The NHL Is Getting Into Romance Novels With Its New “Hot for Hockey” Campaign 🏒🔥

Apparently, hockey wasn’t already hot enough.

The NHL is officially getting into the romance business with a new campaign called “Hot for Hockey,” inspired by the massive popularity of hockey romance stories and shows like Heated Rivalry.

Yes, the same league that gave us fighting, missing teeth and the penalty box is now giving us...

LONGING.

Meet Your New Hockey Heartthrobs

The campaign will feature a series of short, 60-to-90-second stories written and narrated by popular romance authors, using real NHL players and storylines but giving them the dramatic romance-novel treatment.

The first two feature:

❤️ Vegas Golden Knights star Jack Eichel in Jack of Hearts

🌪️ Carolina Hurricanes star Sebastian Aho in The Storm Between Us

Those titles alone sound less like hockey and more like something you'd hide behind another book while reading on the GO Train.

But don't expect any actual steamy player-on-player romance.

Unlike Heated Rivalry, the NHL says its stories won't feature romantic relationships between real-life players.

So keep your fan fiction separate, ladies.

RELATED: HEATED RIVALRY JUST GOT EVEN MORE CANADIAN 🇨🇦🏒🔥

Why Is the NHL Doing This?

Simple: romance is HUGE.

Sports romance experienced triple-digit sales growth in 2025, while overall romance book sales have doubled over the past four years.

And according to the NHL's new Chief Marketing Officer, Sean Eggert, hockey is already the most popular sport within a growing romance niche generating millions of annual downloads.

So the league is hoping these bite-sized stories can attract younger fans who might not care about power plays but are VERY interested in whether the emotionally unavailable six-foot-two defenceman finally opens his heart.

The league says the goal is to create an emotional connection that could eventually turn new audiences into hockey fans.