Another Idea Blows Up

I'm not one to celebrate failure because I often see the importance of learning from one's mistakes, but I will celebrate another failure by the NHL when it comes to capturing popular culture in a marketing campaign. The NHL certainly brands itself as being modern and hip, so seeing it follow a trend that it once held in such contempt makes this failure all the better. After all, if the NHL had wanted to make inroads with this specific marketing effort, they could do so by being a better organization morally and ethically. Since that seems like too much work to do when it comes to simply making money, the NHL opted to go in a different direction that ended with this idea blowing up in their faces once again. That quiet sound you hear in the background is me screaming "I told you so."

On October 2, the NHL decided it was going to publish romance novel-inspired short stories starring the league's players on audiobook platforms as part of their new "Hot For Hockey" marketing campaign. The first set of stories that made it onto audio platforms like Spotify featured players like Philadelphia Flyers' Trevor Zegras, the Carolina Hurricanes' Sebastian Aho, and the Las Vegas Golden Knights' Jack Eichel. If you're reading this and already thinking this is a bad idea, you're only seeing the tip of the iceberg sticking out of the water.

The NHL decided to collaborate with popular hockey romance writers on this project who could "romanticize" the players with these stories. The stories were then hyped in 60- or 90-second ads that appeared to be nothing more than bids to get people to watch the actual games, and the stories themselves were nothing close to hockey romance stories as the players weren't paired with romantic partners. The story arc for Trevor Zegras is as follows:

"Trevor Zegras came to Philly looking for a fresh start. But after battling with Pittsburgh in the playoffs last year, he found out how gritty things could get. One heated summer later, Philly's pretty boy is looking a whole lot grittier."

There is A LOT to unpack in that short paragraph, and none of it even has to do with Gritty, the Flyers' mascot. If you downloaded the story thinking you were getting the NHL's version of Heated Rivalry, you signed up for the wrong set of stories, but there's a large chunk of ignorance shown by the NHL's infinite big brains in floating this idea.

For a league whose rosters currently feature three men named in an alleged criminal case for sexual assault, romanticizing players in the league is definitive proof that the NHL is completely out of touch with its fanbase. Two prominent hockey romance writers, Emily Rath and Chelsea Curto, both declined participating in the project with Rath posting on her social media, "Yes, the NHL contacted me to participate. And I have never turned down an offer so fast."

Lacey Conine, the founder of Double Hockey Stix, a business that makes a clothing line for underrepresented hockey fans, says she initially thought news of the NHL's romance-centric audiobook campaign was satire, telling Wired's Kate Taylor, "I had so many comments of people just being like, 'This is disgusting. We hate this. What is this? How is the NHL this tone deaf?'" And she's right.

With the Dallas Stars announcing that they were cancelling Pride Night this season, it seems entirely disingenuous of the NHL to try and ride the coattails of Heated Rivalry's momentum. Using the romance-in-hockey theme is something that can be done by people not associated with the NHL in terms of writing fiction, but adding real players to the mix opens up a can of worms that no one wants.

In 2023, Alexander Wennberg, and his wife, Felicia, posted on social media about an influx of "predatory and exploiting" comments after the Kraken posted content aimed at TikTik's BookTok scene. Earlier this summer, there was an alleged inappropriate relationship between a billet mom and a teenaged player in the OHL. Of course, there was also the online abuse to which Connor Hellebuyck and his wife, Andrea, were subject as one of his reasons for his trade demands out of Canada. This kind of behaviour cannot be glorified through the romanticism of young NHL players, and the NHL was insane for even trying to capitalize on that. Someone had to see this coming, right?

Well, fast forward to today, just four days after the NHL's marketing wizards launched the audiobook stories, and this campaign has been shelved by the NHL. In full spin mode, the NHL said "the episodes were meant to be a limited-time offering" in their reason for removing them from audio platforms. In what has to be the biggest "yeah, we didn't think this one through," the NHL's four-day campaign might be the most limited of limited-time offers they've ever done.

That didn't stop NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman from celebrating an opportunity, stating, "I will tell you the data was overwhelming in terms of new fans that we acquired last year who were first introduced to hockey either through 'Off Campus' or 'Heated Rivalry.' And if new people want to come and be a part of game, we’re thrilled to have them."

Again, open your eyes, Gary. While both TNT and ESPN spouting off about female viewership being up 66% and 106%, respectively, the NHL celebrating "Heated Rivalry", which is about two gay hockey players, becomes laughable when the NHL is seeing teams cancel Pride Games and having players openly refuse to wear LGBTQ+-inspired clothing. "Off Campus" might be the one the NHL can support because of their lack of concern towards promiscuity, fighting, and domestic abuse, but that might be giving them credit where it simply isn't due. They didn't earn these fans through any effort on their own.

"If the NHL is trying to reach the female fan base, which is obviously what this is an attempt to do, there are so many better and stronger ways to do that," The IX Sports PWHL senior writer Melissa Burgess told the AP. "Honestly, it's the best thing the NHL could do is scrap it, put it in the past and make it a distant memory."

At the end of the day, imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but there wasn't one person asking for the NHL to do this. Like any business, the NHL always wants to expand its market share to capture the largest amount of female fans it can, but marketing itself and its players as some sort of romantic heroes in hyperbolized scenarios is only going to attract ridicule. This was one area of hockey into which the NHL didn't need to wander, yet someone in their offices pitched this idea well enough to make others go, "We can profit off of this."

Four days is all the "Hot For Hockey" audiobook campaign lasted. That was literally 96 hours too long, but at least the NHL came to its senses quickly before they "found out how gritty things could get".

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!