When NHL coaches give victory speeches, teams hope for viral social media content

AtlanticBruinsCanadiensLightningMaple LeafsPanthersRed WingsSabresSenatorsMetropolitanBlue JacketsCapitalsDevilsFlyersHurricanesIslandersPenguinsRangersCentralAvalancheBlackhawksBluesJetsMammothPredatorsStarsWildPacificCanucksDucksFlamesGolden KnightsKingsKrakenOilersSharksScores & ScheduleStandingsPodcastsFantasyNHL OddsNHL PicksNHL playoff predictionsBracketStanley Cup tiersNHL Draft rankingRed Light NewsletterNHL Playoffs The Hurricanes' Rod Brind'Amour, left, and the Penguins' Dan Muse are among the NHL coaches whose speeches appear in team-produced videos. Kelsea Petersen / The Athletic; Josh Lavelle / Getty Images Share articleRich Tocchet flashed a grin as he prepared to speak. The Flyers had just won Game 1 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series, 3-2, defeating the Penguins on Saturday night. Now, back in the visiting dressing room at PPG Paints Arena, it was time for the Philadelphia coach to stand and deliver a victory speech. “Hey, hell of an effort guys,” Tocchet told his players. “Great win, that’s number one.” The talk went fast, with Tocchet largely filling the remaining time by reminding the Flyers to hydrate, eat and otherwise properly recover their bodies ahead of Game 2. But after the team later posted video of Tocchet’s words to its social media accounts, the impact was lasting: Through Wednesday, the brief clip had earned more than half a million combined views across Instagram, X and TikTok. NHL coaches often address their players in private right after games — win or lose, it’s a chance to send a final message to the group for the night. In recent years, though, teams are increasingly filming and uploading fly-on-the-wall footage of these victory speeches to provide inside access for those outside of the dressing room. As with Tocchet after Game 1, sometimes less is more in these speeches. Late in the 2025-26 regular season, Devils coach Sheldon Keefe was featured in a team-produced video speaking for all of 21 seconds. “Just summing up what happened,” Hurricanes bench boss Rod Brind’Amour said of his typical victory speech intentions. “We like to put a bow on it and then move on.” Others peel back the curtain on compelling behind-the-scenes moments. On April 9, when the Penguins clinched a playoff berth with a win over New Jersey, coach Dan Muse was captured urging his team to continue believing in its ability to “hold the pen” and control its playoff destiny. Two days later, Kings coach D.J. Smith sparked an on-camera standing ovation to cap an emotional dedication to Los Angeles captain Anze Kopitar after a 1-0 win over the Oilers. “It’s a dog fight out there, and the f—ing back end, it was exceptional,” Smith said then, shouting out the Kings’ defensive corps before turning his attention to Kopitar. “But there’s one guy, it’s his last home game in the regular season, that’s carried this franchise for how many years? Twenty-something f—ing years.” The practice is more common in the NFL, where such videos are uploaded weekly during football season and coaches regularly go viral for their orations. The Rams, for instance, maintain a dedicated page on their team website titled, “Latest Victory Speeches.” But the NHL isn’t far behind, the result of more videographers and digital content departments around the league working to show how hockey coaches motivate their players. Even if some coaches are still a little reticent about the trend. “Everything has to be before (the game), and that’s when the cameras are off, and no one sees it,” Brind’Amour told The Athletic. “I’m not a big fan of how this is morphed into where it’s all out there. So, the messages get tamer, and you’ve got to watch what you say.” A Stanley Cup-winning captain-turned-coach, Brind’Amour has gained notoriety for his ability to push players in Carolina, pulling from his on-ice experiences and encouraging the Hurricanes to make their own memories. On the team’s Instagram page, a video of a Brind’Amour speech after a playoff win last season currently has more than 500,000 views. “He’s the ultimate motivator and ultimate leader,” defenseman K’Andre Miller said. “You walk into the room and you know he’s going to be that guy that’s just going to push you and hold you accountable to be your best each night.” Added defenseman Jaccob Slavin, “He’s such a good presenter, the way he is with his words. He’s got a lot of great content (that) he uses to get us going.” Whether made pregame, at intermission or postgame, the best speeches for hockey coaches contain both conviction and passion that will hold players’ attention spans. There are the traditional “rah-rah” versions — think Herb Brooks hyping up the Americans ahead of the “Miracle on Ice” in 1980 — meant to motivate players, no matter what obstacles face them. But an effective speech can also shrewdly reinforce strategy and concepts to build confidence in teams. Brind’Amour saw as much while playing for, and later working as an assistant under, then-Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice. “Wasn’t necessarily a (motivator) like, ‘Wow, I’ve got to get out there and go through the wall,’” Brind’Amour said of Maurice, now a two-time Stanley Cup winner with the Panthers. “It was more like, ‘Golly, if we do that, that’s really good. That’s what we need to do.’ By striking the right, often profane chords, a coach can even help alter the course of a season. After a 7-1 road win over the Golden Knights on Jan. 25, the Senators’ Travis Green used his platform to reference a swirl of off-ice storylines that threatened to engulf his team. “Don’t listen to the f—ing white noise,” Green said, according to a video later posted to Ottawa’s team Instagram page. “Don’t listen to people outside this f—ing rink. Zero negativity, all right?” As the Sens continued to overcome potential distractions throughout an up-and-down regular season and clinch a second straight playoff berth, the idea of them ignoring the “white noise” became a consistent dressing room theme. No doubt Green’s team will need to keep doing so, too, staring at a 2-0 series deficit against the Canes heading into Game 3 on Thursday night. Of course, as Brind’Amour said, the mere existence of cameras during these speeches can also prove distracting. His addresses are entertaining for viewers outside of Carolina’s dressing room, but the coach acknowledges that they’re essentially toned-down versions of what he’s already told players ahead of the game. His audience agreed. “It probably changes the message a little bit, especially after games,” Canes forward Seth Jarvis said. “But, I mean, we always have the next day when no one’s in here, and he finishes what he meant to say. So, in the moment, you can tell he’s a little pissed off about it.” That the top-seeded Canes pumped out Brind’Amour victory speech videos throughout the regular season, perhaps at a league-high rate for the genre, speaks to an organization-wide acknowledgement: All-access content is here to stay in hockey. “Maybe there’s a few less F-bombs dropped, and it’s a bit more PG,” forward Taylor Hall added. “We got a camera in our room at all times, so it just is what it is.” A few weeks ago, after a Senators win in early April, Green delivered a profanity-laced speech with team cameras rolling. Many of his curse words were easily censorable, but one phrase caused indecision among the organization’s communications department as the video was being put together: when Green told his players to work their “balls off.” “We had a debate,” said Ian Mendes, Ottawa’s vice president of communications and a former writer at The Athletic. “(We were) like. ‘Boy, do we bleep out ‘balls’ or not? As a staff, we were like, ‘What do we do?'” Following their meeting, the Sens decided to keep the word. It removed any potential mystery while allowing fans to enjoy a glimpse behind the camera. Which, ultimately, is why teams post these moments in the first place. “In my five years here, I feel like we were one of the first teams to start posting speeches,” said Mackenzie Friedman, the Hurricanes’ director of digital content. “Rod’s always been great about that. He’s a great speaker, and people listen when he talks. I feel like, from there, other teams have followed suit, and now it’s big enough that you’re doing a story on it.” In general, digital content teams like Friedman’s will shoot and edit what they need in the dressing room, before having the clips vetted by communications staff. But coaches theoretically have final say over what is posted from their speeches, too. Some even direct videographers on exactly when to start recording in the dressing room. “Some teams struggle with access and getting in the room,” Friedman said. “I’m really lucky. We are really lucky that that’s never been an issue.” Not every NHL club taps coaching victory speeches for social media views: Out of the 12 with playoff victories as of Wednesday morning, only the Flyers had posted one. But it’s hardly the only form of postgame behind-the-scenes footage becoming standard around the league, either. Other examples often seen on social media include teams celebrating as they enter the dressing room and the handing out of player-of-the-game awards. The Bruins, meanwhile, produce an in-house all-access show now in its 13th season. “Anytime that you can showcase personalities and make sports a personal thing, you’re going to grow the game,” Friedman said. “The league posts a Rod Brind’Amour speech and now someone from, I don’t know, Vancouver, has become a fan of Rod.” And while Canadian teams such as the Senators serve predominantly hockey-obsessed markets, the Canes hope to keep building their foothold in a region with more competition. Certainly that’s enough for a camera-shy coach such as Brind’Amour to get behind raising his team’s profile in the interest of gaining new fans — even if it means dropping fewer F-bombs amid the thrill of victory. As Brind’Amour said, “I’m all for growing the game.” Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms