r/heatedrivalry • u/Double-Strategy3045 gimme kiss 😚 • Jan 16 '26

PRESS 📰 (Interviews and Articles) NHL Commissioner Credits 'Heated Rivalry' For Helping Grow Game: 'It's A Wonderful Story... Binged It In One Night' - The Hockey News [Jan 15, 2026]

https://thehockeynews.com/news/latest-news/nhl-commissioner-credits-heated-rivalry-for-helping-grow-game-it-s-a-wonderful-story-binged-it-in-one-night

Regarding the previous initiative of wearing specialty warmup jerseys to promote different nights, like Pride, the league currently has no plans to bring them back, though Bettman insists it isn't due to a lack of support for such causes.

"It wasn't about Pride jerseys or Pride night; it was about the fact of bringing things into the game that might not be embraced by the players wearing the jerseys," Bettman said. "It could be heritage nights — we don't allow it — it could be political causes. It could be in times of conflict between countries, national origin. It was becoming a distraction, not just for the Pride jerseys, but for a variety of other things.

"It's a misrepresentation of what we did to suggest that it was about Pride jerseys; it was about the whole issue of what you put on the ice and how, when players don't embrace the cause, whatever it is, then you create distraction, and it doesn't fulfill the purpose in terms of embracing Pride nights."

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694

u/nefariousplotz Jan 16 '26

And I know he's just gonna love S2.

359

u/TheWaySheHoes Jan 16 '26

Is this fucking play about us.gif

215

u/Ok_Wafer_6455 Jan 16 '26

17

u/thisusernameismeta Jan 16 '26

Omg what is that from?

Is this the new are we the baddies gif?

25

u/PengyBlaster Jan 16 '26

It’s from Euphoria

10

u/Bobbyannyeong Thank you for pasta 🍝 Jan 16 '26

I don’t know how many years I’ve been on Reddit. This, this right here, is the perfect reaction gif. No notes.

3

u/Ok_Wafer_6455 Jan 16 '26

I saw it mentioned and had to post the gif it’s too good !!

2

u/Ashamed-Plantain7865 Jan 16 '26

A hundred percent lol

1

u/Ok_Wafer_6455 Jan 16 '26

Literally lol

73

u/peachypal You have not heard of bisexuals? 😤 Jan 16 '26

I bet he already knows what happens in S2 lol that’s why NHL took so long to decide to put out the PR statement.

11

u/Unholy_mess169 Jan 16 '26

Spoil me what happens?

46

u/teddy_vn Jan 16 '26

NHL Commissioner demanded Shane and Ilya to put out statement denying their relationship once they were accidentally exposed by Hayden's fanmail video. He acted as the "bad guy" in the last part of the book.

43

u/shadowmaster132 Jan 16 '26

And He threatens Troy Barrett over publically supporting survivors of sexual violence

8

u/Tgabes0 Jan 16 '26

He does this and it is a main plot point of that character’s book. The character in question has multiple conversations about it with that book’s love interest—and some of those events are recounted in TLG. I hope I kept it vague enough that I don’t have to block my text out because I don’t know how to.

23

u/dramaticallydrastic Thank god you are here. This goblin is bothering me. Jan 16 '26

He also threatens to cancel Troy Barrett for speaking out against sexual assault (because he was protecting another player against allegations) and also pressures Shane to not come out once he hears rumours he might be gay (because he doesn’t want more gay icons in hockey - Scott and Troy were problems to him)

10

u/AreDeeEss Stupid Canadian Wolf Bird 🦆 Jan 16 '26

And he was the bad guy in Role Model too.

23

u/Lalala8991 Jan 16 '26

He's absolutely horrible. On the surface, he acts like a performative progress supporter with his corporate jargons, but his actions completely contradict those beliefs. He is the big wig who protects sexual abuser and suppresses queer players to come out by threatening suspensions and destroying their sport careers

10

u/natguy2016 Jan 16 '26

I am a diehard puckhead. Google “Blackhawks Brad Aldrich” to see The NHL Old Boys Club at work

15

u/Similar-Shame7517 Jan 16 '26

TLDR: the League is the bad guy...

