The NHL broke its own attendance record for the third season in a row, having surpassed 23 million fans for the first time.
On Friday, the league reported a figure of 23,014,458 across the 1,312-game regular season. In 2022–23, that record-breaking threshold was 22.4 million; in 2023–24, it was 22.9.
This year's haul was no doubt bolstered by Alex Ovechkin's race to break the all-time scoring record, previously held by Wayne Gretzky. The Washington Capitals left wing pulled it off on April 6, 2025.
All in all, the 23 million figure represents 96.9% capacity across the league's 32 home arenas, the Associated Press reports. The Montreal Canadiens led all clubs in total attendance, having sold out each of their 41 home games for a total of 865,305 attendees.
Moreover, the numbers do not include attendance for the 4 Nations Face-Off, which was a huge success in terms of television viewership and also drew an average of more than 19,000 fans per game (135,977 total).
Across the season, the stadium series game in Columbus had the biggest crowed with 94,571 fans, the second-largest in league history.
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Brigid Kennedy is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in November 2024, she covered political news, sporting news and culture at TheWeek.com before moving to Livingetc, an interior design magazine. She is a graduate of Syracuse University, dual majoring in television, radio and film (from the Newhouse School of Public Communications) and marketing managment (from the Whitman School of Management). Offline, she enjoys going to the movies, reading and watching the Steelers.
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