Comparisons With Other Inaugural Seasons
                     Comparisons With Other 
Inaugural Seasons
Two weeks into the PWHL's first season, the new league is getting almost unanimous acclaim for 
bringing the women's professional game together, despite a few setbacks. 
Comparisons with other inaugural seasons but is that fair has the league's launch gone well?
Comparing the new league to the unsuccessful women's leagues of the past or even to some 
hypothetical worst-case scenario is one thing, after all. However, that's lowering the standard too 
much. The PWHL should be compared to other elite leagues if it hopes to be perceived as big-league 
hockey.
That's what we're going to do today. Instead of treating the new league like a kid, we will immediately 
compare its inaugural season to the NHL, the largest hockey league in the world. By comparing the 
new kid on the block to the NHL's inaugural season in 1917–18 in ten key metrics, we can assess how 
they actually compare.
Top 10 Comparisons With Other Inaugural Seasons
1. The reason for existing
order for the world's top women's hockey players to earn a career doing what they love, for fans to 
have a single, cohesive women's league to follow, and for young players to look up to in the future.
Since there was only one owner in the previous NHA that everyone detested, they shut it down and 
established what they believed to be a temporary replacement league as a means of getting rid of 
him. NHL. Motivating the next generation is admirable. Bitter resentment is marginally superior.
2. Numbers of early visitors
robust, with strong demand across all six markets for tickets. Professional women's hockey set a new 
record with over 8,000 spectators for the home opener in Ottawa.
A few days later, a crowd of over 13,000 in Minnesota smashed the record. In Toronto and Montreal, 
sellouts have also occurred. Despite efforts to provide free tickets, barely 700 people attended the 
first game.
3. Changes to the rules
In the regular season, they have switched to a 3-2-1-0 point system. Additionally, they instituted a 
jailbreak rule that allows a team to release a player from the penalty box if they score a goal with a 
shorthand. The public wasn't made aware of either regulation until the day before the season started.
The league revealed a significant rule change three weeks into the season that abruptly permitted 
goalies to drop to the ice in order to make a save. Goalies had to stay upright at all times before that. 
Which rule change letting goaltenders move or switching to a 3-2-1-0 system—is more plainly right?
4. Teams with names
The league declared a month before the start of the regular season that each of the six teams would 
begin the season with just their location on their jersey—no mascots or nicknames.
In order to distinguish between their two teams in Montreal, they undoubtedly required nicknames. 
However, the Toronto team didn't have a formal moniker during that first season.
5. Players' financial stability
A historic collective-bargaining pact that ensured a few players on each club would earn at least $80,000 
on three-year contracts was passed by the league last summer. $35,000 per season was the league 
minimum.
Per diem, housing allowances, and other benefits were assured for players. Due to a contract 
disagreement between Senators players Jack Darragh and Hamby Shore, the inaugural NHL game in 
Ottawa was postponed. Only in the second quarter did both players attend the game, having convened 
beneath the stands to negotiate improved contracts.
6. Have any of the teams lost their homes as a result of the arena burning down?
The home rink for the Wanderers and the Canadiens was destroyed when the Montreal Arena burnt 
down about two weeks into the first season, affecting half of the league.
Additionally, you never hear any positive tales about the other half of the league whose arenas weren't 
actually on fire, even if some people will only talk about the bad.
7. The quality of the roster
During the league's first free-agency period, each team was able to add three well-known players. In 
order to complete the rosters, a 15-round draft was then held.
The Montreal Wanderers asked that three players be taken from the rosters of the other league clubs 
because they were so dissatisfied with their lineup. They just folded the team in the midst of the season 
after their demands were not fulfilled, and soon after, their home arena burned down.
8. Availability of broadcast
mixed. While fans in the United States have had to settle for local coverage and YouTube streaming 
choices, Canadian fans have had access to national programming on major networks.
Not even a basic internet streaming bundle, and no TV presence. Man, this was a huge failure on the 
part of the NHL. Positively, though, at least they weren't featured on the Outdoor Life Network.
9. Crazy things with well-known captains
When Montreal's Marie-Philip Poulin attempted a penalty shot in Ottawa, she was jeered on the rink. 
It was somewhat strange to see Poulin jeered in Canada's capital city, especially considering her 
reputation as Canadian royalty due to her outstanding accomplishments on the global stage.
For mistreating referees, Toronto captain Ken Randall owed the league $35 in overdue fines. Randall 
used pennies in a paper bag to pay some of his costs on February 25, 1918.
10. The trophy for the championship
We don't know if the league champion will be presented with a trophy that has the heritage of the 
Isobel Cup, the Clarkson Cup, a mix of the two, or something else different because nothing 
official has been revealed yet.
For the first four years of the league, they never got around to having one. The Stanley Cup was given 
to the victor of a special challenge match between the NHL and PCHA champions, even though it had 
been around for decades.