The big takeaways from our massive NHL fan survey

The New York Times' The Athletic conducted a massive NHL fan survey with more than 20,000 respondents, gauging opinions on the state of the league heading into the 2026-27 season. The survey was broken into multiple parts, with the first two installments — covering the state of the game and predictions for the coming year — released simultaneously, and Part 3 scheduled for the following day. The majority of respondents were described as bullish on the NHL, with the results compiled and reported by writer Harman Dayal during the league's early August offseason period.