The NHL’s ‘Hot for Hockey’ Campaign Completely Misses the Point of What Women Truly Want From the League

There is no doubt that we are in the obvious height of hockey romance culture at the moment. From live-action adaptations of Heated Rivalry and Off Campus immediately taking over our screens to other books like Ice Breaker and Pucking Around still dominating the book charts, it seems like a no-brainer that the National Hockey League (NHL) would want to jump in on the trend. However, their latest announcement just shows how much they don’t understand the hype other than dollar signs.According to the Sports Business Journal, “Led by new CMO Sean Eggert, the NHL is rolling out a series of short stories on audiobook platforms throughout the season that present real-life NHL storylines in the style of romance novels. The league has contracted popular hockey romance authors to write and narrate the 60-to-90-second pieces, which will direct listeners to tune in to upcoming games to see how the stories play out on the ice. It will also tap influential “BookTok” creators to spread the word.”The article also notes that “the stories put out by the NHL won’t feature any actual romance between real-life NHL players. The presentation, however, winks at the genre.”This initiative definitely misses in a lot of ways, but it mostly dismisses the real reason why fans have fallen in love with hockey romances. While the sport does deliver a high-stakes backdrop for these stories—especially for M/M romances as the NHL has never had an openly gay player play a game—the main focus of the story is still the romance. Without it, then we should call these stories for what they really are: a hockey story.Jeff Vinnick//Getty ImagesThere’s also the case for using real players as characters, which feels like a big red flag especially after Alexander Wennberg’s wife had to call out BookTok fans who she says were sexually harassing her husband.“There has been videos and comments made that has crossed the line of what it means to fancy someone and when it actually sounds pretty predatory and exploiting,” she wrote on Instagram in 2023.While it’s been three years since then, the blurring of the lines between reality and fiction has already been a heavy point of discussion in certain fandoms, especially as newer fans discover their first fandom and try to navigate its rules. While we don’t know what backup plans the NHL has to protect its players if it goes too far, it does feel like they plan to use any and all drama to continue to drum up these storylines and keep readers invested.This follows what DC Stars author Chelsea Curto wrote on Threads after she revealed that she declined to participate, noting, “I strongly believe mixing fictional worlds + real-life ones is a recipe for disaster, and one I want no part of.”“If you saw the slide deck they prepared for this pitch you would be screaming too. From the open mocking of our genre with their “tongue in cheek” jokes to the disgusting use of AI cover renders—it was beyond appalling,” author Emily Rath wrote on Threads. “The level of tone deafness is truly staggering. I was un-calm-downable for a full work day.”Emily also noted in another post that the romance writers who were contacted for the initiative were not offered any compensation for their work.Tamara FuentesThere’s also the fact that for the last few years, female fans of the NHL have been rallying against the organization for a number of different reasons. One has been the lack of LGBTQ+ support from the league, especially after 2023, when Pride-themed hockey tape was banned and later returned. More recently, there have been several instances of NHL teams canceling their dedicated Pride Nights, including the Dallas Stars, who are skipping out on it for the first time in five years for the 2026–2027 season and replacing it with “Hockey Unites Us: Women in Sports Night” (which also serves as a themed night for Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros). According to the Chron, the proceeds of the night will be going to the Trevor Project.Many female fans have also turned their backs on the league and their teams after five players who were acquitted of sexual assault were allowed to sign NHL contracts starting in October 2025. It was clear by the team and the league that their pasts didn’t matter. They can still be signed to million-dollar contracts regardless of what they had done.As a female hockey fan, I’ve also heard countless numbers of times what many other sports fans who happen to be women have also heard throughout the years: that we’re not really here for the game, but rather, for something else. There’s the belief that we’re only interested in a team because the players are cute or that we’re only at a game because a boyfriend “dragged us there.” It’s never been more clear that the NHL does not want to take me seriously as a fan as they think I am only there because of a book and not the actual game that’s unfolding on the ice.If they truly wanted to bring in hockey romance fans, they could’ve done what other leagues have been doing and also what they have done in the past: support specific authors and fandoms with special themed nights. It allows newer fans to get excited for the game, but also provide something that fans of the sport always want: a special experience tied to something we already enjoy before checking out the game we love.Unfortunately, it seems like the NHL would rather make a mockery of what women love and ignore what we’ve been asking for all these years in order to make a profit. I’m not falling for it this time though. And neither should you.