Sometimes, even with art, it’s best not to veer too far from a reliable template. So it should surprise nobody that Faceoff: Inside the NHL has no shortage of salty language and slow-motion eye blinks set to both soaring and sorrowful music.
That sound like it might work for you?
Amazon Prime’s behind-the-scenes look at the best hockey league in the world is a six-part piece that drops as one package on Friday. This type of high-gloss storytelling has become very common in the sports world, from the Quarterback and Receiver series centred on the NFL to Amazon’s own All or Nothing that’s focused on mega-teams such as the Toronto Maple Leafs and Arsenal of the English Premier League to what feels like gold standard of them all, Formula 1: Drive to Survive.
What makes Drive so unique is that it truly seemed to convert people with absolutely zero sports-watching habits into racing fans glued to the Grand Prix of Monaco. That’s a high bar to clear and it’s hard to imagine Faceoff will evangelize loads of people with no previous sports leanings into hockey heads.
That said, if you like hockey — and, hey, you’re reading this on Sportsnet.ca — it’s hard to imagine there isn’t something here for you, from cheeky fun with the Tkachuk family to William Nylander’s dog-loving existence to an unvarnished look at Connor McDavid in his most vulnerable professional moment.
It’s a cool and, at times, jarring ride.
To get you, well, primed for the experience, we’ve broken down all six episodes below and evaluated them across a few categories.
So, as they say inside closed dressing rooms, “Let’s go, right f—— now, OK!”
Episode 1 Best of Rivals
Vibe Genuinely touching
Best use of swearing “Just f—— shoot it. Stop crying, bro. This is the f—— issue, you guys bitch about s—.” –William Nylander, to teammates Austin Matthews and Mitch Marner
Why watch? It’s a pretty sweet tale of friendship between Toronto’s William Nylander and Boston’s David Pastrnak. The latter, specifically, has been through some very difficult times in life, from losing his dad as a teenager to having a son leave this world just six days after he entered. Nylander and Pastrnak have been good buddies ever since Pastrnak landed in Nylander’s native Sweden to play hockey two years before he was even drafted by the Bruins. “He was so much better than me at that age,” Pastrnak says of Nylander. “So, I could see it for him.”
While most of the heartstrings are plucked by Pastrnak’s tale, there’s touching elements on Nylander’s side, as well. While it’s easy to think of his life as being one of extreme privilege — he grew up the son of a highly successful NHLer, Michael Nylander — the Leafs star opens up about why the city he plays in means so much to him. “This place is the only place that’s been home for me,” says the guy who moved around constantly as part of a nomadic hockey family. “I’ve never spent so much time in one place my entire life, which is pretty crazy.”
Episode rank 3rd-best of 6
Episode 2 As Tough as it Gets
Vibe Ouch!
Best use of swearing “Does a bear s— in the woods?” —Jack Eichel, when asked if he’s ordering wine with dinner
Why watch? Well, you kind of have to see the mustache balloons and Filip Forsberg air freshener for yourself to truly appreciate them. Aside from that, this episode takes just 90 seconds to make you feel something real, as you’re on the bed with Forsberg while he’s receiving acupuncture treatment to play through an excruciating ankle injury. And, indeed, the theme of this chapter is the chunk of flesh players give to the game, from Forsberg battling through his injuries — including a severe concussion in 2023 — to reliving the saga Eichel went through in Buffalo with regard to the major neck injury that ultimately caused an unrepairable rift with the Sabres organization. Everybody sacrifices in this game, including the families they’re a part of. “Even the miracle of life has to work around Filip’s schedule,” jokes Forsberg’s wife, musician Erin Alvey Forsberg, after giving birth to Felix Forsberg.
Episode rank 5th-best of 6
Episode 3 Learning to Win
Vibe Family is everything
Best use of swearing “I’ve still got so much more to offer. And I haven’t proven s—.” Jeremy Swayman, NHL goalie
Why watch? Uh, if you’re a Bruins fan, maybe don’t watch, actually. It’s almost surreal seeing Jeremy Swayman — whose real-life contract squabble with Boston dominated headlines earlier this week — profiled and giving honest, unfiltered thoughts about his future with the team. Swayman was a big story early in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, with everything set against the backdrop of the fact he’d soon become a restricted free agent. And not just a restricted free agent; a restricted free agent who’d been through the arbitration process in the summer of 2023. “You don’t forget what was said,” Swayman says in the episode. “I wrote them down and I looked at them the other day, and I had a couple checkmarks. My biggest knock was how I wasn’t trustworthy in playoffs. Check.”
After the Bruins are eliminated by the Florida Panthers, Swayman — who seems equal parts intelligent and headstrong — talked about what it was like in the immediate aftermath of losing, when he left the ice to the sound of Bruins fans chanting his name. “I was just thinking about that jersey, like, is it the last time?” he says. “That’s when I was like, whoa. And you’re skating around the Garden, you’re looking up and you’re hearing your name chanted and it’s like, whoa … like … f—.”
