• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, January 3, 2011

The NHL might well move its annual Winter Classic to prime time permanently. On Saturday, the yearly outdoor event on New Year's Day drew the most viewers for any regular-season hockey game since the Ford administration.

The faceoff on NBC -- with Pittsburgh vs. Washington -- was moved from its usual afternoon spot to 8 p.m. because of a weather issue, and drew an average of 4.5 million viewers. That was slightly above the 2009 Winter Classic's 4.4 million viewers when Detroit played Chicago.

A year ago, Classic viewing dipped to 3.7 million. Still, since the in-the-elements tradition started in 2008 with snow falling in Buffalo, the Winter Classics represent 4 of the 5 most-watched regular season games since 1975.

The NHL is set to negotiate a new national TV contract, with NBC the incumbent on the broadcast side and Versus on cable. The Winter Classic, which had not been conceived during the previous negotiations and has Bridgestone as a title sponsor, could drive up the price.

On Saturday in hockey-mad Pittsburgh, the contest had a 32 rating and 46 share. Even though the game -- played in the Steel City -- was moved to prime time due to the threat of rain, it nonetheless was played as rain continued to fall.

The NHL said moving the game to 8 p.m. brought competition from multiple other hockey games. It would have had an exclusive window in the afternoon.

The game featured Pittsburgh star Sidney Crosby and Washington phenom Alexander Ovechkin, a match-up HBO has helped hype in a reality series.