Last year, Dani Rylan wanted to bring a New York expansion team into the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL), the home for women’s pro ice hockey in North America since 2007.
However, by last month, her aspirations had grown. Rylan, 27, a former player at Northeastern, announced the formation of the National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL), which says it will be the first North American hockey league to pay female players a salary.
Over the past month, the landscape of women’s professional hockey has changed significantly. The two leagues, once potential partners, will now battle to sign the top talent, as players choose between earning money in the NWHL or continuing to increase awareness of the sport without pay through the more established CWHL.
“I think that there are people who are skeptical, and I would just say that’s part of human nature,” Rylan said. “Change is difficult.”
It appears players are ready to take on that challenge. Hilary Knight, arguably the most popular and marketable female US hockey player, attended the NWHL’s launch event in New York on Monday, along with the two-time Olympian Brianne McLaughlin.
“This is the future of women’s hockey at a professional level after college,” Knight said.
The NWHL will have four teams: the Buffalo Beauts; the Boston Pride, based in Everett, Massachusetts; the Connecticut Whale, based in Stamford; and the New York Riveters, based in East Meadow, New York. The CWHL has five teams: the Montreal Stars, the Boston Blades, the Toronto Furies, the Brampton Fury and the Calgary Inferno. Several members of the US national team that won the world championship on April 4 played for the Blades.
The CWHL is a nonprofit, centrally funded league, meaning that all the teams receive equal access to funding, while the NWHL will have team owners who will be subject to a US$270,000 salary cap.
The NWHL’s free-agency period will begin next month, with a draft in June. The next CWHL draft will be on Aug. 23, and players will have to pay US$150 to enter.
Brant Feldman, an agent who represents about a dozen current and former players, was encouraged at the development of another pro option, but he is seeking more specifics about the NWHL’s finances and coaching and front office staffs, which will help him determine whether to recommend the new league.
Rylan, who will be the general manager of the Riveters, said the NWHL had raised “well beyond” 20 percent of its financial goal, but she would not disclose exact figures. She added that there were verbal commitments from more than 40 players.
“I think that the focus is on the players, and it will be a player-centered league and something they will be happy to promote,” said Rylan, who added that the NWHL would include a players’ union and some form of health insurance.
Mary Jo Kane, director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport at the University of Minnesota, said it was too early to know whether competing leagues would hurt the growth of women’s hockey.
She said that the salaries, which average US$15,000 per player, were not enough to live on.
“If nothing else, it’s a symbolic statement that these women should be acknowledged financially, because that’s how we basically acknowledge everything,” Kane said. “This could be a pivotal moment in women’s hockey.”
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