NHL’s ‘Frozen Frenzy’ draws lackluster audience on ESPN

The opening of the NHL season has not been much to write home about from a viewership perspective.

The National Hockey League’s Frozen Frenzy that featured all 32 teams playing in a condensed window on Tuesday evening saw year-over-year decline for ESPN.

Per Braylon Breeze’s X account @HockeyReportHQ, which tracks NHL viewership, ESPN’s tripleheader averaged just 381,000 viewers, down 11% from last year’s Frozen Frenzy. The top game of the night featured the Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers, which averaged 477,000 in the 6:00 p.m. window, down 15% from last year’s top game (Boston Bruins-Chicago Blackhawks, 526,000 viewers).

The whip-around show on ESPN2 fared especially poorly, averaging just 83,000 viewers between 8:00 p.m. and Midnight. That’s down 57% from last year’s show, which drew 196,000 viewers.

As for the Los Angeles Kings-Las Vegas Golden Knights nightcap, that game declined 12% versus last year’s Flyers-Golden Knights late window (245,000 versus 278,000).

The poor showing comes amid a similarly lackluster NHL opening night on ESPN earlier this month. NHL Opening Night declined 39% year-over-year without the strength of Blackhawks star Connor Bedard’s debut to fall back on.

ESPN also faced stiff competition from the NBA’s Opening Night on Tuesday. TNT saw a nice viewership increase from last year for a doubleheader featuring the defending champion Boston Celtics against the New York Knicks and the on-court debut of father-son duo of LeBron and Bronny James in the late window.

Overall, it’s not the start the NHL has hoped for. There’s still plenty of time left to rebound, but with two of the sport’s bigger viewership opportunities of the regular season now in the rearview mirror, the league will have to rely on strong audiences for other tentpole events like the Winter Classic to avoid a decline this season.

[X/@HockeyReportHQ]