- The NHL pulled every “Hot for Hockey” audio story off Spotify less than a week after launch
- No new episodes are coming, even though the campaign was pitched as season-long
- Read below for the league’s explanation and Gary Bettman’s video from opening week
The NHL’s “Hot for Hockey” campaign is already over.
All seven romance-style audio stories have been pulled from Spotify, and the league won’t be making any more. Ellyn Briggs of Front Office Sports broke the news Monday, less than a week after the series dropped alongside opening night.
Briggs confirmed a little later that nothing else is on the way:
Per the NHL, the stories were only ever supposed to run during the first week of games. A spokesperson explained where the marketing push goes from here.
“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,” the spokesperson said.
That isn’t how it was sold. The Sports Business Journal story announcing the campaign last week said the shorts would roll out on audiobook platforms “throughout the season.” The NHL declined to say why it took the episodes down entirely.
Six players were part of the first batch: Connor McDavid, Trevor Zegras, Sebastian Aho, Jack Eichel, Kyle Connor and Mika Zibanejad. McDavid got “Chasing Connor.” Zegras got “The Summer I Turned Gritty.”
Fan reaction was rough from day one. A lot of it was plain confusion, and plenty of people raised concerns about player privacy. As of late last week, the series was sitting at 2.4 stars on Spotify.
Every player involved approved the use of his name and likeness, according to the league. The NHLPA didn’t comment.
Those privacy worries have some history behind them. Back in 2023, the Kraken’s BookTok outreach ended with Alex Wennberg and his wife, Felicia, publicly criticizing the objectification of NHL players.
None of that slowed down Gary Bettman last Wednesday. The commissioner was asked about the campaign in Philadelphia and pointed to the fans the league picked up through Heated Rivalry and Off-Campus.
“We have a number of marketing campaigns that we’re going to be using directed at various audiences,” Bettman said. “But 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.”
Watch Bettman’s full answer:
Five days after that answer, every Hot for Hockey episode was gone. The league’s attention now shifts to its Hockey Hits Different celebrity campaign.
