There never will be big-ticket announcers such as John Madden and Al Michaels and audiences measured in the hundreds of millions. And much of the U.S. south will blink its eyes with indifference.

But the success (or failure) of hockey on NBC over the next few weeks could lead to a breakthrough for the National Hockey League, which could use a boost in revenue.

The U.S. network is in the final year of its two-year deal with the NHL and actually is riding some momentum.

The Winter Classic between Detroit and Chicago on New Year's Day drew an audience of 4.4. million Americans, the most-viewed NHL regular-season game in 34 years.

If the league can build on that, could it possibly command a deal with any of the big four networks that brings in significant revenue?

The NHL's senior vice-president for broadcasting, John Shannon, told Sun Media this week that talks won't heat up on renewing the deal until after the Super Bowl hangover subsides. That also will give both NHL and NBC executives a chance to see how the next few weeks draw, beginning with Saturday's Stanley Cup final rematch between Pittsburgh and Detroit.

NBC certainly has room in its schedule in the dead zone on the calendar for sports programming. While CBS loads up on college basketball, ABC has the NBA and Fox gets fat on NASCAR, NBC has little right now.

Sources say the NHL currently makes roughly $10 million US per season in its revenue-sharing arrangement with the network. That's a 10th of the take from Canadian networks, a gap the league would like to see narrow.