from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

Spare me the nostalgia over a theme song that probably not one of the big-money folks over at ESPN, who have spent years on air without mentioning the NHL, could identify even if LeBron James and Tom Brady were humming it.

Don’t preach to me about how much the NHL will benefit from the exposure of having its games televised on one or another of Disney’s platforms, streaming or otherwise. Here’s what I have always wanted to know: What would possess a grown-up outside of Bristol, Conn., to ever refer to a television network as “the mothership” or “the worldwide leader?”

There is one thing and one thing alone of importance attached to the NHL’s media-rights deal with Disney, ESPN and their affiliated brands that include the Hulu streaming service, and that is the money.

This is Slap Shots’ Rod Tidwell moment: Show me the money and tell me how quickly its introduction into league revenue will be able to erase the NHL Players’ Association’s escrow debt that threatens to strangle the league beyond the expiration of the current collective bargaining agreement.

That’s all that counts.

contiued plus more topics...