 Under the U.S. TV contracts that would take effect beginning next season, ESPN would take over as the NHL's American television partner.The USA Network would not air NHL games again until 2015, when it became an occasional overflow channel for NBC Sports' national coverage of the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs.The USA Network's national coverage of the 1985 Cup Finals was blacked out in the Philadelphia area due to the local rights to Flyers games in that TV market.