According to the 1991 book 'Net Worth: Exploding the Myths of Pro Hockey', during the 1956-57 season, CBS broadcast 10 games that were popular with viewers. The four American franchises at the time (the Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, and New York Rangers) each received $100,000. However, the players themselves, received absolutely zero money from the TV deal.
According to Sports Illustrated, the NHL dropped CBS after the 1959-60 season because the NHL owners didn't want the fledgling Players' Association to gain a financial cut of the TV deal.
In 1963-64, CBS offered to broadcast a NHL Game of the Week on Saturdays during the National Football League season. By the winter, CBS would move the Game of the Week to Sundays in the same time slot. Ultimately, the NHL rejected the idea, saying it would cause too many schedule and travel problems.
During the 1967 playoffs, CBS was scheduled to broadcast the April 8 game between the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens. However, an AFTRA strike forced cancellation of the telecast. The strike itself would ultimately end two days later.
In 1971, CBS was not scheduled to broadcast Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, but showed the prime time contest (the first ever occurrence of a NHL game being nationally televised in prime time in the United States) between the Montreal Canadiens and Chicago Black Hawks almost as a public service. Ironically, the game was not telecast by the Chicago CBS affiliate WBBM-TV due to Blackhawks' owner Arthur M. Wirtz policy of not telecasting home games.