NHL stars hoping women’s league thrives

Sharing the ice during NHL All-Star festivities and informal training skates and crossing paths at various Olympics over the past several years, some of the best men’s and women’s hockey players in the world got to talking. The state of the women’s game often came up.

For much of that time, the conversation centered on the lack of what many hoped would be a sustainable women’s professional league and the struggles many players went through to make a living. The tone has changed for the better since late June when plans were unveiled for a new league that starts play in January.

Suddenly, the North American hockey community was all on the same page and working together. The NHL is helping with scheduling and other logistics and will coordinate on crossover promotions and events.

Men’s stars who have seen their female counterparts shine on the international stage are eager to watch and support the PWHL moving forward.

“You want to see them flourish,” Toronto captain John Tavares said. “They’re great athletes. They play a great game that we all love, and they do a great job at it and deserve that opportunity to have their own league and develop a history, a pedigree, a legacy – just like we have as men.”

That history so far has been complicated, especially since the Canadian Women’s Hockey League folded in 2019 and left the National Women’s Hockey League (which became the Premier Hockey Federation) as the only option in North America.

Most of the top U.S and Canadian national team players refused to join, and the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association charted another path.

An effort led by Los Angeles Dodgers coowner Mark Walter that involved tennis legend Billie Jean King dissolved the PHF and paved the way for the Professional Women’s Hockey League to be the only women’s league. That was the leap needed for the NHL to get involved.

“It wasn’t easy for them to kind of get all that figured out and everything and the draft and have it all kind of work out in their way,” Minnesota forward Matt Boldy said. “It’s a process to get this done, for sure, as anything is to set up and to start fresh. I’m just glad it all worked out that it went smoothly and that things are going in the right direction.”

It’s not all smooth. There was criticism over the summer about what the new six-team league means for players who won’t make a roster, given that there will be fewer spots.

The NHL is not providing financial backing for the league, which is owned by Walter, but it is helping in other ways.

“It’s really to be there in any way we can to help facilitate the progression of the league,” Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said.