Report: Pro women’s team coming to Toronto

According to a report from John Wawrow of the Associated Press, the NWHL is in the process of establishing an expansion franchise in Toronto, Ontario.

Check it out:
 

The Toronto-area team will become the NWHL’s first Canadian team and will increase the league’s number of franchises to six, joining teams in Boston, New Jersey, Connecticut, Buffalo, and Minnesota. The Toronto Furies, of course, were a banner franchise in the now defunct CWHL.

The team will be headed by Margaret “Digit” Murphy reports Wawrow. The NWHL isn’t expected to announce its plans until the end of the month and is being tight lipped about the rumours. 

League spokesman Chris Botta declined to comment except to say, “The NWHL does not have announcement to make at this time.”

Of course, the entire 2019-20 NWHL season has been suspended indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic and it remains to be seen whether or not the league will resume at some point. There are bigger problems for the struggling NWHL though as a group of 200 of the world’s top female players effectively boycotted the season in an effort to raise awareness about the plight of the women’s game. 

The women, who represent both Canada and the USA internationally, are effectively protesting for the establishment of a league with a sustainable, long-term economic model.

Here’s hoping that this spurs other corporate sponsors to step up and support the women’s game. Ultimately though, the NHL has to get involved. 

Here me out…

An NHL and WNHL partnership similar to the NBA and WNBA with 10 franchises in some of the NHL’s strongest markets. 

Eastern Conference
NYR
TOR
MTL
BOS
BUF

Western Conference
CHI
LA
VAN
CGY
MIN

Have a 40 game regular season and have the top four teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs. Eliminate cross-conference regular season games to cut back on travel expenses. 

The crucial part, I believe, is that the teams MUST align themselves with their NHL franchises. Look at the Boston Pride as an example. Black and gold color scheme and a similar logo to the Bruins. The two teams even share practice facilities. 

If women’s hockey is going to survive, and it should, this should be the blueprint. Thoughts?