I was going to mention the star power as well but couldn't put it together properly. At that time in the mid 90s, Gretzky and Lemieux were the aging stars even though they were still playing. They weren't the big exciting guys. I guess you could say Martin Brodeur and Teemu Selanne, Paul Kariya were the biggest stars but they weren't anywhere close to those guys from the 80s. I'd say there wasn't any big time star in Hockey until Crosby and Ovechkin got in, but the problem was they got in right after the 04-05 lockout. And as we know, lockouts hurt leagues and following and attendence. Things were better but again hockey had another lockout and we only got half the season out of it. It hasn't gotten back yet and Crosby isn't what he used to be and any other star in the league still ends up being a well kept secret in the country's eyes.
But that's just the US that has this problem really. Hockey is big elsewhere and doesn't suffer the problem of being buried. Part of the problem is TV and radio coverage. The national stations don't mention anything unless something stupid or exciting happens. And if you don't live in a hockey town, your local radio probably doesn't talk about it, since the national radio shows (Rome, Cowherd, that Tiki Barber show, Boomer and cartan, etc) rarely mention it.
