Latest ESPN offer leaves NHL off broadcast TV

Sunday's NHL All-Star Game in St. Paul could be the last one played in front of a broadcast network television audience for some time. ESPN's latest contract offer doesn't include an ABC component at all.

Sources say ESPN has offered a deal that would not put any games on its sister network, ABC — not even the All-Star Game or Stanley Cup Finals.

The sides continue to talk, but if the NHL has to settle for a cable-only deal, it would be the greatest setback yet to Commissioner Gary Bettman's long-term efforts to garner more exposure for the league.

Bettman would not comment on the negotiations but said he stands by a prediction he made last summer that the NHL's next U.S. television deal would equal the $120 million-per-year value of the current one.

"I remain optimistic," he said. "I'm not going to retract what I said at all."