The NHL Playoff Ratings surged across multiple networks in 2026, including ESPN with 2.2 million viewers on average on its channels, up 127% from 2025 and 19% from 2024.

The highly competitive Stanley Cup Final this year between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Vegas Golden Knights played a major role in generating historic numbers.

In a post on their official X account, Front Office Sports shared these incredible numbers in regard to the viewership of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

They also marked it the most-watched postseason in NHL history, up 68% from last season, as per the report published in Sports Business Journal.

ESPN noted in their report that the ratings surge in the NHL this year can be connected to the change in the methodology from Nielsen in counting viewers.

But the critical role can be related to the increase in hockey’s popularity, more so among women, on the back of the Winter Olympics and the 4 Nations Face-Off last year.

They also spoke about certain hockey shows like “Off Campus” on Netflix and “Heated Rivalry” on Prime Video, adding to the interest and creating new audiences for the sport.

Per the Sports Business Journal, ESPN generated its record numbers across 43 games during the NHL postseason in 2026. The upward jump compared with 2025 and 2024 was in regard to the games broadcast on their network channels, ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2.

TNT did 1.4 million viewers on average in the playoff games through to the conference finals across its network channels, TNT, TBS, and truTV, up 50% compared to last year.

Overall, the NHL managed to secure its best viewership on record for the Stanley Cup Playoffs after doing its best numbers in 14 years for the regular season games.

They had 1.8 million viewers on average for all the playoff games across all network channels, including ABC, TNT, TBS,  ESPN, ESPN2, and truTV.

It eclipsed the previous best average viewership of 1.56 million for the Stanley Cup Playoff games on Fox and ESPN in 1996 by a whopping 17%.

What Were The Ratings For The Stanley Cup Final Hurricanes And Vegas Golden Knights?

The Carolina Hurricanes became the Stanley Cup winners after beating the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 in the best-of-seven series earlier this month. The first three games of this Cup Final series produced some of the best hockey in the NHL for years, including three overtime periods.

Per the Sports Business Journal, the 2026 Stanley Cup Final brought 5.2 million viewers on average across six games on ESPN. This made it the best Cup Final after the seven-game thriller in 2019 between the St. Louis Blues and the Buffalo Bruins.

It had averaged 5.5 million viewers on NBC/NBCSN seven years ago.

Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Hurricanes and the Golden Knights produced 5.9 million viewers on average on Sunday, June 14. It was the best number for the Cup Final since Blues vs. Bruins brought 6.5 million viewers on average in 2019.

The viewership peaked at 7.2 million during the closing stages of the Hurricanes vs. Golden Knights Game 6 on the weekend.

Also, the Stanley Cup Final in 2026 ended up with 106% high viewership compared to the Florida Panthers and the Edmonton Oilers one last year on TNT and truTV, averaging at 2.5 million.

The same two teams had 4.2 million viewership on average for the Cup Final in 2024 on ABC, and the Hurricanes vs. Golden Knights eclipsed it by 26%.

Will the NHL keep on charting new ratings numbers in the regular season and the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the coming seasons? Give us your thoughts in the comments.

Read more at NHL Fan Central!

Written by

Arjun Sharma

Edited by

Kaamna Dwivedi