Professional Women's Hockey League

The Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL; French: Ligue professionnelle de hockey féminin—LPHF) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising three teams in Canada and three teams in the United States.

Professional Women's Hockey League
Ligue professionnelle de hockey féminin (French)
Upcoming season or competition:
Current sports event 2024 PWHL season
SportIce hockey
FoundedAugust 29, 2023 (2023-08-29)
No. of teams6
CountriesCanada (3 teams)
United States (3 teams)
Official websitethepwhl.com

The PWHL replaced the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF; formerly the National Women's Hockey League), which was bought out and dissolved in July 2023 to make way for the creation of the new league.

Organizational structure

The PWHL and all six of its teams are owned by the Mark Walter Group. League management includes Jayna Hefford, announced as the senior vice-president of hockey operations.[1] Brian Burke acts as the executive director of the players' union.[2]

The new league has the participation of the members of the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA), a group of top American and Canadian players—including many national team players—who had refused to play in the PHF following the collapse of the Canadian Women's Hockey League in 2019.[3] The PWHPA organized a formal union in early 2023 and, upon creation of the PWHL, became the players' union representing all PWHL players.[4] Unique to professional women's hockey, the PWHL established an eight-year collective bargaining agreement with the players' union.[5]

The inaugural season will have 24 regular season games and is planned to include neutral-site games. Later seasons are expected to run from November through May.[6]

The league conducted the inaugural 2023 PWHL Draft In Toronto, Ontario on September 18, 2023.

Teams

The league's inaugural season in 2024 will include six league-owned teams:[6]

The 2024 season is scheduled to begin in January and run through late May or early June, with a break for the Women's World Championship.

Teams began constructing their rosters in the summer of 2023. All six teams were allowed to sign three players during an initial 10-day free agency period.[7] Emily Clark, Brianne Jenner, and Emerance Maschmeyer became the first three players signed to PWHL contracts when they signed with the Ottawa team on September 5.[8] Following the free agency period, the 2023 PWHL Draft was held in Toronto on September 18. The 15-round draft saw 90 players selected from a pool of 286 eligible players. Taylor Heise was the first player drafted to the PWHL, selected first overall by the Minnesota team.[9]

On October 26, 2023, the PWHL submitted the following six team names to the United States Patent and Trademark Office: Boston Wicked, Minnesota Superior, Montreal Echo, New York Sound, Ottawa Alert, and Toronto Torch.[10]

References
  1. Warren, Ken (August 29, 2023). "Ottawa signs on as part of new professional women's hockey league". Ottawa Citizen. Archived from the original on September 3, 2023. Retrieved September 6, 2023.
  2. "Brian Burke named executive director of pro women's hockey players' union". Sportsnet. August 29, 2023. Retrieved October 18, 2023.
  3. Mather, Victor (August 29, 2023). "With Feud Over, New Women's Ice Hockey League Is Set to Begin". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 29, 2023. Retrieved August 29, 2023.
  4. Salvian, Hailey (February 23, 2023). "PWHPA organize formal union, negotiating CBA with their investor group". The Athletic. Archived from the original on February 24, 2023. Retrieved September 9, 2023.
  5. "Sarah Nurse, Blayre Turnbull and Renata Fast sign with Toronto's PWHL franchise". The Globe and Mail. The Canadian Press. September 6, 2023. Archived from the original on September 7, 2023. Retrieved September 7, 2023.
  6. Wyshynski, Greg (August 29, 2023). "New Professional Women's Hockey League reveals six franchises". ESPN. Archived from the original on August 29, 2023. Retrieved August 29, 2023.
  7. Sadler, Emily (September 13, 2023). "Recapping where each PWHL team stands following first signings". Sportsnet. Archived from the original on September 14, 2023. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  8. "Jenner, Clark, Maschmeyer become PWHL's first players after signing with Ottawa". Sportsnet. The Canadian Press. September 5, 2023. Archived from the original on September 5, 2023. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  9. "2023 PWHL Draft". thepwhl.ca. Archived from the original on September 19, 2023. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  10. Salvian, Hailey (October 26, 2023). "Potential names for PWHL's original 6 franchises revealed". The Athletic. Retrieved October 26, 2023.
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