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NWHL Rebrands As Premier Hockey Federation

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The NWHL, North America’s only remaining women’s professional league, has decided to rebrand. It will now be known as the Premier Hockey Federation, a decision explained by commissioner Tyler Tumminia today:

The Premier Hockey Federation is home to some of the best professional athletes in the world who deserve to be recognized for their abilities and to be empowered as equals in sport. This league has come a long way since its inception in 2015 and we believe that this is the right time and the right message as we strengthen our commitment to growing the game and inspiring youth.

The rebrand comes with a new logo and a new focus on the skill and talent of the PHF athletes, rather than their gender. It comes as the league prepares for another season which will begin in November and after a strong 2021 campaign that saw massive sponsorship improvements and a huge salary cap increase. The league has also experienced expansion recently and has hinted at further movement across North America in that regard.

The IIHF Women’s World Championship, which was recently held in Calgary and included players from the PHF, experienced a huge amount of television success in Canada. The gold medal game, played between Canada and the U.S., attracted a record average audience of 836,000 viewers and was peaking at 1.6 million when Marie-Philip Poulin scored the overtime winner.

Poulin of course is part of the PWHPA, a traveling showcase group that has been at odds with the PHF in the past but provides an alternative for professionals in North America. One of the biggest issues in women’s hockey the last several years has been the division of many of the game’s top talents, with many working against the PHF and toward a drastically different league structure. That battle will continue even through this rebrand, though the PHF certainly isn’t going anywhere just yet.

Snapshots: NWHL, Kekalainen, Boqvist

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The NWHL has officially announced a salary cap increase to $300,000 for each team, doubling the cap that it had previously used. Commissioner Tyler Tumminia released the following statement on the increase:

The NWHL is committed to its vision of providing opportunities for elite women’s hockey players to earn a living playing the game they love. This increased investment by ownership, especially following a challenging and shortened season, is a significant step forward and exemplifies the strength of our league and our developing business model as we continue to advance professional women’s hockey and inspire the next generation of female athletes.

The league is coming off a successful conclusion to its shortened 2020-21 campaign, which dealt with continual delays and cancellations that threatened to keep the Isobel Cup off the ice. In late March, the playoffs were broadcast on NBCSN for the first time, with hundreds of thousands watching the Boston Pride take home the championship. Just a few days ago, it was announced that the 2021 NWHL Draft will be held virtually on June 29, broadcast live on Twitch, the league’s streaming partner.

  • Columbus Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen has a tall order of building his NHL team back to relevance, but some of his time will also be spent representing his country. The veteran executive has been named assistant general manager of Team Finland for next year’s Winter Olympics, helping former NHL forward and Finland GM Jere Lehtinen in the selection of players. Of course, there are a few names on the Columbus roster currently that could be considered for the team, most notably sniper Patrik Laine. The 23-year-old Laine has had the worst season of his career so far this year, scoring just 12 goals and 21 points in 42 games, 18 of which came with the Blue Jackets after an early-season trade. Newcomer Mikko Lehtonen could be in the running after dominating in the KHL, and goaltender Joonas Korpisalo could make it depending on what happens with aging netminders like Pekka Rinne and Tuukka Rask.
  • The Chicago Blackhawks have not yet announced a recovery timeline, but don’t expect to see Adam Boqvist back on the ice this season. Head coach Jeremy Colliton told reporters including those at The Athletic that the young defenseman suffered a broken wrist in last night’s game. It is unclear yet how long he’ll be out, but Colliton explained this morning that he does not believe Boqvist will need surgery.

Morning Notes: NWHL, Josephs, Trade Ideas

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The NWHL has released information on their COVID testing prior to this weekend’s Isobel Cup Playoffs, and it’s all good news. There were zero positive test results among the PCR tests administered to players and team personnel traveling to Boston, zero positive test results among the rapid tests administered prior to boarding transportation to Boston, and zero positive test results from the rapid tests administered upon arrival at Warrior Ice Arena prior to today’s semifinals.

