Hockey returns Saturday. Battered and bruised, for sure, but I think we live in an age where people forget fairly quickly.

Bottom line: There’s only one NHL, and fans still want to see the best players in the world do their thing. If you need to be reminded, check out this “Hockey is Back” video below.

Maybe I’m naive at underestimating the fans’ anger, but I don’t think so. All I know is that I have a 17-year-old Blackhawks fan who is counting down the minutes to Saturday’s opening game against the Los Angeles Kings.

NBC and NBC Sports Network definitely are excited to have the NHL back. They have a full slate of games scheduled for Saturday, Sunday, next week and beyond.

The NHL built considerable momentum during last year’s Stanley Cup, when games were shown on several platforms. Obviously, the lockout derailed things. During a conference call this week, I asked NBC Sports executive producer Sam Flood about the possible fallout.

Flood said: “We’re in uncharted territory because our job is obviously to showcase as good of a game as we can and take advantage of the stars. The core fans are going to come back… Once the puck is dropped, they want to see their teams, and the fastest game and the greatest game on ice.

“All we can do is cover the games as best as we can and hope that the passion for hockey bubbles that to surface very quickly… The hockey fan is a passionate group and we’re cautiously optimistic they’ll come back. It won’t be instant. You’ve got to regain the trust, regain the passion, but we think we’ve got some good games out there.”

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I know Mike Emrick is glad the NHL is back. I joked last week that he had so many varied assignments during the lockout he soon would be doing play-by-play on Mah Jong.

Emrick told me, “I want to let you know I’m learning Mah Jong.”

Perhaps Emrick’s most unusual assignment was covering figure skating in Skate America in October. As usual, Doc had a wonderful take on the sport.

He said: “I would compare it to being in the province of maybe 40 goaltenders at once because it’s such an individual sport, (ice skating and figure skating). You have to have your whole mental game together before you go out and compete and I think that’s what I saw in the hallways with these really talented young people who are warming up. The last thing you want to do is break the concentration because it’s so important during those 3, 4 or 5 minutes that they’re going to be out there.”