Team names, scheduling, and more: How the PWHL is preparing for puck drop in January

Stan Kasten calls it a million item to-do list.

Ticketing, transportation plans, insurance, ordering equipment, sorting out where teams will play, and finalizing a schedule are just a few things that need to be done before the first season of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) begins in January 2024.

"The thought of standing up one team in an existing league in six months is kind of nuts," said Kasten, the Los Angeles Dodgers president who sits on the PWHL's advisory board.

"And here we are trying to stand up six teams in a new league, none of which existed when we began. And yet, we're going to do it. I've never felt more confident than I do today that we are going to have our first games in January and have our first season in 2024."

That work began just before the calendar turned to July, when news emerged that an ownership group backed financially by Mark and Kimbra Walter bought assets from an existing professional women's hockey league, the Premier Hockey Federation, with the goal of starting a new, unified league made up of the best players in the world. 

Around the same time, the ownership group finalized a collective bargaining agreement with the players' union. The players ratified the agreement, which includes provisions around maternity leave, a housing stipend and a minimum salary, among other things.

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Since then, the league has announced the location of its original six teams: Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, New York, Minnesota and Boston. General managers and coaches have been hired. Teams began the process of signing free agents. And last month, the league held its inaugural draft — the PWHL's first big event.

As he and the PWHL staff