The new women's hockey league still has a lot on its to-do list
As PWHL camps open, several key tasks remain
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The new Professional Women's Hockey League marked another key milestone today as training camps opened for each of its six teams.
The PWHL began forming in early summer when billionaire Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter and other investors bought out and folded the seven-team Premier Hockey Federation. Walter's group quickly struck a labour deal with the Professional Women's Hockey Players' Association, an alliance of Canadian and U.S. national teamers who had spent the past few years trying to establish a league of their own.
Since then, the centrally organized PWHL has announced the locations of its original six franchises (Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Boston, Minneapolis–Saint Paul and the New York City area), hired coaches and executives, signed three foundational players for each team, conducted its inaugural draft in Toronto and, yesterday, unveiled each club's home and away jerseys.
"It feels like we've been at this for 10 years, but it's just been four months," said PWHL board member Stan Kasten, who's also president of the Dodgers. "We had a blank sheet of paper and no employees four months ago and now we have over 120 employees."
"When we started this journey, we didn't have a single roll of tape, a single set of laces, a skate sharpener… simple things like Band-Aids," said Hockey Hall of Famer Jayna Hefford, the PWHL's senior VP of hockey operations. "We've worked incredibly hard to make sure that when the players walk in, they have everything they need to be professional athletes."
Indeed, the PWHL has come a long way in a short time. But much remains on the to-do list as the league approaches the January launch of its inaugural season. Such as:
Team names and logos: Based on trademark filings last month, it appears the PWHL is likely to call its teams the Toronto Torch, Montreal Echo, Ottawa Alert, Minnesota Superior, New York Sound and Boston Wicked. But no names are official yet, and no team logos have been released, resulting in those basic, cookie-cutter jersey designs unveiled yesterday.
Home arenas: The league says some games will be played in NHL buildings, which could include a few neutral-site showcases. But it's unclear where most teams will play their regular home games. Training camps are being held at the teams' practice facilities. Those include Ottawa's TD Place Arena (formerly the Civic Centre), where the team will also play its games. The Toronto team is gathered at the Leafs' practice arena while Montreal works out at Verdun Auditorium, a training hub for Canadian national team players.
A concrete start date and schedule: All the league has revealed publicly so far is that each team will play a 24-game regular season beginning sometime in January. But Kasten said yesterday that the schedule is "98 per cent done," with "specialty or neutral-site events" the only dates left to be finalized. Hefford said teams will typically play twice a week, including one game on the weekend. The format for the playoffs has not been announced.
TV and streaming rights: Negotiations are ongoing with potential media partners in Canada and the United States. Kasten said "an awful lot, if not all" of the PWHL's games will air on linear television in addition to streaming.
Tickets: There's no way for fans to buy them yet. But the league is accepting deposits of $50 US for the right to be "first in line" when seats go on sale.
Player contracts: The PWHL's initial free agency period in September saw each of the six clubs sign three foundational players, all of whom are veterans of the Canadian or U.S. national team and will presumably earn close to the league's reported top salary of around $80,000 US per year. They include Canadian stars Marie-Philip Poulin (Montreal), Sarah Nurse (Toronto) and Brianne Jenner (Ottawa), and Americans Hilary Knight (Boston), Kendall Coyne Schofield (Minnesota) and Abby Roque (New York). Also signed, to her home-state Minnesota team, is No. 1 overall draft pick Taylor Heise, who's turning pro after a stellar collegiate career that saw her win both the women's hockey version of the Heisman Trophy and MVP of the world championship in 2022. But, as training camps open, less than half of the 180 or so players in attendance are currently under contract.
As for the camps, they start with a few days of physical testing and orientation before players hit the ice Friday or Saturday. All six clubs will gather Dec. 3-7 in Utica, N.Y., for pre-season scrimmages, training and information sessions before rosters are cut down to 23 players, plus two reserves, by Dec. 11.
For a comprehensive look at all six PWHL teams heading into training camp, read this piece by the CBC's Karissa Donkin. Listen to Boston star Hilary Knight on the newest episode of the Player's Own Voice podcast with Anastasia Bucsis.
