The National Hockey League might have inadvertently pul-led off the greatest marketing campaign in hockey history during the All-Star break. They not only got people who had never watched hockey before to tune in, but they had those same people on the edge of their seats. Fans from all over — north, south, east and west — showed up in record numbers. The result was an unprecedented turnout that will likely add hundreds of thousands of new viewers to the sport.
The best part? The league barely even marketed the event. With almost no promotional push, this tournament still managed to smash expectations.
Just a few weeks ago, I had concerns that this tournament might be a business failure. But the reality was the exact opposite.
One of the biggest worries among fans was whether the players would even care. This question was answered in the first nine seconds of the opening game between the United States and Canada when nearly five million people tuned in on ESPN alone — to watch six different players throw haymakers — a 473% increase from the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and a 369% jump from the NHL on ABC’s average viewership this season. If there was any doubt about the players’ investment, Jack Eichel — yes, Stanley Cup Champion Jack Eichel — put it to rest when he called the final against Canada the most important game he’s ever played in. And let’s be real, when else are you going to see Rasmus Dahlin leveling Connor McDavid? That doesn’t happen in a Buffalo-Edmonton matchup.
The skepticism wasn’t just from the players. Fans were hesitant too. As an international hockey fan, I was thrilled about this tournament from the moment it was announced. But for those who primarily follow their NHL teams, concerns about injuries were valid. Unfortunately, those fears weren’t unfounded. Shea Theodore left Canada’s first game and remains out for Vegas. There are also growing worries that Matthew Tkachuk’s injury could sideline him for the rest of the NHL season. If that happens, it might be time for Florida to take Tampa Bay’s place as the new long-term injured reserve king.
That said, Tkachuk probably doesn’t have any regrets about playing. Despite the U.S. falling short, he and his brother Brady cemented themselves as American hockey heroes.
Because when you put on your country’s jersey — whether it’s the stars and stripes, the maple leaf or the triple crown — it means something. The players felt that, and it showed. I can’t imagine Alex Pietrangelo, watching the games from his couch (or more likely, Cancún), not thinking, “That could’ve been me.” Quinn Hughes even attempted to force his way into the tournament, only for the NHL to shut the door on him. Meanwhile, Jake Sanderson and Thomas Harley took their opportunity and ran with it.
For Sanderson, that meant 16.1 million people watching him snipe a goal past Jordan Binnington. For a still young defenseman playing in Ottawa, that had to be one of the coolest moments of his life.
According to ESPN, approxi-mately 9.252 million people in the U.S. watched the 4 Nations final, which makes it the most-watched non-Olympic hockey game in U.S. history. In Canada, viewership hit almost seven million, putting the total just shy of the 16.3 million who watched game seven of last year’s Stanley Cup Final between Edmonton and Florida — but this does not take into account that the 4 Nations final was watch-party central in the U.S. and Canada.
What’s even crazier is that there were more Americans watching this game than Canadians. Of course, Canada still had a higher percentage of its population tuned in, but the fact that the U.S. outdrew Canada in raw numbers is a massive win for hockey. At the end of the day, that’s a victory for Canadians, because growing the game in the U.S. only strengthens “their” sport.
This tournament delivered what is now ESPN’s largest hockey audience ever. It was the most-viewed event on ESPN platforms since the 2024 NBA Finals, excluding NFL and college football. It nearly doubled U.S. viewership for the NBA All-Star Game, pulling in 9.3 million compared to 4.7 million. It also outperformed every NBA All-Star Game on TNT except for the inaugural event in 2003. To top it off, it was the most-watched non-football event since last year’s NCAA men’s basketball title game between the University of Connecticut and Purdue University.
Simply put, hockey won.
And what could be more fitting than a Connor McDavid golden goal to clinch the championship for Canada? Poetic.
