NHL Support Was Crucial To PWHL Success

NHL support was crucial in getting the PWHL to their official launch from collaborative events, to support with markets and venues, the league has been a helping hand.

The PWHL would have got to its launch without the NHL, but the NHL's support to the new Professional Women's Hockey League has been crucial in getting the league this far, this fast.

Following the acquisition of the PHF by Mark Walter Group, the first call of Stan Kasten, a member of the ownership group, was to PWHPA lead Jayna Hefford, his second call was to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. Since then, the two groups have remained in daily contact, and the result is a slew of collaborative plans.

The PWHL will launch in six current NHL markets - Montreal, Toronto, Boston, Minnesota, Ottawa, and New York - playing a 24 game schedule this season. Some of those games will be in NHL arenas and non-PWHL NHL markets.

According to Kasten, not all 12 home games for any team are guaranteed to be in the same arena or even same market.

"That doesn't mean we will play all 12 games in the same building or even in the same market and some of that has to do with the extraordinary level of help and advice that we have gotten from the NHL," said Kasten in a press conference.

"[The NHL] have been fantastically supportive of us from the first minute that I spoke with Gary Bettman right through today. All of their leadership has pitched in to help us."

While the NHL has offered a full slate of support, according to Kasten, that doesn't mean they've tried to take over. 

"They understand it's our league and we're going to have to do this on our own and make our own decisions," he said, "But whenever we have had a question or a need they have been right there to assist us to give us advice, to make suggestions."

As Kasten said, the NHL is "not trying to push anything at us. They're just giving us the help that we think we need. And I think that is one of the outcomes that has not been there in all prior iterations of women's leagues."

One of those suggestions will result in collaborative scheduling and events.

"[The NHL] have proposed, very generously, to work with us to collaborate with us on neutral site games, which means games in other cities that are not in our original six, both NHL cities and possibly even non-NHL cities, and in some of our markets where we are not playing in the bigger NHL venues, we will probably have events in those venues we'll be promoting those as special events."

While those collaborative games will be a portion of the combined efforts between the PWHL and NHL, that's not where the mutual support will end.

"We're also going to be appearing at some of the special events that the NHL does during the year whether it's the winter classic or the all-star game or other things," said Kasten.

The support of the NHL in helping the PWHL since the PHF acquisition has been crucial. In recent years, the NHL met multiple times with leadership from the PHF and PWHPA aiming for a merger between the groups. When those talks proved fruitless, the NHL remained in the background promising support only when there was a single women's hockey league. Now that the PWHL has arrived, the NHL is making good on their promise.

"NHL support, as Stan mentioned, has been really, really valuable," said PWHL senior vice president of hockey operations Jayna Hefford.

According to Kasten, that support resulted in the final selection of the PWHL's six markets and much more.

"[T]hey've helped us identify markets. They've helped us talk to NHL teams and the cities and buildings and things like that," explained Kasten.

"...we've also had conversations about the future about maybe doing business together, whether it's sponsorship, or events together, things like that. But mostly it's support."

Kasten believes NHL support is a key to both short and long term success, and that the mere association with a league of the NHL's stature is a benefit to their startup venture.

"Anytime we can be associated with the NHL or brand as successful as it has become, is a plus for us."