HENDERSON, NV — Fan access. Player personality. Behind-the-scenes footage. More reality.
The NHL realizes it may be trailing some of the other major sports in these departments. And after seeing what quality, behind-the-scenes docuseries have done to promote sports such as F1 racing, golf, tennis and football, the league figured it was time for hockey to “get on that bus,” as deputy commissioner Bill Daly put it Wednesday.
“It introduced a new side of the game to a new set of fans, right?” Daly told Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas during a taping of the 32 Thoughts: The Podcast. “And that’s the goal always — to expand the fan base and make points of connection for people not necessarily tuning in to watch hockey every day.”
So, the NHL pitched its Players’ Association on the forthcoming Amazon docuseries, which will debut with a splash on Sept. 23. The idea being that these episodes — which feature stars such as Connor McDavid, William Nylander and David Pastrnak — would be rawer and more lightly edited than past NHL all-access projects.
Plus, Amazon Prime and Box to Box Films (Formula 1: Drive to Survive, Full Swing, Break Point) wanted autonomy to produce the series, which promises to be decidedly more player-centric than team-centric (see All or Nothing: Toronto Maple Leafs).
The players, many of whom are fans of Box to Box’s catalogue, were in favour of granting more access.
“I think it will look less scripted and more real than the fans have ever seen before,” Daly said.
The individual teams “really had no say” in the editing process, Daly notes, though the NHL itself did view the episodes before they hit the streaming service later this month.
(Nylander was mic’d up for the memorable glove-tossing moment of Toronto’s Game 4 in the Bruins series, for example. We wonder: Does that scene avoid Amazon’s cutting-room floor?)
This movement to invite fans closer to the action goes beyond a one-off deal with Amazon Prime. Last season, the league fired off a memo to its clubs to get on board with micing up players and coaches more often. As a whole, Daly said, the teams are “much more willing” to be around a hot microphone.
Still, there’s another level to reach. More personality to reveal.
“I mean, we’re not there yet. There are still pockets of the league that are very traditional and have very traditional ways and are very resistant to kind of opening up that type of access,” Daly said. “But we’re clearly moving in the right direction.”
The league will continue to push its general managers and coaches to (a) encourage their players to flex their individual personalities and (b) incorporate mics in game nights and capture the raw emotions of the game.
So much so, the topic will “for sure” be on the agenda in October when the league holds its GM and coaches meeting.
“Coach buy-in is critical,” Daly said.
One-Timers
• The NHL plans to participate in an international best-on-best tournament every other February: Olympics in 2026 and 2030, World Cups in 2028 and 2032.
“We’re still looking to lock down the Olympics, but I’m assuming that’s going to happen,” Daly said.
A play-in tournament is being planned for the final two spots of the eight-team World Cup. That qualifying round could be part of the main February tournament or be staged toward the end of the preceding off-season.
• Daly says the league is aware of the perceived advantage no-tax states have in a salary-cap world but is still weighing if it’s “a serious enough issue that needs to be addressed” and is wary of “unintended consequences” a cap adjustment based on tax laws could have.
Still, some teams view it as an advantage for clubs like Tampa, Florida, Dallas, Nashville, et al.
“There’s chatter this summer for sure,” Daly said. “We hear from clubs.”
• Daly on educating players about the risks of gambling: “I would say it’s an increased point of emphasis. We still think we’re in an OK place. By and large, the players understand the importance of maintaining the integrity of our competition.”
• Now that the revenues have recovered from the pandemic, another salary cap bump is expected for 2025-26. An even larger jump could be in store come 2026-27.
Have the NHL and PA discussed smoothing out the ceiling’s rise to prevent a dramatic spike?
“Not yet,” Daly said. “How you calculate the cap going forward is going to be an important issue.”