Amazon Prime Video is digging in — and widening its scope — for Season 2 of its hockey docuseries Faceoff: Inside the NHL.
The streamer announced Thursday that its behind-the-scenes peek into the lives of NHL stars will feature the return of two Season 1 protagonists — Toronto Maple Leafs winger William Nylander and Florida Panthers lightning rod Matthew Tkachuk — as well as 12 other personalities.
Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins), Marc-Andre Fleury (Minnesota Wild), Mikko Rantanen (Dallas Stars), Brendan Shanahan (Hockey Hall of Famer), Sean Monahan (Columbus Blue Jackets), Thomas Harley (Dallas Stars), Seth Jarvis (Carolina Hurricanes), Wyatt Johnston (Dallas Stars), Anze Kopitar (Los Angeles Kings), Zach Werenski (Columbus Blue Jackets) and Quinton Byfield (Los Angeles Kings) will all be showcased prominently in Season 2’s six episodes.
Brady Tkachuk (Ottawa Senators) was previously announced as a participant.
“Expect the unexpected,” Mark Shopiro, head of Amazon Prime Video Canada, told Sportsnet. “You saw last year in Season 1 just peeks behind that we had never seen before in the NHL and more access to players than ever before. And what we’re excited about for Season 2 is getting to go even deeper with the players.”
Shopiro promised more interviews from teammates, friends and family members surrounding the series’ stars on top of the usual standard production company Box To Box established with past bingeworthy sports hits like F1: Drive to Survive and Full Swing.
“Heading into Season 2, the players certainly have more of a flavour for it, and I think we also have more of a flavour for what types of stories are resonating best,” Shopiro said. “We have some pretty monumental moments within hockey as a whole, and then obviously bringing new players into the forefront.”
Amazon’s cameras were rolling behind the scenes during February’s 4 Nations Face-Off, which was crowned the Sports Event of the Year at last week’s SBJ Sports Business Awards, and during Alex Ovechkin’s breaking of Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record.
Of particular interest will be glimpses into the life of the private Crosby and the potential for further insight into Rantanen’s two trades, Fleury’s last hurrah, Monahan’s emotionally taxing winter and Shanahan’s last stand in Toronto.
Shopiro declined to reveal the number of streams Season 1 of Faceoff fetched. He did note that the series’ renewal speaks to fan interest and that Amazon’s partnership with the NHL is a priority considering Prime’s Monday Night Hockey, which scored well with a younger demographic and will also return in 2025-26.
With excitement bubbling over Season 2, should fans bank on a third season of Faceoff?
“We’ll see. It’s tough to say,” Shopiro says. “We’ll get through Season 2 and then evaluate what we have. We feel really good about it and see a lot of legs to the series. We want to make sure that as long as we’re making content that’s interesting and exciting to fans and our Prime members, we’ll continue to try and provide that to them.”
Faceoff is executive produced by James Gay-Rees, Paul Martin and Hillary Olsen for Box To Box; Steve Mayer for NHL Productions; and showrunner Daniel Amigone.
The 2025 release date for Season 2 will be announced later.
