73-year old NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has ‘binged’ Heated Rivalry – this is what he thinks

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, the big boss in the hockey world, has shared his thoughts on Heated Rivalry. Spoilers: he’s a fan!

Addressing the hugely popular drama series, the 73-year-old head of the National Hockey League revealed that he binge-watched the six-episode first season. Speaking to The Hockey News, Bettman said that Heated Rivalry is “a wonderful story.”

He also told the outlet: “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. 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.”

Much of Heated Rivalry offers a fictional narrative of professional hockey. The show chronicles the passionate, illicit romance of Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) and Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) off the ice. They play for the Boston Raiders and Montreal Metros, respectively, both modelled on real NHL teams. 

While much of the show imagines the NHL behind the scenes, it turns out the idea of queer ice hockey players isn’t far-fetched. For instance, former hockey player Jesse Korteum recently came out as gay and credited the show for helping him do so.

‘It was very well done’

Heated Rivalry has also had a wider influence on the NHL, with many crediting the show with the growth of the 2025-26 NHL season. Bettman, who has been the commissioner since 1993, credited the show for this, the outlet noted.

However, the NHL has faced rising criticism after the league made no plans to bring back Pride nights. Previously, players would promote initiatives such as You Can Play, a campaign that aims to eliminate homophobia in sports. On Pride nights, players would warm up in custom jerseys and rainbow stick tape.

Bettman insisted that the league would continue to support the LGBTQ+ community and promote LGBTQ+ initiatives. 

Speaking about this change, Bettman shared: “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.”

“It could be heritage nights — we don’t allow it — it could be political causes.” He conitnued: “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.”