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The Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews immediately drew hockey fans’ attention, scoring four goals in his first NHL game in October.
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A month into the NHL season, the best-selling jerseys on the league’s website included names you’d expect: Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Henrik Lundqvist.
But two relative newcomers crashed the list: Toronto Maple Leafs rookie Auston Matthews was in the top slot, and Edmonton Oilers sophomore Connor McDavid finished behind only Matthews and Crosby.
They represent a youth movement across the league. Players such as Buffalo’s Jack Eichel and Winnipeg’s Patrik Laine are not just performing well but also hold the promise of being franchise players.
“There is a level of poise, speed and skill from these young players that makes us feel really good about where the game is positioned and where it is going,” said Brian Jennings, NHL chief branding officer. “People are literally staying up an extra hour or two to watch the Oilers and other teams just to see these players, and that gets us so excited for the future and these matchups.”
The viewership impact in Canada is hard to determine, since games are often split across national, regional and local broadcasts that aren’t all tracked by ratings agency Numeris, but NBC executives share the optimism.
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Connor McDavid of Edmonton is another of the NHL’s young guns.
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NBCSN recently added the Nov. 29 game between McDavid’s Oilers and Matthews’ Maple Leafs to its schedule, the second game it has added to its original 106 broadcasts. The other was Toronto’s home opener Oct. 15 after Matthews’ NHL-record four-goal debut.
“We have to look at opportunities to get these players on the air, and continue to grow and expand the young stars of the game,” said Sam Flood, executive producer of NBC Sports and NBCSN.
NBCSN is changing its Sunday NHL broadcasts to highlight these young players and other standouts across the league with what Flood called “star nights.” The network, across its pre- and postgame coverage, will carve out time to focus and discuss a specific player, not only what they’re doing on the ice that makes them successful, but also discussing their pre-NHL history.
“It’s always an agenda of ours to want to sell the future of the league,” Flood said.
NBCSN’s schedule leans heavy on teams that have driven ratings in the past, such as the Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks, who are scheduled to appear 17 and 21 times, respectively. In comparison, Edmonton was not scheduled at all, Toronto’s lone appearance was on New Year’s Day, and other teams succeeding with young players such as the Dallas Stars and Florida Panthers appear infrequently compared with other NHL teams, which drew some initial barbs from fans.
Flood said the network would rather react to these early season storylines by adding games than have jumped on the bandwagon too early. There are also considerations for what ratings these matchups will draw — Matthews’ Saturday night home debut averaged just 114,000 viewers, well below NBCSN’s previous season average of 349,000, albeit competing against the Major League Baseball’s league championship series and college football.
Dave Hopkinson, chief commercial officer of Maple Leafs’ parent company, MLSE, said that the excitement around Matthews, as well as fellow young players William Nylander and Mitch Marner, has been very high, with the team’s local television viewership up around 20 percent. However, he noted that while sponsors and fans want to see more of them, the Leafs are putting on-ice concerns ahead of commercial ones.
“We allow our hockey office to set the lead on the use of players in promotions and activations — we don’t want to do anything that compromises the unity of our program and lose vision of making the Maple Leafs successful,” he said. “While we’ve got an insatiable appetite to involve some of these young stars, we want to keep the players focused.”
While Matthews already has an equipment deal with Bauer and a trading card deal with Upper Deck, his agent Pat Brisson is cognizant of overloading him.
“We want Auston to focus on his game and being in the NHL. This alone is a big transition,” said Brisson, co-head of CAA Hockey. He noted that they are in discussions with a few other brands, as well as around a potential apparel deal. “Outside of these sponsorship areas and specific deals, we are taking our time so it doesn’t affect his on-ice performance,” he said.
Jennings said that while the excitement around these players has started to flow to the NHL’s leaguewide revenue lines such as consumer products. He noted the league tries not to expect too much too soon.
“You can’t create a superstar — their performances night in and night out make them who they are,” he said. “You always want to be careful not to put so much on these young men’s shoulders, but when the league is full of good young players like this, as a brand, a business and a fan, you can’t help but be excited.”
Staff writer Liz Mullen contributed to this report.