This is great news for the NWHL, who had to postpone their playoffs earlier this year thanks to outbreaks at their tournament in Lake Placid. The Toronto Six and Boston Pride will kick things off later today, before the Minnesota Whitecaps and Connecticut Whale battle in the second semifinal. The winners will compete for the Isobel Cup on Saturday night. All three games will be televised on NBCSN and streamed on the NBC Sports app in the U.S.. The games will be streamed on Twitch in Canada and other international markets.

  • Troy Josephs has been loaned to HC Lugano for the rest of the season after his Swiss League playoff run ended. The former Pittsburgh Penguins prospect has been a star in that lower league, scoring 89 points in 75 games over the last two seasons. The jump to the National League, Switzerland’s top tier, will be a good test for the offensive skills he has always shown.
  • Thomas Drance and Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic teamed up to find some “perfect fits” for the trade deadline, reaching out to various general managers to speculate on potential trade scenarios. Among them is Kyle Palmieri reuniting with Lou Lamoriello in New York, but also some more interesting ideas like the Carolina Hurricanes acquiring Adam Lowry from the Winnipeg Jets. The pair of scribes don’t suggest for a minute that these trades are brewing, but provide some analysis on what deadline deals might look like.

NWHL Suspends Remainder Of Season

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March 8: There’s a reason why the league never used the word canceled. The NWHL will complete its 2021 season later this month at Warrior Ice Arena in Brighton, Massachusetts. On March 26-27, four teams will compete for the Isobel Cup championship, with the games broadcast on NBCSN. No fans will be in attendance. The Toronto Six take on the Boston Pride in the first semi-final, while the Minnesota Whitecaps will take on the Connecticut Whale in the second.

Feb 3: The NWHL had already seen two teams remove themselves from competition at their Lake Placid bubble and now, thanks to more positive COVID-19 test results, the entire league has decided to suspend the remainder of the 2021 season. There had been several outbreaks that left really no choice but to shut things down, an unfortunate result just before the playoffs were going to be aired on NBC Sports in the coming days.

The Toronto Six, Buffalo Beauts, Boston Pride, and Minnesota Whitecaps were scheduled to play in the semi-final round on Thursday, while the winners would play the Isobel Cup final on Friday.

As Marisa Ingemi of NBC writes, there had been additional players brought into the “bubble” over the last few days, sparking some controversy over how secure the health protocols actually were. Two teams, the Connecticut Whale and Metropolitan Riveters, who shared a hotel (along with the Whitecaps), had already pulled themselves from the competition.

Greg Wyshynski of ESPN tweets that internally, the NWHL hopes that the streaming numbers and “unprecedented mainstream interest” can still result in some positives being drawn from the tournament, but notes it is now a “critical time” as the league changes staff.

The PWHPA on the other hand, another professional women’s hockey organization that has at times been rivals with the NWHL, announced some encouraging news today instead. The New York Rangers and Madison Square Garden will host the Dream Gap Tour on February 28, claiming the first time that professional women’s hockey will be played in the arena.

Snapshots: Dumoulin, NWHL, Engelland

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The Pittsburgh Penguins are looking for a general manager after Jim Rutherford’s abrupt resignation yesterday, but perhaps more urgent is their search for an answer on defense. Head coach Mike Sullivan confirmed that Brian Dumoulin will be out “week-to-week” with a lower-body injury after exiting Tuesday’s game early. Newly signed defenseman Yannick Weber got caught in a snowstorm, meaning he won’t be available to the club until they travel to New York on the weekend, meaning things are awfully thin on the back end.

Kris Letang, John Marino, Cody Ceci, Pierre-Olivier Joseph, Chad Ruhwedel, and Kevin Czuczman seem to be the only healthy options the team has with them at the moment, leaving quite a bit to be desired over their season-opening group. The organization doesn’t even have a lot of NHL-ready options in the minor leagues meaning if any other players go down tonight the Penguins might be forced to make a move.

  • The Metropolitan Riveters have withdrawn from the 2021 NWHL season after several members of the organization tested positive for COVID-19. The Riveters were taking part in the Lake Placid bubble, where the league’s six teams were playing out the regular season and playoffs. After being removed from a game yesterday, the Riveters will now be removed from the tournament completely and forfeit their bid for the Isobel Cup. All league games scheduled for today have been postponed and the NWHL will resume play on Saturday.
  • With the Henderson Silver Knights coaching staff filling in for the Vegas Golden Knights, recently retired defenseman Deryk Engelland stepped in to run the AHL practice today, according to Jesse Granger of The Athletic. Engelland announced his retirement last month but remained with the Golden Knights organization as a special assistant to the owner. In times like this, that apparently also means substitute practice coach.

