NHL commissioner Gary Bettman spoke on how "Heated Rivalry" has helped garner more interest in the league. He also discussed why there are no plans to bring back specialty jerseys in warmups.
WASHINGTON — NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said it best: the league is "well aware" of Heated Rivalry.
Bettman spoke on the success of the breakout Canadian television series, centered around professional rival hockey players Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, who develop an off-ice romance. It's based on the best-selling novel by Rachel Reid.
"It's a wonderful story," Bettman said, adding that he binge-watched the entire series in one night. "The content — particularly for young people — may be a little spicy, so you have to balance that out.
"I thought the storyline was very compelling," Bettman added. "And a lot of fun, because I could see where they were picking at things we (as a league) had done in the past, whether or not it was being in Sochi or the All-Star Game in Tampa. It was very well done."
Bettman also credited Heated Rivalry, in tandem with the success of the 2025-26 regular NHL season to date, for leading to grown interest in the game.
He also made it clear that the league continues to support the LGBTQ+ community and is happy to host Pride nights and be a part of other initiatives, including the use of Pride Tape by teams and an ongoing affiliation with You Can Play, a campaign and movement that promotes LGBTQ+ inclusion in athletics and sports.
Regarding the previous initiative of wearing specialty warmup jerseys to promote different nights, like Pride, the league currently has no plans to bring them back, though Bettman insists it isn't due to a lack of support for such causes.
"It wasn't about Pride jerseys or Pride night; it was about the fact of bringing things into the game that might not be embraced by the players wearing the jerseys," Bettman said. "It could be heritage nights — we don't allow it — it could be political causes. It could be in times of conflict between countries, national origin. It was becoming a distraction, not just for the Pride jerseys, but for a variety of other things.
"It's a misrepresentation of what we did to suggest that it was about Pride jerseys; it was about the whole issue of what you put on the ice and how, when players don't embrace the cause, whatever it is, then you create distraction, and it doesn't fulfill the purpose in terms of embracing Pride nights."
The Washington Capitals will host their 10th consecutive Pride night on Saturday when they face the Florida Panthers, which were honored at the White House on Thursday, with Bettman in attendance.
Top photo credit: Left: Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images. Right: Still of Heated Rivalry, Bell Media
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