“If you want to jump into a new league, you’ve got to have all the ducks in a row,” Bettman said. “And our hope is that the professional landscape for women can be more unified in the future.”

This is a change from Bettman’s previous position in which he said the NHL would only step in to support a professional women’s league if both entities – the NWHL and the now defunct Canadian Women’s Hockey League – pull out.

Bettman said the NHL had “been a bit distracted” for the past 15 months, referring to the schedules and economic challenges posed by the pandemic.

“We are tremendously supportive of women’s hockey going forward,” said Bettman. “And at the right time and in the right circumstances, we see a role for us as far as we are invited.

The NHL has pledged to spend $ 5 million over the next 18 months on diversity and inclusion efforts in a league that remains predominantly white and has no black coaches or general managers. Daly also said a hotline has been established for players, coaches and staff to report racist behavior after Akim Aliu shared his story on former trainer Bill Peters has been “operational” for several months.

“Part of the dynamic of introducing a hotline like this is to make potential people who want to engage with it feel comfortable engaging with it, so it’s by definition a time-consuming process. “said Daly. “I think it was well received.”