Mark Madden: Where's the hype for Connor Bedard vs. Sidney Crosby?

The Chicago Blackhawks visit the Pittsburgh Penguins on Oct. 10, NHL’s opening night.

Rookie mega-phenom Connor Bedard vs. Sidney Crosby, the face of the league for almost two decades.

It’s a game primed for monster hype, as much as could be mustered without somebody dating Taylor Swift. It’s nationally televised on ESPN.

But you wouldn’t know that by watching ESPN. No commercials, no mentions. That game is less than two weeks away, and ESPN isn’t yet talking about it. ESPN isn’t yet talking about the NHL.

Thus continues the odd marriage between ESPN and the NHL.

It seems a reluctant union. ESPN wants hockey primarily to provide content for its streaming service. The NHL wants the honor (gag) of being on the Worldwide Leader (prolonged gag). When the Worldwide Leader can fit it in, that is.

To be fair, doubling up by also being on TNT is the best the NHL can do. Hockey has long since settled into being a niche sport.

But ESPN mostly treats hockey like it smells bad.

Ironic, since it has some of the media’s very best hockey people in John Buccigross, Linda Cohn and Steve Levy. They’re so good they can’t be undone by P.K. Subban’s clown act.

That’s not exclusive to Subban, by the way. TNT’s in-studio show is equally afflicted.

Those who think they’re funny but aren’t shouldn’t be given microphones. Locker-room humor and slang don’t translate to the masses. But … twig, salad, clapper, chirp, bucket, ad nauseam. It’s part of way too many ex-athletes cluttering the media. More to follow. Watch this space.

ESPN does good hockey studio shows like “The Point” and “In the Crease.” (How good depends on the presence of Buccigross, Levy or Cohn.) But when are they on?

Hockey certainly gets zero exposure from 8 a.m.-2 p.m. weekdays. That’s “Get Up,” “First Take” and “The Pat McAfee Show” or, as I call it, the Six Hours of Non-Stop Yelling block. McAfee might deign to discuss pucks occasionally, the others not at all. Stephen A. Smith of “First Take” has spoken derisively of hockey.

Keep in mind that the NHL and ESPN are broadcast partners. ESPN could mandate better but chooses not to.

To be fair, how can ESPN be blamed? Football is No. 1. Hockey is way down the pecking order. Where’s the NHL going to go, TruTV? Public access cable?

The NHL isn’t doing enough in-house to hype Bedard vs. Crosby. The old-timey, Canadian-saturated league administration prefers the splendor of the Original Six.

Hey, what’s not to wallow in? The New York Rangers have won one Stanley Cup since World War II. Toronto hasn’t won a Cup since 1967, Montreal since 1993. Boston has one Cup since 1972. It’s nonstop glory.

The NHL really, honestly doesn’t seem to want stars. It’s impossible to imagine why. But the league hasn’t spotlighted anyone properly since Wayne Gretzky, and maybe not even him. (You can see The Great One on TNT’s studio show. He’s a living, breathing monument to everyone that’s had charisma bypass surgery. But at least he doesn’t constantly yuk it up.)

Locally, Bedard vs. Crosby doesn’t need hype. That matchup’s intrigue pales in comparison to the humongous new scoreboard hovering about the ice at PPG Paints Arena like one of those giant alien spaceships in “Independence Day.”

That thing blocks out the ice. It blocks out the sun. It might even block out Magnus Hellberg, the Penguins’ gargantuan new goalie.

The scoreboard has all the bells and whistles, including great video screens. But it’s going to take some getting used to. “These things go down! These things go down! It’s too big! It’s too big!”