AHL Notes: Moore, Porter, Gulls

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The AHL has named Hayley Moore to the position of Vice President, Hockey Operations today, bringing in the NWHL executive for the upcoming minor league season. Moore will be responsible for overseeing the league’s on-ice operations, including the AHL officiating program and disciplinary process. AHL CEO Scott Howson released a short statement on the hire:

Hayley has extensive experience at every level of hockey, and will provide outstanding leadership in her role with the American Hockey League. On behalf of our Board of Governors, I am pleased and excited to welcome her to the AHL.

Moore currently serves as president of the NWHL’s Boston Pride and will begin working with the AHL when the NWHL season concludes. The 34-year-old was a star player for Brown University before joining the CWHL for a short time.

  • The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins will have a familiar face behind the bench for the upcoming season, hiring Kevin Porter as an assistant coach. Porter played several seasons of his long professional career with the AHL Penguins, including as an alternate captain in 2016-17. The 34-year-old forward scored 354 points in 528 career AHL games, while also suiting up for more than 250 contests in the NHL. He recently served as a volunteer assistant with the U18 NTDP and can certainly help collegiate players transition to the professional ranks—Porter won the Hobey Baker Award in 2008 as a senior with the University of Michigan.
  • The San Diego Gulls added several players today, signing Jeff Glass, Keegan Lowe, Keegan Kanzig, and Nikolas Brouillard to one-year AHL contracts. While the other three have plenty of minor league experience, Brouillard is coming back to professional hockey after three years at McGill University in Montreal. In his one year of ECHL action, he scored 21 points in 39 games for the Orlando Solar Bears during the 2016-17 season.

NWHL Will Hold 2021 Season In Bubble

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The National Women’s Hockey League has announced its plans for the 2021 season, which will be played inside a bubble in Lake Placid, New York. The six teams will gather and play a shortened season between January 23 and February 5. Interim commissioner Tyler Tumminia released a statement explaining the decision:

The NWHL is excited to provide hockey fans a fast-paced schedule of thrilling games on the road to the Isobel Cup. The continued challenges brought by the pandemic resulted in a mandate for our league, players and partners to collaborate on creating a controlled environment protecting the health of everyone involved. At a time of hyper-growth for girls’ and women’s hockey, we see this season as a celebration of the sport. This will be a historic moment as the hallowed arena that was the site of the “Miracle on Ice” in 1980 hosts its first women’s professional championship. It is a proud moment for the NWHL, the players, and all hockey fans.

Though the league will not be able to play in front of fans and is compressing their season into just a few weeks, it does allow them to actually hold a 2021 campaign in these uncertain times. It will also mean that the league’s newest team, the Toronto Six, will not be delayed any further. Toronto will join the Boston Pride, Buffalo Beauts, Connecticut Whale, Metropolitan Riveters, and Minnesota Whitecaps in the bubble.

Despite the condensed schedule, all contracted players will be paid in full for the upcoming season. The players, like those in other professional leagues this year, were also given the opportunity to opt-out without any financial ramifications.

Snapshots: Gallagher, Champions League, NWHL

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The Montreal Canadiens have broken off talks with Brendan Gallagher for the time being, according to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. The two sides had been working on an extension for the 28-year-old forward, but as LeBrun puts it, “talks have obviously not gone great so far.”

With a year left on his contract, the level of concern for Canadiens fans should still remain pretty low, given Gallagher is the heart-and-soul of the team and brings exactly what GM Marc Bergevin has been after all offseason. Perhaps the additions Josh Anderson and Tyler Toffoli on long-term deals will complicate things, but with so much time left to get a deal done, it’s hard to see talks not resuming at some point.

