- The 2026 playoffs averaged 2.2 million viewers across 43 games, ESPN’s most-watched NHL postseason ever
- The Hurricanes-Golden Knights Final drew 5.23 million, the biggest Stanley Cup Final audience since 2019
- Read below for the full rundown of ESPN’s record playoff numbers
The NHL just had its biggest postseason ever on ESPN.
Across the 43 games ESPN aired, the 2026 playoffs averaged 2.2 million viewers, the network’s most-watched NHL postseason on record. That number climbed 127 percent from 2025 and 19 percent from 2024.
ESPN PR laid out the numbers:
The network’s NHL coverage runs from 1994 through 2002 and again from 2021 to today. Nothing in that window topped this spring.
Carolina and Vegas carried the back end. The two teams averaged 5.23 million viewers in the Final, the most-watched championship series since 2019.
Game 6 pulled 5.9 million on ABC as the Hurricanes locked up the second Cup in franchise history. That was the biggest Final Game 6 audience since 2019.
Gino Hard marked the moment:
Two smaller markets squaring off didn’t slow any of it down. Per Sports Media Watch, Carolina-Vegas ranked as the fifth most-watched Final series since tracking began in 1994.
It trailed only the 2013 Blackhawks-Bruins matchup, the 2015 Blackhawks-Lightning, the 2019 Blues-Bruins, and the 1997 Red Wings-Flyers.
ESPN also posted its most-viewed Western Conference Final since 2015. The run capped the network’s most-watched regular season since its rights deal kicked in back in 2021.
For a league that fields offseason questions about its TV reach every year, those are numbers worth carrying into the next round of negotiations.
