2026 NHL Fan Survey: Your thoughts on the current state of hockey and its future

[TBone]

Hopefully this isn't paywalled for y'all

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2026 NHL fan survey: Your thoughts on the current state of hockey and its future

By The Athletic NHL Staff
July 13, 2026 Updated 6:31 am CDT


As the free-agent signings subside and the NHL begins to hibernate for the summer, it’s time for you to chime in on the state of the game.

Welcome to The Athletic’s NHL fan survey. We’ve been doing NHL player polls regularly for years and team-specific fan surveys are common around here. But we were overdue for a general, league-wide state-of-the-game survey. So here it is.

This survey consists of 24 questions, any of which you may skip if you have no opinion on the subject. Topics range from Gary Bettman’s job performance to the state income tax issue to the TV viewing experience. If there’s another area you’d like to address, put your thoughts in the comment section.

Thanks for participating and stay tuned for the results later in the summer.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/741937 ... -ios-share

[dhsux]

Pretty sure it's a paywall T

[zoiks]

Pretty sure it's a paywall T

Not only that, but it’s a survey to gather gambling data from users as The Athletic continues its death spiral, with more and more of its content being thinly veiled sports gambling ads.

[BalotelliMassive]

Pretty sure it's a paywall T

Not when you post the link here:

https://archive.is/

[DIAMONDINTHEROUGH]

The viewing experience is far worse. All the flashing absurd ads makes the games less enjoyable to watch.

[MrPostman01]

It ranks behind baseball, football, basketball but ahead of soccer.

[Sprtsfntc11]

Pretty sure it's a paywall T

Not only that, but it’s a survey to gather gambling data from users as The Athletic continues its death spiral, with more and more of its content being thinly veiled sports gambling ads.

Seriously?!?! There is only 2 questions about gambling.....

[zoiks]

Pretty sure it's a paywall T

Not only that, but it’s a survey to gather gambling data from users as The Athletic continues its death spiral, with more and more of its content being thinly veiled sports gambling ads.

Seriously?!?! There is only 2 questions about gambling.....

And they’re the only ones The Athletic cares about