One of the most important early conclusions from the NHL season is that Connor Bedard is a player who both casual and die-hard fans are interested in watching.
Given that generational prospects are not exactly common, this is not entirely unexpected. Given that the Pittsburgh Penguins were a middle-weight playoff candidate without much recent history and the Chicago Blackhawks were a team in rebuilding mode, Bedard can be credited for the majority of the game’s high ratings on ESPN.
Although Bedard’s NHL debut was an isolated incident, there seems to be a trend of increasing ratings around the league that has nothing to do with the talented young player.
The Tampa Bay Lightning and Nashville Predators’ opening-night doubleheader games, as well as the late Vegas Golden Knights-Seattle Kraken game, drew an average of 909,000 viewers, a 40% increase from the 2022–23 season’s opening games (Lightning-New York Rangers and Golden Knights-Los Angeles Kings).
The NHL can also brag about a few other noteworthy early ratings triumphs. The Colorado Avalanche and Kraken matchup on Tuesday night drew the most viewers for a regular-season late-night game on the network since 2015. Although it wasn’t the first rivalry game to air in the previous eight years, the contest had considerable heat following a difficult series between the two in the 2023 playoffs.
The Lightning-Buffalo Sabres game on that same night had an average viewership 11% greater than “comparable games” from the previous season.
These findings demonstrate that growing NHL interest is a general occurrence, which is encouraging for rights holders like ESPN.
Although it’s still early in the season, there are signs that ESPN is trying to increase its NHL coverage. In former years, it would have been practically unheard of for one of the network’s premier shows to feature a hockey-related piece, but Pat McAfee supported the NHL this week:
The next week, ESPN will also debut a program called “Frozen Frenzy” that takes viewers around the NHL in a manner akin to “NFL Red Zone.”
It’s unclear what impact changes like this will have, but the NHL is off to a good start so far this season, and it’s not simply because of the Bedard effect.