Ian Kennedy
Appearances
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Comparisons
I mean, the fans are eating this stuff up right now. The merchandise, even in Season 1 when there wasn't any, the PWHL had a very difficult time keeping things on the shelves, and they were out of stock almost immediately. But I think it was pretty impressive when we saw the home openers over the last week, and you saw how many jerseys were actually in the stands already. That was...
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Comparisons
Really remarkable to see that kind of presence right off the bat. So it's a big thing for the league definitely to have those names and logos out there. People are attaching themselves to the identities already. We're getting lots of fun stuff coming up out of it. So it was definitely a big step forward for the league from their generic city names last year.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Comparisons
I think they were excited from year one. They exceeded all expectations right there and then. But season two has really got off to an exciting start with the attendance levels. I mean, Montreal had to move into a bigger venue and they brought just over 10,000 people to their first game. Toronto had to move to a bigger venue that seats...
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Comparisons
You know, just over 8,000 and they're pretty much selling that out every game. So that's really exciting. But when you look at the neutral site games, whether it's at Scotiabank in Toronto or this season, they're going to go out to Vancouver and Edmonton and they've already sold out both of those venues. Quebec City's over 17,000 for their game. Seattle looks pretty full. Denver looks pretty full.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Comparisons
It's all really positive. The market's been there for professional women's sports for decades.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Comparisons
a decade right now or longer but hockey's just catching up and we're seeing that the the people are ready fans are ready for this not just in the six markets they're in but obviously there's lots of talk of expansion coming as soon as next season and the attendance numbers in some of those games this year are really going to be deciding factors for what markets get new teams
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Comparisons
I think they're learning every single game. There's a lot of items that they're still catching up on, from social media to the broadcasting being a huge aspect that they're still trying to figure out. We saw a really early season switch from... some YouTube games to Twitch, which was not really well received by fans.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Comparisons
But I mean, in Canada, they've got Amazon Prime, CBC, TSN covering pretty much every game that there is. And in the United States, it's a little more regional. Nessun up in New England and
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Comparisons
We've got some great coverage in New York with MSG, but they're still looking for a national broadcasting partner in the United States, and I think that's going to be probably dependent on expansion again because you can't have a national broadcaster that's not a national league. It's a regional league right now, and I think that they recognize the need to switch that as well.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Comparisons
Historically, ESPN Plus was the broadcaster for a lot of women's leagues in the past, including the previous iteration of the PHF. So I could see ESPN being right in on that conversation, but One thing that we have seen a little bit of a trend is that the PWHL is following the NHL's footsteps and a lot of the business decisions.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Comparisons
And I think that we might see them targeting similar partnerships that the NHL have. And so, you know, anybody's guess right now, but I'd say the ESPN Plus or ESPN in general is probably the leading contender at the moment.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Comparisons
The talent pool is the number one thing the league's looking at. They've mentioned this a number of times. They feel like they've got the on-ice product right. And I believe that too. I think that a lot of people, men's hockey fans in particular, that watch this league are really excited and surprised by the level of play that's there. It is elite. The skill level is right off the charts.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Comparisons
But there's a huge wave of talent coming online. Maybe not in this 2025 draft, but the 2026 draft is just loaded. I mean, pretty much the best players from the United States national team right now, like Carolyn Harvey, that was... You know, USA Hockey Player of the Year last year, Layla Edwards, who was the World Championship MVP.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Comparisons
There's a huge group that's going to be coming in over the next two years. And that's probably what we're looking at in terms of expansion. I don't know if they'll do two teams this year because of that. the talent coming in, but there's definitely globally enough women's hockey talent to expand this league quickly and still keep that level of play high and some parity across the board.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Comparisons
Uh, I would say that they should not follow the NHL in pretty much any way. That's my personal opinion. Uh, I think that, you know, avoiding watching what the NHL does and then doing the opposite might be better, but, uh, they have the good thing about this league is they have an incredible amount of intelligent, uh, big personality people. I mean, we're not talking about, uh, women here.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Comparisons
This is a league of people with master's degrees, doctorate degrees. They are all university students that have come out of there. They're really well-spoken, articulate people. They're fun. I mean, if you look at their social media platforms, they are actual people. It's not that kind of
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Comparisons
you know, the NHL, I find that a lot of players get programmed to be these little robots and give you the same six word answer every single time, like pucks deep, you know, all that stuff, all the cliches are there. But when you talk to these players in this league, you're getting really thoughtful, insightful answers.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Comparisons
And I think that the marketability for that, uh, to let fans see the players in this league as people, not just as hockey players, which is what a lot of research shows us that, uh, Fans want to know those players better. So I think this league has a huge leg up on the NHL in that regard, for sure. And I think they're going to embrace that and really lean into it.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Comparisons
If you go on Instagram and you type in Whoever, Emma Malte, Callie Flanagan. I mean, these might be players that some people don't know, but you're going to see them doing fun things and you're going to see them engaging with fans. They're in the community all the time. Brands are really latching on. We saw Sarah Fillier just signed an exclusive deal with Upper Deck the other day to put out...
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Comparisons
unique merchandise and specific cards for her. And we're seeing these partnerships coming more and more. The market, again, is there. And the brands also see the big personality of these players, the relatability of the players. There's a huge market that's being filled right now that was empty before.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Comparisons
And it's a really exciting time, not just for the players, but for businesses and brands and hockey in general.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Comparisons
Spectacular. I mean, Fillier has just blown the roof right off the league. She's... Pretty much doing it all right now. And I think that's just a testament to the fact about women's hockey is that there's as much talent, high end talent outside of this league still as there is inside the league.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Comparisons
I mean, you look at the USA's national team and there's like 10 players that are still in the NCAA and every single one of them. could step in and make an immediate impact, like Abby Murphy, who, if she declares this year, will be undoubtedly the first overall pick.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Comparisons
But the league is filled with great players that have just come in, whether it's veteran Europeans like Ronja Salvalainen or Daniela Pejava, along with those domestic players, whether it's Hanna Bilka, Kayla Barnes, Daniel Serdakny, who was the second overall pick just behind Philly A. Big body, really intelligent. Scored the golden goal for Canada this year.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Comparisons
I mean, the league is continuing to get better. And anyone that watched last year and is just tuning in this year, it's really clear that There is no gap now. Fourth line to first line is pretty level across the board.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Comparisons
There's good players up and down lineups, and we're seeing really excellent professional hockey players that aren't able to stick on rosters right now in year two, and that's just impressive.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Comparisons
I look at someone like Toronto and I see the depth that they have up front. Once they start to click, I think they're going to be a really difficult team to deal with. They've got basically two lines of senior national team players. Minnesota keeps finding a way to do it early on, but there's some dark horses.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Comparisons
I mean, Ottawa last year was probably a team that had more bad luck than anybody could have imagined. at all predicted.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Comparisons
I mean, you can't play one goaltender the entire season. I think that she got a game and a half off or a game and a period. That's it. But it's anybody. And I think that's the really interesting part about this league is Minnesota last year came into the playoffs on a horrific slump. Wins it all. This year, it could be the same thing. The parity is...
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Comparisons
right there night in, night out, where whoever was last place last year could consistently beat the first place team this year. So it's really exciting. It's like every fan base doesn't have to go through that. This is our year gig. It really could be any team's year. Probably right now for the next three or four years, we're going to see that parody.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The Hockey Show: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Comparisons
Thanks for having me, guys.