  • Champions Hockey League in Europe has decided to cancel their 2020-21 season, due to the impact of the COVID-19 situation. The league, which pits club teams from several different professional leagues against each other, has to deal with travel restrictions between 12 different countries that will make things impossible this year. They do plan on resuming in 2021-22.
  • Dani Rylan Kearney is stepping down as commissioner of the National Women’s Hockey League, with Tyler Tumminia taking over on an interim basis. Tumminia was previously set to be the chairperson of the new Toronto Six franchise, but will leave that role according to Marisa Ingemi of The Ice Garden. The league is changing to an operation model of unincorporated association with a board of governors, similar to the structures found in other professional sports. Rylan Kearney will become the president of an independent NWHL ownership group.

Toronto Notes: Six, Murray, Robertson

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The NWHL has a new franchise in one of the biggest hockey markets in the world. Today the Toronto Six were announced as the sixth team in the expanding women’s professional league, revealing their colors and logo in the process. The NWHL quickly started plans for expansion into Toronto last year after the dissolution of the CWHL.

The new Toronto team already has more than a dozen players under contract, but that doesn’t include Jaycee Gebhard who they selected sixth overall in the recent draft. Gebhard decided a few days ago to sign with Brynas IF in Sweden’s SDHL after captaining Robert Morris University.

  • Even though the Toronto Maple Leafs aren’t playing right now, they continue to make news as media members speculate about the future. That speculation has landed on Frederik Andersen this week, and whether or not the team will go out to acquire a different goaltender as he approaches free agency. Matt Murray, who has a connection to Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas and head coach Sheldon Keefe from their time with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the AHL has been suggested as a possible replacement. Murray is also in a situation with the Pittsburgh Penguins that may lead to a breakup, given the strong play and relative cost of Tristan Jarry. Luke Fox of Sportsnet addresses the Murray speculation in his latest mailbag, writing that he’s not convinced that the Pittsburgh netminder would be an upgrade on Andersen. The staff here at PHR gave our own takes on what Pittsburgh should do with Murray and Jarry recently.
  • One player that is hoping to play in Toronto regardless of who is in net behind him is young forward Nick Robertson, who told Joshua Kloke of The Athletic (subscription required) that his focus is “on the NHL right now.” It’s hard to have a better post-draft season than the 18-year old Robertson, who scored 55 goals and 86 points in just 46 games for the Peterborough Petes, while also starring for Team USA at the World Juniors. The 5’9″ forward fell all the way to 53rd overall in last year’s draft, but will already be pushing for an NHL roster spot come training camp. For what it’s worth, Dubas has already said he’ll give Robertson “every opportunity” to make the team next season.

NWHL Expands To Toronto

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The National Women’s Hockey League is coming north of the border. The NWHL announced today that their sixth season will include a team in Toronto, owned by former Harvard player Johanna Neilson Boynton. Boynton explained exactly why they are launching the team even amidst the current uncertainty in the sports landscape:

We aspire to build a perennial Isobel Cup contender for Toronto. This will be an organization with strong fan, community and corporate support, outstanding coaching, training, and player development, and a club dedicated to promoting hockey as a game for everyone. Although this pandemic is challenging everyone in profound ways today, and we are very mindful of that, our outlook for women’s sports remains positive. We are launching this team now because we believe in the future.

The advancement of a professional women’s hockey league for Canada and the U.S., one that will stand and flourish on its own, is a passion for me and everyone associated with the NWHL. We are driven every day to increase the opportunities available to women’s hockey players of all ages, and that’s what this expansion is all about. There is so much potential, and Toronto is the logical next step. I look forward to working closely with players, staff, sponsors, and fans to give Toronto the team the community deserves.

Toronto was an obvious next step for the league, following the closure of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League a year ago. The NWHL had immediately floated the idea of having teams in both Toronto and Montreal, huge hockey markets that could be key to continuing league growth.

The new Toronto team also announced that they have already signed five players. Kristen Barbara, Elaine Chuli, Shiann Darkangelo, Emma Greco, and Taylor Woods have all signed on for the season. Each of the five has played in the CWHL in the past.

Notably, four of the players signed had previously been a part of the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association (PWHPA). The PWHPA had been playing touring events to try and showcase women’s hockey, and were at odds with the NWHL’s plan for expansion.

For more information on who will be leading the new Toronto team, Marisa Ingemi of The Ice Garden broke down the “polarizing” history of Digit Murphy, who was named team president.

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