Former NHL star Paul Bissonnette gushed about the conversations Heated Rivalry has created within the hockey community. Bissonnette, 40, who cohosts the "Spittin Chiclets" podcast and works as a television analyst for TNT, called the success of the buzzy HBO Max drama "awesome." "The fact that it's had the social relevance that it's had, obviously a huge thank you to them for putting hockey even more on the map and opening it up as far as eyeballs to a lot more people," Bissonnette exclusively told Us Weekly while discussing his partnership with the 2026 Kraft Hockeyville campaign.