The National Hockey League (NHL) has recorded a major boost in television popularity during the 2025–26 regular season. Since last year, the average viewership has increased by 23%. In more than a decade, the regular season games reached their best TV numbers.

The National Hockey League bounced back strongly after lower viewership last season, recording its best regular-season average since the lockout-shortened 2012–13 season. Last season, the league averaged 445,000 viewers, but this year the numbers improved significantly.

All games broadcast across ESPN, ABC, and TNT/truTV averaged 546,000 viewers, which is the highest mark in 14 seasons.

The last time the league recorded a higher average was when NBC and NBCSN averaged 590,000 viewers across a smaller schedule of just 70 games about 14 years ago.

Games shown on ESPN and ABC increased by 30% in viewership this season. The company telecasted 54 games, and this became its best audience performance since it returned as a partner of the National Hockey League before the 2021–22 season.

On average, these games attracted about 760,000 viewers. Games shown only on ESPN averaged around 602,000 viewers across 38 games, which is a big increase of 48% compared to last season.

Meanwhile, games shown on ABC performed even better. ABC averaged about 1.1 million viewers over 16 games, which is a 33% increase.

This is the best average audience ABC has recorded under its current broadcasting deal with the NHL. TNT Sports also had its best season as a partner of the NHL. They average 381,000 viewers, up 21% from last year.

After the Olympics, viewership rose further, making it the network’s strongest second half of the season.

Most Watched NHL Regular-Season Games in 2025–26

A game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Boston Bruins on February 1 had the highest TV audience of the season with 2.07 million viewers. It also became the most-watched regular-season NHL game ever on cable TV.

The best game on ABC was between the Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins on January 3, which attracted 1.59 million viewers.

TNT Sports had three of the five most-watched cable TV games this season. The biggest one was a game between the Bruins and the Philadelphia Flyers on March 5, which drew 1.2 million viewers.

This became TNT’s highest audience for a regular-season game that was not part of the Winter Classic. Among teams, the Bruins had the most appearances in the top 10 most-watched games with five games.

The Red Wings were second with four games, and the New York Rangers had three games. The Washington Capitals did not have any games in the top 10.

Strong viewership growth is a positive sign for the National Hockey League. With rising fan interest and better TV coverage, the league looks ready to keep this momentum going in future seasons.

Read more at NHL Fan Central!

Written by

Kapil Manghnani

Edited by

Kaamna Dwivedi