In live sport, what happens on the field, court or ice is always front and center. But as every league and team has discovered in recent years, a well-produced docuseries can enhance the drama for fans and allow the athletes to get a moment to shine in new ways.

The NHL is not unique in that respect, and its latest effort in the space is season two of Faceoff, which takes viewers into the locker rooms and homes of some of the league’s biggest stars, as well as up-and-coming players.

“Our players are and have always been accessible, likable. In any sport, people respond to the stars. They really gravitate towards them; hockey is no different,” says Steve Mayer, the president of content and events for the NHL. “Where hockey has been different over the years is the mentality of team over individual. It’s something that’s built into the culture. It’s something that a lot of the players learn from the time they put a hockey stick in their hand and put skates on.

“It’s been an ongoing effort trying to change that culture, especially with the younger players that come into the league that are very used to social media, used to building their brands and are OK with it,” he adds.

Each episode of the series, which returns Friday night on Prime Video, features one or more stars from a team or two, taking viewers not only behind the scenes in the arenas, where winning and dreams of the Stanley Cup reign supreme, but also gives viewers a taste of their personal lives.

Superstars like Sidney Crosby and Anže Kopitar are featured, but so are the “Rat Kings of the Florida Panthers, Matthew Tkachuk and Brad Marchand. One episode follows the aftermath of the tragic death of Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew, following his mother Meredith Gaudreau, and teammates Sean Monahan and Zach Werenski as they grapple with the tragedy.

“We’ve always let cameras into locker rooms and behind the scenes into places that they don’t normally go, but we also wanted to take a different approach with this series, which started last year, where the focus was on the player, not on the team,” Mayer says.

“I think the crew did a good job,” said Kopitar, captain of the LA Kings. “They were very respectful of the privacy. If something was maybe a little bit too personal, they would check and ask and everything, so we had a good experience. The kids had fun being in front of the cameras for a little bit.”

Of course, the league still needs buy-in. A docuseries only works if the teams and athletes are committed to giving the viewers the access they expect.

“We don’t write a script, and so you’ve got to do your best guessing. But you also want to go to teams and players who are going to be all-in; they’ve got to be willing to do this, because it’s a struggle if they don’t give you the access that you desire,” Mayer says.

Of course, some players are more eager than others. As Mayer noted, many younger players that grew up in an era of social media and watching docuseries themselves are more comfortable with having cameras around.

“Growing up, I was always watching the Road to the Winter Classic and seeing the behind-the-scenes and stuff like that and thinking it was the coolest thing in the world,” said Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk. “And now being able to have this opportunity to do that for myself and have the next generation of future fans and kids now to look up to [me], and see that I’m not just a hockey player, but see how I treat my family and see how my family is so important to me and just everyday life.”

And the league has no plans to slow down that effort.

“The league has grown dramatically with all the internal club content production teams,” Mayer says. “Every team has a very vibrant production arm, and so the players are also very used to cameras always being around. And I think that leads to why these shows are successful for us, because the players that buy in, which most of them do, it does make for as a fan, a really compelling program.”