The NHL is opening its doorways and promising one other look behind the scenes with the return of a docuseries to Amazon Prime in Fall 2025.
The second season of “FACEOFF: Contained in the NHL” has been greenlit following the profitable launch of the inaugural sequence earlier this yr, Prime Video introduced Thursday.
Season 2 will return with six episodes and embrace extra time spent with Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk, who appeared briefly within the third episode of Season 1 alongside his father Keith and brother Matthew.
The opposite NHL gamers featured in Season 2 will likely be introduced at a later date.
Season 1 spotlighted among the league’s largest stars — together with Connor McDavid, Matthew Tkachuk, Quinn Hughes, David Pastrnak and William Nylander — and drew its strongest and lasting scenes from the entry granted to McDavid through the Edmonton Oilers playoff run that fell one win shy of the Stanley Cup.
As thrilled as NHL chief content material officer Steve Mayer was with the ultimate product in Season 1, he instructed The Athletic in October that he was “praying” for a second season as a result of “there’s so many little issues alongside the way in which that we predict we will do higher.”
For starters, the primary digicam crews weren’t dispatched till March final season, forcing the tales to be instructed completely round gamers who have been on playoff groups. That gained’t have to be the case in Season 2. The league additionally believes there’s a chance to extra deeply discover the off-ice relationships that assist outline the sport’s largest gamers.
“We wish to have individuals who have households and girlfriends or wives,” stated Mayer. “We wish to do extra of that. That makes the episodes actually nice when you are able to do a complete story on their partner. You are able to do issues which are over there (away from the sport) and don’t all the time must cope with participant entry, participant entry, extra participant entry.”
The NHL will once more produce the docuseries in partnership with Field To Field. That’s the corporate behind a number of different common sports activities sequence within the style, together with “Method 1: Drive to Survive” and the PGA Tour’s “Full Swing.”
Field To Field was extremely impressed with what number of doorways have been opened to them throughout their first foray into the NHL — significantly when in comparison with what they’ve handled in different arenas.
“Another sports activities are simply extra managed,” Paul Martin, the corporate’s co-founder, instructed The Athletic earlier this yr. “There’s extra layers to form of get by way of. Some sports activities really feel they don’t have work to do. However there was undoubtedly a sense that hockey needed a present like this.”
Earlier than Season 1 was formally launched, he stated he was anticipating a Season 2, supplied the viewership numbers matched the product.
Martin had heard that NHL gamers could be reluctant to face out among the many crowd, however his firm’s first-hand experiences didn’t reinforce that notion.
“There’s a tradition inside hockey of to not put your self ahead as a person, and I feel that was the largest problem we had,” Martin stated. “However I feel this new technology who share extra on social media, they’re far more prepared to say, ‘Hey, I’m pleased to place myself on the market if it helps develop the sport of hockey.”‘
(Photograph of Brady Tkachuk: Steph Chambers / Getty Pictures)
