NHL removes ‘Hot for Hockey’ campaign from Spotify; no new episodes planned
The NHL’s official foray into hockey romance is over. It lasted less than a week.
On Monday, Front Office Sports reported that the NHL pulled each “Hot for Hockey” series from streaming platforms and cancelled the series, which reportedly was previously set to roll out throughout the 2026-27 season.
Looking to cash in on the popularity of hockey romance books and television shows, including “Heated Rivalry” and “Off-Campus,” the NHL commissioned several authors to write and read short stories, featuring the name, image and likeness of real NHL talents.
Among the first five short stories were “The Summer I Turned Gritty,” featuring Philadelphia Flyers forward Trevor Zegras and “Chasing Connor,” with Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid.
“We have a number of marketing campaigns that we’re going to be using directed at various audiences,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said when asked about the NHL’s approach to the series ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers’ season-opener, after admitting he’d binge-watched both popular hockey romance shows.
“I will tell you the data is overwhelming in terms of new fans that we acquired last year who were first introduced to hockey either through Off-Campus or Heated Rivalry … so since it seems to be a cultural phenomenon, we figured why not get on board.”
According to the Front Office Sports report, the NHL said Monday that the “Hot for Hockey” series was supposed to only be a one-week campaign to kick off the new season. However, previous reports suggested long-term planning throughout the 2026-27 season.
“As a start of the season concept, these were matchup-specific posts created by authentic authors, illustrators and voice actors designed to run during our opening games in the first week. Our marketing now is focused around many other activations including our Hockey Hits Different celebrity campaign, tune-in messages and other initiatives,” an NHL spokesperson told the sports business website.
While it remains unclear why the NHL removed the episodes from platforms, it came after many fans expressed concerns about player privacy and the fragility of similar stories in the past.
Now, it appears the NHL will avoid a situation similar to the Seattle Kraken’s and Alex Wennberg’s ordeal from 2023, when Wennberg and his wife, Felicia, published statements that criticized the objectification of NHL players after being the focus of the Kraken’s BookTok outreach, touching on the same genre of story.
