{"id":411024,"date":"2026-01-16T16:16:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T16:16:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/411024\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T16:16:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T16:16:18","slug":"nhls-gary-bettman-says-he-binged-heated-rivalry-praises-show-for-helping-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/411024\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL’s Gary Bettman Says He Binged ‘Heated Rivalry,’ Praises Show For Helping League"},"content":{"rendered":"

NHL Commissioner
\n I Binged ‘Heated Rivalry’ In A Night
\n … ‘It’s a Wonderful Story’<\/p>\n

\n Published
\n January 16, 2026
\n 7:30 AM PST\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Gary<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The NHL’s top suit, Gary Bettman, confessed he binge-watched all six episodes of “Heated Rivalry” in one night … and while he admits it can get a bit steamy, he says it’s had a positive impact on the league!!<\/p>\n

Bettman — the league’s 73-year-old commissioner — says the NHL has been well aware of the hit HBO Max series that’s taken the world by storm, and you can add him to the list of fans.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Gary<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

“It was very well done,” Bettman told reporters in a scrum before Thursday\u2019s game between the San Jose Sharks and Washington Capitals. “The content, particularly for young people, might be a little spicy. And so you have to balance that out in terms of how you embrace it.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Yep, the most buttoned-up man in hockey couldn\u2019t stop watching the sexy series — especially because it low-key replicated real NHL moments fans recognize instantly.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Connor<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Bettman said he caught nods to league history, from Sochi trips to the All-Star Game in Tampa, and gave the show credit for how well it was put together.<\/p>\n

“I thought the storyline was very compelling and a lot of fun, because I could see where they were picking at things that we had in the past,” Bettman added.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Hudson<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

This wasn’t just a curiosity watch — he clearly was all the way locked in.<\/p>\n

But before anyone crowns “Heated Rivalry” as official NHL-approved programming, Bettman made it clear the league has to tread carefully.<\/p>\n

Still, hockey fans are cracking up over the visual: Gary Bettman, remote in hand, crushing episodes of the rivals-to-lovers hockey drama deep into the night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NHL Commissioner I Binged ‘Heated Rivalry’ In A Night … ‘It’s a Wonderful Story’ Published January 16, 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":411025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[377],"tags":[5,40,43,86,2620],"class_list":{"0":"post-411024","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hockey","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-sports-news","12":"tag-tmz-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115905678612375058","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}