NHL Relegated on Versus Until 2011

If you are anything like me, you probably have a love hate relationship with ESPN. I love the live coverage, Baseball 2night, Sportscenter, College Gameday, and lots of other great programming but could do without Skip Bayless, Steven A Smith, and gimicky crap like Who's Now and 50 States in 50 days. But rather analyzing what's on ESPN, its also important to take into consideration what's not on ESPN. In particular, its been 3 years since a NHL game was broadcasted on the sport's leader. Meanwhile coverage of pro and in some cases collegiate sport like football, basketball, baseball, and soccer have thrived on the network. So why no NHL on ESPN?