NHL needs to make 'substantial offer' to unite women's pro hockey

The Professional Women's Hockey Players Association and Premier Hockey Federation are set to meet at the request of NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. Sportsnet's Jeff Marek first reported the news, saying the NHL's intention is to attempt to bring the two sides together. 

TSN also reported during NHL trade deadline day that all three parties will gather in New York on Wednesday.

The meeting comes amidst growing momentum for the sport. 

The Canadian women's gold-medal victory over the U.S., was Canada's most-watched event of the Beijing Olympics. The PWHPA also partnered with the Pittsburgh Penguins to stage a Canada-U.S. rematch on March 12. A total of 10 NHL teams have also joined forces with the PWHPA in a similar fashion, including the Calgary Flames, Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs.

In January, the PHF, which has also collaborated with NHL teams like the Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins, announced a commitment from its board of governors to invest $25 million US into direct payments and benefits to the league's players over the next three years. 

Meanwhile, reports in recent weeks have indicated that significant progress has been made toward the launch of a new league in association with the PWHPA. Over the past three seasons the PWHPA has staged the Dream Gap Tour, a barnstorming women's hockey series designed to showcase the sport as the association ultimately seeks to establish a sustainable professional league for its players.

Women's hockey leaders have previously requested Bettman get involvement in helping launch a professional league. But once the NHL made clear last year that it was not in a position to operate a women's league in the foreseeable future, the PWHPA focused its attention to developing a model for an independent league. The PHF, for its part, has begun to emphasize remaining independent as one of its core values.

It's not currently known what Bettman will propose, but it is expected that at this point only a very substantial offer would motivate the PWHPA to change course and align itself with the NHL and the PHF, a source with direct knowledge of the association's ongoing internal discussions told CBC Sports. The source also said the PWHPA is confident in its ability to move forward without the NHL's involvement.

The PHF did not respond to a CBC Sports request for a comment. 

The PHF, which launched in 2015 as the National Women's Hockey League, rebranded this past off-season. There are currently six teams, with plans to expand to another two clubs, including one expected in Montreal next season.

But it's the PWHPA which carries more leverage. The membership comprises the sport's biggest stars, including all post-collegiate 2022 Olympians from both Canada and the U.S. Because of this, it has considerable power in determining the game's future, says Nathan Kalman-Lamb, a Lecturing Fellow at Duke University whose research areas include athletic labour.

"I think they are right to look for the conditions that they consider to be acceptable," he told CBC Sports. "There's no reason for them to compromise. They have an incredible degree of solidarity, which is a really precious thing. And they should be leveraging it to maximize what they view to be the best possible outcome."

While the NHL's infrastructure and established franchises could help to jump start a women's league, Ann Pegoraro, the Lang Chair in Sport Management at the University of Guelph, considers that if adequate financial backing is forthcoming from other investors, there may be advantages to launching an independent circuit.

"You have some flexibility in building a completely different model that can utilize what we know about fans today, in terms of their technology use and the fact that they want to watch from anywhere in the country," she said. "I see a lot of benefits to being able to start a league that's not encumbered with the traditional trappings of professional sport infrastructure."