Meanwhile, who would ever pass up a chance to ride around Fort Lauderdale with Matthew Tkachuk in a golf cart? “I don’t know what to tell ya,” a grinning Tkachuk says when a jeep full of “partiers” pulls up next to him on the road. “It’s Florida, everyone is having a good time! Sucks me in every time.” So will the Tkachuk family chirps, which inspired a bonus round of “best use of swearing.”
“You’ll be f—— washing my car next year; you’ll be working for me!” —Matthew Tkachuk to somebody on the Ottawa Senators
“Oh, my dad. He basically lives at my house. It’s f—— insane.” –Matthew Tkachuk on father Keith Tkachuk
“Shut the f— up while I’m cooking.” –Keith Tkachuk’s instructions to sons Matthew and Brady
Episode rank 2nd-best of 6
Episode 4 The Captains
Vibe Get pucks deep
Best use of swearing “I have a mic on or I’d be gong f—— crazy.” Quinn Hughes, unhappy on the Canucks bench
Why watch? This chapter focuses on three captains in different career phases. Quinn Hughes is learning how to be a young leader in the first year of wearing the ‘C’ in Vancouver; Jacob Trouba is profiled as a veteran who knows exactly who he is and what he brings to the New York Rangers, while the injured Gabriel Landeskog is wrestling with how much his voice matters when he’s not on the ice and what his own identity is if it’s not that of a pro hockey player.
There’s less that jumps off the page in this episode, but the visual of Trouba doing what could only be described as bodycheck-painting is a cool melding of sports and art fit for New York City. And it’s also easy to get an appreciation for how Hughes’ life as a high-profile player in a hockey-mad city requires a graciousness the 24-year-old seems to have natural supplies of.
Episode rank 6th-best of 6
Episode 5 Cup or Bust Pt. 1
Vibe Raw emotion
Best use of swearing “It’s not like I’m going a million miles an hour and thinking to myself, holy s—. I’m comfortable going that speed. It feels like you’re walking; you’re seeing everything clearly, you’re feeling a lot more calm there than you think.” –Connor McDavid, basically explaining that his brain somehow moves as fast as his skates
Why watch You’ll rarely see a sports megastar in a more stripped-down state. The passion you know bubbles underneath the surface with Connor McDavid spills all over the dressing room floor in a couple wrenching scenes. There’s the explosion of anger after the Oilers lose Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final to the Panthers and McDavid implores his mates to “Dig the f— in! Right now!” And there’s the final thud of the end, when the tears roll down his face as he strips his equipment away piece by piece after losing the decisive contest to the Panthers. It’s real, raw and something to behold.
Even beyond that, there’s lighter looks into 97’s life, like fiancée Lauren Kyle explaining that Connor is “afraid of ketchup” after their in-house chef sneaks a bottle of it to the kitchen table. McDavid even briefly acknowledges he’s an introvert by nature and it’s not always fun to know people refer to you as “boring” or a “robot.”
There’s also a glimpse into Leon Draisaitl’s life and it’s striking to hear him sincerely marvel at the attention he, McDavid and the Oilers get in Edmonton. “It’s pretty cool to see how much people appreciate you,” he says. “It’s hard to describe sometimes because we don’t walk around thinking we’re at The Beatles; we’re just like any other guy at home eating chips and watching Friends.”
Episode rank 1st of 6
Episode 6 Cup or Bust Pt. 2
Vibe Fight to the end
Best use of swearing “There’s nothing that’s going to make this feel better, nothing we say. But I know we’re going to be back. I f—— know we’re going to be back, boys. I know it in my f—— heart.” –Zach Hyman in Edmonton’s dressing room after the Game 7 loss to Florida in the Stanley Cup Final
Why watch? Even though you know how it ends, it’s chilling to relieve Edmonton’s failed comeback from an 0-3 series hole and Florida’s eventual triumph. And, to be honest, Cats GM Bill Zito’s intensity still blasts through the screen and sends a legit fright up your spine. It’s also time, to the surprise of nobody, to note that Florida coach Paul Maurice — who honestly sounds like a pirate — does the most with the least amount of screen time in this doc. Maurice never address the camera directly, but any time he talks to his team in the room it represents some of the best TV you’re going to get. In Episode 5, he puts on goalie gloves, grabs a goalie stick and gets down on his hands and knees in the middle of the Florida room to demonstrate how they’re going to get a puck past New York goalie Igor Shesterkin in the Eastern Conference Final. With his team training 4-2 after two periods in Game 5 at home, Maurice lets fly. “They’re gonna sit on it; they f—— are. So we’re going to get our action on the change of f—— possession in the offensive zone, you hunt. That’s where you’ll f——get it. That being said, let’s blow the f—— doors off ’em.”
While nothing in the series moves you more than the emotion shown by McDavid — and the hands of Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins that try to console him — after the Game 7 loss, it’s also something to see the other end of the spectrum up close when Keith Tkachuk is reduced to a blubbering happy mess in the seconds after realizing his family name will go on the Stanley Cup.
As with the most special moments of Faceoff, it feels like you’re right there with him.
Episode rank 4th-best of 6