National Women's Hockey League To Pay Players

The United States will be getting their very own professional women’s hockey league beginning in October 2015. The NWHL will feature four teams, the New York Riveters, Boston Pride, Buffalo Beauts and Connecticut Whale.

The league held a launch event in New York City last week to announce some of the details for the inaugural season set to begin on October 17th. They plan on an 18 game season that will run from October to March and will include both preseason and playoffs. The winner at the end of the season will win the “Isobel Trophy,” named after the daughter of Lord Stanley who the NWHL claims is one of the first women to play hockey.

While Canada has operated the Canadian Women’s Hockey League for years, a U.S. based player had to obtain a Canadian work visa in order to play unless they were under contract for the single U.S. based CWHL team, the Boston Blades. In addition to the red tape including attracting top level talent to the CWHL, the players have never been paid. The NWHL has announced that they’ll be paying their players. Not a lot, but something.

A league official has disclosed that each team with have a salary cap of $270,000 to divvy among a roster of 18 players. This would amount to about $15,000 per player, which would likely still require individuals to find a way to supplement their income, but it’s a step in the right direction. Funding will come from sponsorships and donations.

The inaugural draft will take place in October and will have an impressive pool of talent to pick from. College juniors and seniors will be eligible for the draft while college graduates will be considered free agents that can negotiate single-year deals with each GM up until August 25th. The league commissioner, Dani Rylan, who launched the league with former Olympian Angela Ruggiero, has confirmed that the league already has commitments from several players.