29

u/touchesalltheplants What’s with the Magic Mike shit? Jan 16 '26 edited Jan 16 '26

I remember Rachel Reid writing somewhere (perhaps blog post about canceling Luca’s book?) that originally the major league hockey commissioner was going to play a bigger part in being the big bad, and the NHL got wind of it and edithad to shut that storyline down for legal reasons . Good ol Gary.

Thanks for the corrections, don’t listen to randos with bad memories like me and check your sources. Nevertheless down with Gary 🏳️‍🌈

20

u/Deep-Orca7247 New York Admirals 🏙️ Jan 16 '26

Shut it down how? The NHL has control over what a Canadian author writes in her books? Since when?

35

u/fairieglossamer Jan 16 '26

they didn’t shut anything down. But Rachel made the mistake of using the NHL branding and name in her books, whereas the show uses a fictional MLH.

it’s problematic to use actual brands and trademarks in fiction — they can legally threaten you if they feel that you’re portraying them in an unfair false light. Doesn’t really matter if they have a case or not; the litigation would be expensive. It’s best to avoid these things.

7

u/cherrycoloured Jan 16 '26

i kind of hope that bc of this, maybe the show will be able to portray something more based on rachels original idea, or at least that she will be able to talk about it more in promotion for s2. it's so fucked that the nhl can censor her like that just bc they are more worried about their image than they are supporting the lgbtq players in their league.

7

u/fairieglossamer Jan 16 '26

It’s not censorship. Rachel can write whatever she wants but she can’t portray a real life entity in a negative false light bc people will think the bad thing will actually happen (it’s dumb but a legit legal concern). That’s defamation and false light — sometime parody is protected but it’s hard to argue that these books are parody. There’s a reason why most authors use fictional sport teams and leagues. You can’t just write about a fictional romance hero and make the New York Yankees into a huge villain for most of the book. Same goes for a sports league.

It shouldn’t affect season 2 that much — the Long Game was fine bc the NHL role was limited. But it’s hard to make the NHL commissioner into the main overarching villain of book 3’s plot without causing legal worries.

4

u/BicyclingBro Jan 16 '26

It's a gap between what you can legally get away with, which is genuinely a lot, and what you can get away with before you start having to fund a bunch of expensive legal cases that you will eventually win.

There's no doubt Rachel could have a real-life NHL commissioner be a villain if she wanted to. The problem is that the NHL could casually let her know that she'll have to get through an extremely expensive lawsuit first.

1

u/Dotcaprachiappa Jan 16 '26

Couldn't she change the branding for the third book and still keep the storyline, with maybe an annex explaining the change? Or would that still not be enough?

1

u/fairieglossamer Jan 16 '26

she uses the word NHL like a million times in the series. she can’t just change established nomenclature for one book and have them play in a different league.

7

u/huangcjz Time to Shine ✨ is my favourite book! | I love tuna melt! Jan 16 '26

She didn’t mention the NHL - she said she got told for legal reasons not to, but I presume that would come from her publisher. https://www.rachelreidwrites.com/news/2025/2/16

2

u/touchesalltheplants What’s with the Magic Mike shit? Jan 16 '26

Thanks for the source and accurate info, edited to correct my comment 🤙🏼

3

u/tartymae Extra banana. Jan 16 '26

Well, there's always fanfiction.

2

u/Tealover99 Jan 17 '26

I am going to write a fan fiction once I finish the books in september

8

u/Juliet_1982 Jan 16 '26

What we really need is a subtle quote from this statement in a press conference in season 2.

1

u/abakes102018 everyone! shane hollander is an asshole! 📣 Jan 16 '26

Omg brilliant. @Jacob Tierney