The Professional Women’s Hockey League begins play in January. Here’s what we know so far.

The inaugural six markets of the Professional Women’s Hockey League were officially announced on Tuesday.

Details of the brand-new league were revealed by Stan Kasten, the Los Angeles Dodgers president who serves as a PWHL board member, and Jayna Hefford, an Olympic gold medalist and PWHL senior vice president of hockey operations.

The PWHL’s Original Six teams include three Canadian markets and three American markets: Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Minnesota, the New York City area, and Boston. None of the teams have names or logos yet, and venues have yet to be announced. The PWHL is in the “final stages” of securing its six general managers, following a five-week search, and is aiming to announce the names by the end of this week.

A free-agency period is set to begin Friday. Training camps are scheduled for the week of Nov. 13, with league play beginning in January 2024.

While Philadelphia is not included in the original six markets, there’s still a possibility that professional women’s hockey could be coming to the city.

Each team will play 24 games in the inaugural season, and the PWHL intends to increase the slate to 32 games in subsequent years. While the games will be split into 12 home and 12 away games, not all will be played in the same buildings — or even the same markets. According to Kasten, the PWHL is working closely with the NHL on establishing neutral-site games to expand the PWHL’s reach.

“[The NHL has] proposed very generously, to work with us to collaborate with us on neutral site games, which means games in other cities that are not in our original six, both NHL cities and possibly even non-NHL cities,” Kasten said. “In some of our markets where we are not playing, in these bigger NHL venues, we will probably have events.”

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Kasten called the relationship between the PWHL and the NHL mainly “consultative” at this stage. The two leagues are also collaborating on coordinating appearances at NHL events like the All-Star Game and the Winter Classic. The PWHL’s final schedule is set to be released in October.

“We had a lot of great cities. There’s certainly more than six that would deserve a team and could support a team, and whoever’s not there at the start may well be in our future going forward,” Kasten said.

The Premier Hockey Federation, formerly the top professional league for women’s hockey in the U.S. and Canada, ceased operations on June 29 after it was purchased by the Mark Walter Group and Billie Jean King Enterprises.

The PHF was formed in 2015 as the National Women’s Hockey League and was the first women’s hockey league to pay its players a salary. Its establishment led to an exodus of players from the Canadian Women’s Hockey League, which at the time only offered bonuses and incentives to its players, not salaries. The CWHL folded because of financial troubles in 2019.

The Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association formed after the CWHL folded, when 200 top women’s hockey players announced they would not participate in North American professional leagues until they received sufficient “financial and infrastructure resources.” While the PHF steadily expanded and increased its salary cap in 2022, the PWHPA had concerns regarding the PHF’s long-term viability, and the organizations remained separate.

The PWHL intends to unify players from the PHF and the PWHPA, establishing a single league for women’s hockey in North America. Hefford, member of the Hockey Hall of Fame and chairperson of the PWHPA, is now senior vice president for hockey operations of the new league.

“We have an ownership group that provides the capital, the resources, the experience to do this in a professional, a first-class way,” Hefford said. “And the obvious symbol of that is completing a CBA that both supports the long-term view of the ownership group, but also allows the players the certainty and the comfort that hits their level of professionalism as it relates to a day-to-day experience as a female hockey player.

“We’re witnessing a point in time where women’s sports is certainly thriving. The demand is there. The excitement is there, the willingness for people to really embrace what we’re doing. I don’t think there’s ever been a better time. So I think with the people we have involved, we’re incredibly confident for the future of this league.”

Philadelphia never had a professional women’s hockey team in any of the previous leagues. At its height, the PHF had seven teams: Boston Pride, Buffalo Beauts, Connecticut Whale, Metropolitan Riveters, Minnesota Whitecaps, Montreal Force, and Toronto Six. The Riveters were based in East Rutherford, N.J.

Also involved with the PWHL is Brian Burke, longtime NHL general manager and former president of hockey operations for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Burke serves as the new executive director of the PWHL’s Players Association.

“This is the most exciting day in the history of women’s hockey, in my view,” Burke said.

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The PWHL has identified a “player pool” of more than 300 qualified and interested players from around the world. During the 10-day free agency period beginning Friday, each general manager can sign a maximum of three players. Unsigned players can declare for the draft, which will consist of 15 rounds and will be held Sept. 18 in Toronto.

Undrafted players will become free agents and can try out and sign with any market. Each team is required by the CBA to roster 28 players for training camp.

While its inaugural season is set to begin in January, PWHL seasons in subsequent years will run from November to May, followed by playoffs, with breaks built into the schedule for the Olympics and other international competitions.

More details will be announced in the coming weeks, including team names, logos, and home venues.

“No fan owes us their time or money. It’s on us to earn it,” Kasten said. “And I accept that challenge.”