The October swing of public focus in professional sports is a familiar sequence: Hockey season, which starts early on in the month, is always eclipsed by the MLB playoffs. By the time the World Series is won and done, the NBA season has already tipped off.

This progression is usually unadulterated and given consistent year-to-year coverage by sports media outlets.

Enter the National Football League — not that we forgot about it or anything — which is currently in the latter half of its season and has taken center stage as the nation’s No. 1 sport. Despite the fact that teams play only once a week, football gets continuous nationwide attention, leading up to the holy of holies in pro sports — and TV ratings — the Super Bowl.

Sports media will, however, need to start filling some gaps in its schedules once football is over.

The conclusion of the NFL season automatically triggers the annual nadir of sports in America. February is a dark month for the common sports fan. The only professional leagues in play are the NHL and the NBA until baseball starts up again in April.

But if the NBA season remains in a lockout through February, which is a likely situation, then we’ll see hockey as the lone sport. Now, I’m aware that hockey gets little to no attention today, but if this becomes a reality, what else will there be to watch?

As a hockey fan, I of course want to see the sport get more national attention. But for the NHL to achieve any increase in consideration and become a focus in the sports world, hockey must first win back some respect from its doubters.

That’s a hard concept for the league to grasp. Just because many pieces seem to be falling into place for the NHL this year, Commissioner Gary Bettman cannot be passive if he hopes to reclaim some of the league’s lost swagger.

ESPN will obviously play an interesting role this winter. It’s no secret that the network currently puts hockey news on the back burner, but if the NHL assumes the role of America’s only active major sport, ESPN will be forced to cover it more than it does now.

But the ides of March will set off the annual thrill of college sports madness.

March Madness, as ever, will be huge this year. The dearth of professional basketball will lead up to the non-professional yet action-packed NCAA tournament. And by the time March Madness is over and everyone’s done kvelling about their brackets, baseball is back for another season.

As we all know, winter moves very slowly around these parts, and in order to stay warm and pass the time we like to stay inside and watch TV. The NHL will be going up against an otherwise dormant sports market; if it cannot gain momentum this year, will it ever?

It’s not realistic to think that ESPN will return to nationally broadcasting hockey games like it used to. But when February comes, the network will need to have more than one or two NHL analysts in the studio. It will also be interesting to see how much sports networks will prepare when this time comes. Will they keep things running as they are now, or will they branch out and provide more day-to-day insight on NHL games?

The window of opportunity is short for the NHL — only a couple of months. But it’s one in which the sport of hockey can truly shine in the public sphere. Now it’s time for the NHL to capitalize.