and they made their intentions clear by bailing on overtime in last year's Eastern Conference Finals for the Preakness pregame...

...as for the Rangers, they could take a while to mesh so they won't set any records (Lundqvist may be a slow starter), but only injuries or Ottawa will keep them out of the cup finals this year.
A bump in the cap and not signing Nylander kept the Rangers from choosing between Drury and Gomez. Either way, you can't buy players that don't want to be on your team and even if you could, that doesn't make your team good. You don't even have to leave the Garden for an example, since the Knicks have spent their way into an nega-dynasty.