What we know (and what we don’t) about the PWHPA/PHF shakeup

The landscape of women’s hockey has been forever altered. 

On Thursday night, Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek reported that the Mark Walter Group and Billie Jean King Enterprises, the investors that in May 2022 partnered with the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association, purchased the Premier Hockey Federation with the intention of starting a brand new league. 

The sale, confirmed Friday with a press release issued by the PHF, means the PHF will cease operations, meaning a lot of uncertain futures for those working and playing for the league. It also means the PWHPA, a group of elite players led by Jayna Hefford and including most members of the Canadian and American national teams, finally fulfills its vision of having a single professional league with sustainable financial backing. 

Friday’s formal announcement marks the opening of a new chapter for the game, but it also opens up a lot of questions — many of which will surely be answered as the dust settles on this blockbuster announcement. To help make sense of this major shift in women’s hockey and what it means, we’re laying out what we know — and what we don’t yet — about the PWHPA’s takeover. 

WHAT WE KNOW

This is a buyout, not a merger. As Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek made clear during a radio chat on Friday, this isn’t a case of two sides coming together as equal partners. “This is a buyout,” he said, “the one side bought out the other.” More specifically, according to the press release sent out Friday by the PHF, “The new league has acquired assets of the PHF.” 

The PHF is no more. The Premier Hockey Federation, first established in 2015 as the National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL) and rebranded in September 2021, was the first — and, for most of its existence, the only — professional women’s hockey league in North America that paid its players. While its tenure was not without its share of turmoil and major financial hurdles, it showed significant growth within the past two years and appeared to be on the rise thanks to a historic $25-million investment announced in January 2022 and the news of the league doubling its salary cap this past December to $1.5 million for the 2023-24 season. 

All PHF players’ contracts have been voided. With more cap space to go around, this summer was projected to be a historic off-season in terms of player signings. College standout Daryl Watts set a new bar in January with her signing of a $150,000 contract for the 2023-24 season. That made her the highest salaried pro women’s hockey player and laid the groundwork for more to follow. According to all reports of this league shift, all signed players — about 70, at the time of this announcement — will need to renegotiate their deals.

The PWHPA has negotiated a CBA, which will be voted on this Sunday. The PWHPA became certified this past spring as a union. According to The Associated Press, the union has completed negotiations on a collective bargaining agreement and produced a 62-page CBA presented to PWHPA members on Thursday.

A new league will launch in January 2024. We don’t know the name, or what exactly it’ll look like, but there will be a single league for elite women’s hockey launching in North America in six months. This fulfills the vision of the PWHPA to have one single unified pro women’s hockey league. 

There’s a large group of big-name investors at the helm. In May 2022, The Athletic’s Hailey Salvian first reported the PWHPA had entered into a formal relationship with The Mark Walter Group and Billie Jean King Enterprises “to explore the launch of a new professional women’s hockey league.” What followed was more than a year of promises and rumours about a new league arising from the partnership, and Friday’s announcement brings just that. Per Friday’s press release, the new league “will be supported financially by the Walters and led by board members including King, sports executive Ilana Kloss, and Los Angeles Dodgers President Stan Kasten.”

Said Walter of the new enterprise on Friday: “I have always believed that professional sports should bring the highest levels of performance and organization, and this new league will have the backing and resources it needs to represent the very best of women’s hockey.”

There will reportedly be six teams. According to Salvian, the league is expected to be comprised of six 23-player teams. That means a lot of talented players will be unable to find a place in the new structure especially with an influx of talent competing for roster spots. Salvian writes that there’s expected to be a draft and free agency period. 

Jayna Hefford and Reagan Carey will take on leadership roles in the new league. According to The Associated Press, Hefford — former Canadian Olympian and longtime face of the PWHPA’s movement — and Carey, who joined the PHF as commissioner in April 2022 after playing a foundational role at USA Hockey’s women’s program, will be part of the shaping of this new league. 

“This new league will be unlike anything we have seen in women’s hockey,” Hefford said in Friday's press release. “I am inspired by this generation of players who are redefining the sport. We will create dreams and opportunities for girls and women around the world for decades to come.”

In her statement, Carey called this new chapter “the most significant development in our game since women’s ice hockey became an Olympic sport 25 years ago.

“Players, fans, past pioneers, and future generations deserve to see the best athletes come together to elevate professional women’s hockey as never before.”

This news has been a long time coming. While the PHF appeared to have plenty of momentum heading into what would’ve been its ninth season, expectations around how the PWHPA would resolve their long standoff and rumours of a PWHPA-supported league were getting more intense. 

The PWHPA was established in May 2019, coinciding with the shuttering of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League, and has been consistent in its campaign to establish a sustainable league with a platform fitting of the talent. Friday’s news appears to usher that in, from the perspective of the PWHPA and those making decisions at the PHF. For PHF players, however, the news reportedly came as a surprise with no prior warning about the massive change.

WHAT WE DON’T KNOW (YET)

Questions? We’ve got plenty. We’ll be getting answers in the days, weeks, and months to come, but for now here are the topics and queries that are top of mind as we look ahead to this new chapter of the game.

What will this new league be called? Friday’s press release didn’t include any naming info, but it’s almost certain it’ll be something wholly new — not the NWHL, PHF, or PWHPA. A fresh start for all will surely be in order. 

Where will teams be located? Reports suggest three Canadian teams and three stateside. The PHF had franchises in Toronto and Montreal, and while it’s likely all branding will change it’s a safe assumption those two cities will be part of this new league. The PHF also had five U.S.-based teams: the Boston Pride, Minnesota Whitecaps, Connecticut Whale, Buffalo Beauts, and Metropolitan Riveters.

Will the NHL step in to help? The PWHPA has long called for the NHL to step in and help raise the bar for women’s hockey using its platform and finances, but while a number NHL franchises partnered with the group to host showcase stops on the Dream Gap Tour, the league itself insisted it did not want to interfere while there were two separate entities. Now that we’ll see a single league, it’s reasonable to wonder if the NHL will finally step in and offer up its platform and resources in a real and sustainable way.