With the 2026-27 NHL season officially underway, the league is once again trying to grow its market size this year. From attempts to humanize its players through docuseries to letting the players compete in the Olympics again, Gary Bettman’s circuit is using seduction tactics- to mixed results.
After the wild and unexpected success of shows like Heated Rivalry and Off-Campus, hockey has by far become the biggest sport in the sports romance genre, on-screen and in books. For the NHL, that has translated to a new, largely female audience of first-time ticket buyers.
To try to capitalize on that hype, the league has launched a campaign called Hot for Hockey, and people have questions.
The activation is a set of 60 to 90 second narrated short stories about real NHL players. Written and narrated by popular romance novel authors, including C.R. Jane, creator of the Pucking Wrong series. Among the announced titles, fans can listen to Jack of Hearts, a story about Las Vegas Golden Knights captain Jack Eichel, or The Storm Between Us, featuring Stanley Cup winner Sebastian Aho. It’s not just players, even mascots are getting their own audiobooks, like the hilariously named The Summer I Turned Gritty.
Obviously, do not expect steamy, homoerotic scenes from Hot for Hockey. While the short stories will play on the tropes of romance novels, they will not feature any actual love stories between players. Rather, the players and the action will serve to help advance the narrative of the stories.
“The hockey romance genre is extraordinarily popular”, league commissioner Gary Bettman said in a press conference. “Not all of it is suitable for every audience or every age group, but for the people who are connecting to it? They’re also connecting to hockey.”
