The NHL and Prime Video officially announced on Thursday that they will be releasing a docuseries in the fall that will give fans a behind-the-scenes look at the lives of some of the league’s biggest stars.
It’s been known for some time that this series was coming and that Vancouver Canucks captain Quinn Hughes would be a part of it. A camera crew from Amazon started following Hughes near the end of the regular season and was frequently seen throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The official announcement confirms Hughes’ involvement, along with ten other players: Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl from the Edmonton Oilers, Matthew Tkachuk from the Florida Panthers, Jacob Trouba from the New York Rangers, David Pastrnak and Jeremy Swayman from the Boston Bruins, Jack Eichel from the Vegas Golden Knights, William Nylander from the Toronto Maple Leafs, Filip Forsberg from the Nashville Predators, and Gabriel Landeskog from the Colorado Avalanche, though other players will also be featured.
The series is being co-produced by NHL Productions and Box To Box Films, a documentary film company that has produced several sports documentary series, including the popular Netflix series “Formula 1: Drive to Survive.” The series will be exclusively available on Prime Video.
“We want to stay true to the world of ice hockey with the series,” said Paul Martin of Box To Box Films. “The sport is as beautiful, skillful, and graceful, as it is brutal, pressurized and powerful; and we aim to balance the energetic and fast-paced action leading up to the Stanley Cup Final, with the quiet and raw drama taking place off the ice.”
The series should be an excellent opportunity for Canucks fans to get a closer look at the often quiet and reserved Hughes, though it remains to be seen how much of the series will be focused on Hughes. The Canucks had plenty of moments in their playoff run that felt like a Hollywood sports movie, so it’s easy to imagine those moments playing out dramatically on the screen with swells of music behind them.
The trailer for the show, however, is mostly focused on the Leafs’ Nylander. Two of the only shots of Hughes in the trailer are alongside Leafs captain Auston Matthews at the All-Star Game.
The film crew spent plenty of time with Hughes, including a trip to Granville Island on one of the Canucks’ days off. They regularly hovered around media scrums before and after games and spoke to Hughes’ teammates. Presumably, there should be plenty of Canucks content for them to pull from.
How could the series not feature some of the Canucks' incredible comebacks in these playoffs, such as Brock Boeser's last-minute hat trick in Game 4 against the Predators?
Details of the series are scant, however. It does not even have a title yet, though some of the slates shown on screen suggest it could be called "Forecheck."
How many episodes will there be? How much access were they really given? How much attention will be paid to the Canucks given the series will be following McDavid, Tkachuk, and their respective teams in their pursuit of the Stanley Cup?
We’ll just have to wait and see.
