Updated 12:17 | Posted at 10:53 am
Three teams from the United States and the same number from Canada will be part of the new women’s professional ice hockey league.
The highest paid players will earn at least SEK 900,000 per season.
The new women’s league was announced in July.
Co-owner of the LA Dodgers baseball team, Mark Walter is one of the initiators, and tennis legend Billie Jean King, winner of twelve Grand Slam singles titles, sits at the board.
Now more details about the new league have arrived. The name of the league will be PWHL (Professional Women’s Hockey League) and the start will be in January 2024.
Six teams from six different cities will participate, namely Boston, Minneapolis St. Paul, New York, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto, and the regular season includes 24 matches for each team.
From Friday, each team will be allowed to sign three players and a draft will be held on September 18 where players must register to participate.
Team squads may contain up to 23 players, according to the Associated Press, and six players on each team must be offered a three-year contract worth at least $80,000 annually, which is around SEK870,000.
The NHL supports the new women’s league.
When the plans were announced in July, the existing North American league, the PHF, was dissolved and merged with the new league. In the old game, the best players in the United States and Canada did not play because they considered the wages to be too low. They have played exhibition matches for several years.
Two Swedish goalkeepers had signed contracts with PHF prior to this season, Damkronorna’s Emma Soderbergh, who graduated from college, and Louisa Berndtsson, who spent several seasons in the league.