As a whole, the National Hockey League is experiencing success like never before.
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The salary cap, which is calculated based on the hockey-related revenue the league generates, is rising at unprecedented rates; Expansion teams are popping up every few years; For the first time in recent memory, the smaller-market teams don’t seem to be facing imminent threats of relocation.
That sentiment is reflected in ESPN’s NHL viewership numbers.
Between March 10 and June 16, the company published 21 press releases detailing various viewership records it broke. That’s one record broken every 4.7 days, on average.
Among them were:
- Most-viewed NHL game in five years
- Most-viewed game in the new rights deal
- Most-viewed regular season in the new rights deal
- Most-viewed first and second rounds of the playoffs in the new rights deal
- All three of the most-viewed first-round playoff games ever, excluding Game 7s
- Most-viewed Stanley Cup Final since 2019
“It was a historic year for not only us at ESPN, but also for TNT in the U.S.,” said Eric Loh, director of programming for ESPN’s NHL operations, in a conversation with the Deseret News. “The drama on the ice throughout the year was incredibly compelling, and we’re just glad that we were able to showcase the Stanley Cup Final in all its glory.”
Loh pointed to a variety of factors when considering why the NHL is experiencing such rapid growth in popularity. Here’s what he said.
Getting best-on-best international hockey back
Hockey fans suffered through two Olympic cycles — 2018 and 2022 — of college players and retired NHLers representing the United States and Canada internationally, as the NHL and NHLPA couldn’t reach an agreement to send the world’s best players to the tournament.
Existing hockey fans still watched, but it wasn’t compelling enough to draw many new viewers.
When the NHL introduced the 4 Nations Face-Off in 2025, it quenched a nine-year thirst for best-on-best international hockey (the 2016 World Cup of Hockey had been the most recent tournament of the sort).
It happened to coincide with intense political tension between the tournament’s two best teams, which momentarily drew the attention of many outside hockey’s existing realm. They kept that momentum going in 2026 with another dramatic tournament at the Winter Olympics.
As far as growing the game in the United States goes, the hockey world got the best possible result: Team USA winning gold for the first time in 46 years.
“Seeing Team USA win gold, it puts hockey on a different trajectory that we haven’t seen here in this country before,” Loh said. “Just the pure excitement and euphoria that came from Jack Hughes’ goal and all the social media videos around the country of people celebrating, there is no doubt that that halo effect carried over into the second half of the NHL regular season.”
The NHL is trying to keep that momentum going with an international all-star game in 2027.
Fans have expressed disinterest in the divisional format the league has used in the last handful of all-star games. Next season, the players will compete as national teams instead.
Canada, USA, Sweden, Finland and a “World” team will play a round-robin tournament of five-minute games at three-on-three. The top two teams will then compete in a 10-minute final, claiming a mini international victory and a cash prize of $2 million.
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Quality of games
Shortly before the conclusion of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs this year, the NHL posted a briefing with an interesting stat: To that point in the postseason, 48% of the playing time had been spent with a tied score.
That’s the highest percentage since the league expanded from six teams to 12 in the 1967-68 season. Additionally, the 13 overtime games in the first round of the playoffs were the fifth-most ever.
“The quality of hockey that’s being played now is as fast and exciting as it’s ever been,” Loh said. “We’ve seen a tremendous amount of one-goal games heading into the third period where it’s either the game is tied or it’s a one-goal difference. … And that only keeps the fan watching the game longer to see what happens.”
He also pointed out the momentum swings — most notably in Game 3 of this year’s Stanley Cup Final, when the Carolina Hurricanes came back from a 4-0 deficit to force overtime — as a factor that keeps fans interested in games.
All that, combined with the skill in today’s game being higher than ever before, makes for a product that people want to watch.
“Authenticity — how good the game is — that’s more important than anything else, and I think that’s what’s driving us right now,” said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman on the Pat McAfee Show in May. “And we’ve got a lot of great players doing amazing things.”
ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!
Connor McDavid wins it for the @EdmontonOilers in @Energizer overtime! pic.twitter.com/guOjLRXuB3
— NHL (@NHL) January 25, 2026
Pop culture embracing hockey
Hockey saw a sudden influx of new fans this season from a community that hadn’t previously had any interest in the sport.
Two new romantic drama shows, “Heated Rivalry” and “Off Campus,” follow the lives of fictional hockey players. “Shoresy,” which has been around for a few years now, does the same in the comedy genre.
Many fans of those shows have started following the NHL because of them.
Bettman, 74, probably isn’t among the target demographic of a romantic drama, but he told reporters in January that he’d binged Heated Rivalry in one night.
“It’s a wonderful story,” he said. “… “I thought the storyline was very compelling and a lot of fun, because I could see where they were picking at things we (as a league) had done in the past. … It was very well done.”
Loh commented on how hockey’s sudden presence in pop culture has affected fandom.
“(It) maybe gives folks a little bit different taste of what the sport is all about,” he said. “And then when you do get the product being as good as it is, especially during the Stanley Cup Playoffs or the Winter Olympics, it’s hard for fans not to tune in and at least sample it for a little bit.”