The NHL is Trying, and Failing, to Support Women’s Hockey

In 1992, Manon Rheaume became the first woman to play in one of the four major North American sporting leagues as a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Playing in two preseason games over two years, Rheaume was a pioneer for a league that has, overall, done a better job than most in terms of promoting diversity in the sport. Between league-wide pride nights, the “Hockey is for Everyone” campaign, and the recent attempts at working with the NWHL and CWHL, the NHL has made it a stated goal to be a more inclusive, progressive league than its competitors.

But they need to do much better.

Commissioner Gary Bettman recently spoke about supporting the women’s game. The two women’s leagues want to merge, but for financial reasons, that is easier said than done. Hopefully the leagues are able to figure that out, because it is for the benefit of everyone that they are able to do so. There has been, however, an attempt to get these women into the NHL fanbase’s collective conscience.

Over the last two years, the NHL invited star players from both women’s leagues to All-Star Weekend. Seeing elite players such as Meghan Duggan, Hilary Knight, Amanda Kessel, and Brianna Decker is sure to inspire young women to pursue a sport they might otherwise be discouraged from playing. Several years ago, most hockey fans wouldn’t know who the stars of the women’s game are, but now these are much closer to household names. Putting them on a stage with the stars from the NHL is a major stride in proving that women are perfectly capable of doing what men can.

So why not come up with a way to ACTUALLY include them?

The women’s players are invited to demonstrate the skills competitions, not to participate. Somehow, the men involved in making these decisions don’t see how patronizing it is to parade the women out for demonstrations that don’t actually count, and then only let the boys actually compete. This happens despite the fact that these women are capable of putting up results on the same level as the men.

When Nathan MacKinnon withdrew from the fastest skater competition and was replaced by Kendall Coyne Schofield, she placed seventh in the competition. If you haven’t seen her lap from the event, check it out above. She is really an impressive skater. Her time was good enough for seventh in the event, finishing ahead of Clayton Keller, and less than a second behind three-time winner Connor McDavid. During her precision passing demonstration, it was initially reported that Brianna Decker posted an unofficial time of 1:06, better than eventual winner Leon Draisaitl. Upon further review her time was 1:12, which was good enough for second in the event.

In the above video from 2018, Hilary Knight finished the accuracy shooting in approximately 14 seconds. this time would have placed her fourth in the overall competition, ahead of Blake Wheeler, Steven Stamkos, Anze Kopitar and Brad Marchand.

If you still think that the women can’t compete, or are on a lower level than the men, I don’t understand what you’re looking at.

Women’s hockey is not something that only happens at the Olympics. Both the NWHL and CWHL are growing in fan interest and becoming more profitable. Games happen every weekend and are readily available to stream online. But leading up to the fastest skater competition, the announcers neglected to mention Schofield’s point per game pace for the first place Minnesota Whitecaps. In fact, they didn’t even mention their existence.

Imagine you’re a ten-year old girl in Minneapolis, who likes hockey and just witnessed Schofield’s historic lap. Now imagine that you have no idea that she plays in your home city, because the announcers couldn’t be bothered to mention it. Preventing potential fans from knowing where, when, and how to see their new favorite players is active sabotage on the part of the NHL.

While we’re at it, why not stop trying to undermine the players financially?

Most NWHL players have full-time jobs in addition to playing in the league, in order to make ends meet. Meanwhile, Draisaitl has a $68 million contract that runs until 2025. The winning team for the actual all-star game splits a prize pool of $1 million. That’s a purse of $90,000 each, all for players who have, or will soon sign, multi-million dollar contracts. For winning skills events, the players will receive a prize of $25,000. All four women receive a $25,000 donation to the charity of their choice. That money is more than any of their NWHL or CWHL salaries, but they don’t get to keep a cent. So, by the NHL’s logic, it is ok to give money to already rich men and charity. But somehow it’s not ok to give it to women who truly need it, and flew to San Jose to perform in our event?

The NWHL pays all of their players a portion of jersey sales that have their name on it. But during the all-star event, all participating women wore their national team jerseys. Had Schofield been wearing her Whitecaps jersey, it would certainly be flying off the shelves after her performance. For someone whose part time job is hockey, that could be a much needed financial windfall. Same goes for past NWHL representatives Hilary Knight and Amanda Kessel.

Both leagues have experienced financial struggles over the years, but a surge in jersey sales could be just the financial boost they need. The NHL may be trying to avoid taking sides during the merger negotiations, but to actively deny potential revenue streams for the women’s leagues and players is borderline malicious. If the NHL is trying to support women’s hockey, as they say they are, they have to do a much better job.

As it is now, they are failing.