What The PWHL Is Getting Right

Fans, media, and the hockey world have been highly critical of the PWHL, often with just cause. But the league is also getting many things right. Here's a look at some of the PWHL's early successes.

The PWHL has faced substantial criticism in recent weeks. Following a June 29 acquisition of the PWHPA's rival, the PHF, the league has been sprinting toward a promised January 2024 launch of a singular professional hockey league for women.

After scrapping everything from the PHF, the league chose to start fresh, cutting ties to the past, whether it was the PHF, CWHL, or NWHL. The only items that survived the process were the PWHPA's collective bargaining agreement, and the PWHLPA's board. The PWHLPA board is made up entirely of ex-PWHPA members, and the CBA was voted on by only ex-PWHPA members who now make up less than 40% of players in the league.

It's been an uphill battle for the league, under immense time constraints. While the league has faced significant negative feedback from the public, there are things the league is getting right. Here's a look at a few of those items.

The key to this was the selection of the PWHL's six general managers. The group of Daniele Sauvageau, Natalie Darwitz and Gina Kingsbury, Mike Hirshfeld, Danielle Marmer and Pascal Daoust have moved mountains for the league. From roster building, to arranging ice times and facilities, to arranging media communications, and planning for everything in between, this group have been the stars of the show. From the day they were hired, they also went about the task of staffing their own franchises. And the staffing to specified roles, despite the GMs themselves being tasked with items well outside their job descriptions, has been robust. Each team has hired skills coaches, video coaches, goaltending coaches, experienced head coaches and assistant coaches, strength and conditioning staff, athletic trainers, equipment staff, team doctors, massage therapists, and onward. Some of those hires have been significant wins for the league not only in talent acquisition, but in terms of optics, like the coaching hires of Carla MacLeod, Troy Ryan, and Kori Cheverie. The result? Complete in person care for players, and the foundation for increased on ice performance and product. Past iterations have had part-time staff completing an array of jobs, but the focus and breadth of staffing is truly professional. Where the league will continue to work is on the front facing aspects of staffing to improve public relations, community relations, media communications, and marketing. One those pieces are in place, people will have the opportunity to see more of the good, and less of the bad.

There's no denying this will be the best women's hockey league in the history of the sport. No league to date has ever managed to bring in as many of the world's best players as the PWHL currently has in their roster. While national team players like Marie-Philip Poulin and Taylor Heise may steal the headlines, the real success of the league was in attracting almost every top NCAA graduate, keeping them all in the game, as well as to bring a sprinkling of European talent. While many came from the NCAA, and they'd all agreed to play in the PHF already, the PWHL stopped players like Alina Muller, Emma Soderberg, Sandra Abstreiter, Theresa Schafzahl, and Chloe Aurard from returning to Europe. The league's main challenge this offseason will be attracting European players to leave the SDHL, Naisten Liiga, SWHL, and ZHL to join. Wages will prove a massive limiting factor in this, as will an extremely restrictive CBA that was benefits primarily 36 players (including those who negotiated it), but the opportunity to play with the best in the world is always enticing. If the league can grab even a half dozen of these players, it would set the wheels in motion. When fans arrive at games this year, the depth will far surpass anything offered by the PWHPA or PHF in recent years, and the talent on display will be something never achieved in the history of women's hockey leagues. It took some pain, but the PWHL has hit the talent pool point out of the park.

It's an "F-" for how the league has gone about announcing venues, as some league staff have leaked locations, and the venues themselves have started talking to press about teams playing in their facilities. But the venues themselves? They deserve an "A." In particular, the Canadian venues look to be a real win for the league and players. TD Place in Ottawa, Verdun for Montreal, and Mattamy in Toronto are ideal locations, and the league ensured that each faciltiy had, or in the case of Ottawa and others, would construct brand new dressing room facilities for the players. If there's debate in this topic, it's in the states with Bridgeport, and wherever the bouncing ball in Boston (or Lowell) lands. Lowell and Bridgeport, if those end up being the venues, could prove massive missteps in the long run as Lowell had the worst attendance in the AHL before losing their team, and Bridgeport is annually among the current worst in AHL attendance, so asking a market to support a second team when they won't support a first is risky. Add to that that prior to the PHF acquisition, the Connecticut Whale were actively seeking to relocate, and it's a recipe for disaster. Those however, are the markets. The facilities and venues in those markets remain top notch, and unrivalled in past professional women's leagues. Venues overall have been a success, now the task will be to fill those venues in the given markets.

When looking at reels, video, and images the PWHL is putting out, it's high quality. Gone are basic headshots and rink side interviews conducted on low quality devices. The production of the PWHL's draft, hype videos, and promotional shoots has been very strong. The issue again has been in disseminating this information, marketing, communications, and how to present these creations to the world in a way that resonates. The issue is often timing, as the league deals with the ongoing issues they face in the sprint to January. When the league released the video "A Day We Dreamed Of," which was a high quality production, the league teased it, but at a time when all fans wanted to know were the specifics of the league. The quality of production is being seen as window dressing, instead of evidence of substance. That said, what's coming out of the cameras is engaging, artistic, and professional. It's another point the league is getting right.