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The matchup for the 2025 Stanley Cup Final is now set and will likely represent a mixed bag for the NHL.
The Oilers clinched a second-straight Western Conference title Thursday night, closing out the Stars in five games. Joined with the defending NHL champion Panthers’ earlier victory of the Eastern Conference title, the Stanley Cup Final will be the first back-to-back engagement since the Penguins–Red Wings in 2008 and 2009.
In the U.S., ratings are almost certain to decline due to the NHL’s rotating media rights between Disney, which combines coverage on broadcast network ABC and cable outlet ESPN, and the cable and streaming-only presentation on Warner Bros. Discovery’s TNT, truTV, and Max. This will be a WBD year, meaning that the event will once again not have an over-the-air component in the U.S.
In 2023, the last such year for WBD and the Stanley Cup Final, viewership fell 43% compared to the prior year. Series length, a particularly critical element in hockey viewership, also likely played a factor as the Golden Knights’ five-game win over the Panthers that year was one shorter than the Avalanche’s six-game triumph over the Lightning in 2022.
Along similar lines, the deciding seventh game last year between the Panthers and Oilers garnered an average U.S. audience of 7.7 million viewers, the largest for any NHL game in five years.
In Canada, meanwhile, the dynamics are rather different. The lack of a second competing team from the U.S. and a corresponding local-market bump in Nielsen measurement are likely to be reflected in heightened Canadian viewership on Sportsnet, CBC, and the French-language TVA Sports.
Last year, Sportsnet drew a network-record average of 7.55 million viewers for Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Panthers and Oilers, with a broader reach figure of 15 million representing 39% of the entire Canadian population. In this year’s playoffs, Sportsnet posted a 16% boost in viewership through the second round to an average of 2.2 million viewers.
The Oilers, for their part, are trying to keep their emotions in check amid a run of sustained excellence that nonetheless has ended in earlier playoff exits in 2022 and 2023, and the seven-game Stanley Cup Final disappointment last year. Game 1 will start Wednesday in Edmonton, with the Oilers a very slight favorite in early betting odds.
“I think we’re better for going through last year,” said Oilers captain Connor McDavid. “It’s a great learning experience and it’s really driven us all year. This run has felt different than last year. It’s felt very normal. … I don’t want to say boring because it’s not boring at all. It hasn’t been as emotional.”
