Work just beginning for point man of new women's professional hockey league

A league name and logo, cities where teams will be located and a game schedule top Stan Kasten's to-do list.

The Los Angeles Dodgers' president, whose boss and Dodgers owner Mark Walter is the financial backer of a new professional women's hockey league, is the point man getting the women's league up and running for a planned January start.

"I have so many people all over the place, working as fast as they can on my one-million-item, to-do list," Kasten told The Canadian Press.

Walter buying out the seven-team rival Premier Hockey Federation and his group negotiating a collective bargaining agreement with the Professional Women's Hockey Players' Association (PWHPA) — all announced within the last week — cleared the deck for the new women's pro league.

Kasten wants to go public with the three items atop his list in the next 30 to 60 days, but another critical business item is the NHL's involvement.

After PWHPA membership voted to ratify the CBA collective bargaining agreement Sunday, Kasten said the first person he called was PWHPA lead and Hockey Hall of Famer Jayna Hefford.

His second call was to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, who said in Montreal in January "if it ever gets figured out, we'll be more than supportive."

"We've had numerous calls. We have more scheduled," Kasten told The Canadian Press.

"Any kind of co-operation we get from the NHL would be a huge shot in our arm. I think they're going to be more than just bystanders.

The NHL has owned the rights to the trademark "WNHL" for over two decades, but Kasten would not reveal if it is a name under consideration for the women's league.

Nor would he elaborate on the possible city locations of three teams in Canada and three in the United States, although The