Behind the scenes, ownership is working tirelessly to move the new league forward. Publicly, very little has moved. What gives?

It's been more than three weeks since news broke of "one league" in women's professional hockey after the Mark Walter Group and Billie Jean King acquired the PHF to amalgamate assets from the PHF and PWHPA into a singular league.

Since then, there's been primarily silence, as media, fans, and players remain largely in the dark. Throughout that time, a few rumblings have emerged. Here's what we know:

PWPHA and PHF Communication Remains...Sparse

While there is much work to do in terms of building a new league in time for the projected January start, there also appears to be significant work to do to bring players from the PHF and PWHPA together.

Multiple members of the PHF from various teams have reached out to members of the PWHPA board and other veteran players attempting to open conversations to forward mutual goals, however those attempts at solidarity have been ignored or refused by PWHPA players.

Currently, the two groups, although technically now one, remain separated.

What are the players being told?

The answer to that is...beyond initial conversations with new ownership...very little.

In initial calls it was suggested that locations/markets for the new teams would be secured by the end of last week, however communication now suggests those markets are still in the works. Unless things drastically change in the coming days, it appears no announcements of significance for players will come until the first week of August.

Haley and Davidson Remain With The League

Staff remaining with the new league were few and far between from a PWHPA and PHF perspective. A handful of team staff were retained by the new league, but the primary individuals being offered jobs were those working at the league level.

Two of those individuals were women's hockey legends Lisa Haley and Mel Davidson.

Lisa Haley was the Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations for the PHF, and has been serving as the head coach for Toronto Metropolitan University's women's hockey team.

Davidson, a long time leader of Canada's national team program was hired on in 2022 by the PHF as Director, League and Hockey Operations. 

Both were offered jobs with the new league alongside PWHPA lead Jayna Hefford and PHF commissioner Reagan Carey.

While it has not been confirmed by the new league, there is speculation these four could form the core of the proposed player evaluation committee.

Is Boston Back In Play?

Following an interview with former Boston Pride owner Miles Arnone, where he raised questions if Boston was in the running for a new franchise due to a belief there was not a suitable facility available, it appears Boston could be back in the running for a team.

There has been a large online push from fans to keep a franchise in the market, and word has been trickling down to Boston based players that the city could remain a prominent women's hockey market moving forward.