Is NHL strictly a men's league?

[ijuka]

Women play with different rules.

 

[Machinehead]

I think a transwoman might be able to make it.
Or a transman, but would have needed decades of testosterone therapy.

It would definitely be the latter.

There's a trans woman who has competed in MMA and she's been knocked out by a woman. You change when you transition.

And if it was the latter, well, they would just be a man.

 

[ijuka]

At 5'11, 172 lbs, Hilary Knight is bigger and stronger than several NHL players, such as Johnny Gaudreau. There are absolutely women that can physically handle the NHL. They just need to also possess the requisite skill to force and desire to play in the NHL. One will come along eventually.

It's not about weight and height.

 

[tmg]

I think this was the NHL rulebook for the 2023-24 season: https://media.nhl.com/site/asset/public/ext/2023-24/2023-24Rulebook.pdf

I tried searching for the terms "woman/women" and "female", but I didn't get any results. So I don't think people's genders are even mentioned in the rulebook.

That rule book does have a passage for “Too Many Men on the Ice” penalties.

“But ref, there are still only 6 men from our team on the ice!”

 

[Foppberg]

Yes. Weight classes and sex classes are a thing in sports for a reason. Fairness and safety, not diversity and progressivism.

 

[JMCx4]

Is the PWHL strictly a women's league?

What's in a name?

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

This thread ought to end up full of very smart takes from very manly men

Beats unrealistic ones.

 

[TageGod]

Curious to know what that is?

Can you just use a little bit of logic? A female in a male dressing room. Discomfort from both sides? Switching every locker room to a design acceptable for co-ed is not a simple task either.

 

[The Zermanator]

Sports are generally divided into a women's category, and an open category (ignoring categories for disabled people, youth, etc.). Women's category is available to women, obviously, but the open category is available for anyone who can make the cut.

The issue for any professional sport is that we're not doing a comparison of the average man and the average woman, we're comparing the physical elites. Think of it like a Venn diagram, with the female bubble on the left and the male bubble on the right. There's a good deal of overlap, meaning the top female athletes will be more physically capable than a good deal of men, but the elite men are in a league of their own. So while a top female athlete can likely beat the average man in her chosen sport, that's not her real competition.

The above paragraph is partly sport-dependent. There are some sports where those physical differences are more pronounced, and some where they're less pronounced. Sports like hockey, American football, basketball, etc will naturally have the elite men playing at a higher or more intense/physical level than the elite women. Then there are other sports like auto racing or target shooting where the difference is less pronounced and you occasionally see a woman competing with the men (Danica Patrick in NASCAR is one example).

So while the NHL is not a men's league per se, we are unlikely to ever see a woman who can compete at that level in hockey. A goaltender would be the only wild card in that respect IMO, but even then that woman would likely be more of a unicorn than anything.

 

[saintunspecified]

A'ja Wilson is only 195 lbs, though. Even Jonquel Jones, who is 6'6" and has a frame like Lemieux is only listed at 215.

I did say goalie for a reason. Do I think these athletes would have to train in a completely different way than they would for basketball? Of course. It would take that level of athletic talent trained from 4 years old for hockey. And that's why the probability is so low. But I don't think it's impossible.

 

[MoneyManny]

No league is a "men's" league as far as i know. They're either open, or female.

It's not like people can even describe what a gender is without the crazies going hysterical anymore.

 

[Machinehead]

I did say goalie for a reason. Do I think these athletes would have to train in a completely different way than they would for basketball? Of course. It would take that level of athletic talent trained from 4 years old for hockey. And that's why the probability is so low. But I don't think it's impossible.

I don't know if it's impossible, but it has to be pretty close. We're not just talking about women competing against men. It's about competing against men that are in the 99.9th percentile of men. And at the highest level, the margins are so thin, that small differences come into play.

I would take professionally trained women over most men, but men at the highest level are already freaks. They would have to be an alien among aliens.

I think maybe someday we see it at lower levels but probably not the highest level.

If it ever does happen at the highest level, it would be baseball. Non-contact sport. If she can hit 99 MPH fastballs, she can hit them.

 

[Voight]

I doubt well ever see a woman in the NHL. There are some great women's hockey players but there's a reason they have their own league. Same with the NBA/WNBA.

I'd rather think this is a very current day and age summer thread, as opposed to a classic, which might be more along the lines of, "Would Pirates or Ninjas ice a better hockey team?"

I long for the halcyon days of Pirates versus Ninjas.

I think I remember that episode of Deadliest Warrior

 

[Fire Sweeney]

Women have their own league. But there is a reason why no one watches professional female sports leagues.

 

[saintunspecified]

I don't know if it's impossible, but it has to be pretty close.

Idk if we are disagreeing much. I don't think hockey athletes are quite as elite as you indicate because entry to the sport is so limited by the lack of rinks, and cost of play. And if those limitations weren't so great (entry to basketball or soccer is way less limited), I do think it would be virtually impossible.

 

[JPT]

Beats unrealistic ones.

The only realistic answer to the OP is "no"

 

[Machinehead]

Women have their own league. But there is a reason why no one watches professional female sports leagues.

Women's basketball slaps.

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

The only realistic answer to the OP is "no"

True.

Because it's reasonable to assume you don't need a rule for a highly unlikely scenario.

 

[HabzSauce]

Curious to know what that is?

You ever been in a locker room before?

 

[MoneyManny]

At 5'11, 172 lbs, Hilary Knight is bigger and stronger than several NHL players, such as Johnny Gaudreau. There are absolutely women that can physically handle the NHL. They just need to also possess the requisite skill to force and desire to play in the NHL. One will come along eventually.

It would destroy the entire integrity of the sport.

Imagine the entire opposing team constantly avoiding hitting her, playing 100% soft against and basically turning professional hockey into flag football everytime she has the puck?

There is no way NHL'ers would ever play hard against a woman! Nobody wants to see the rink become a crime scene for every decent hit.

 

[Il Stugotz]

It would be fun to watch them try to compete.

It would be more fun to watch 20 randomly selected HFBoards posters compete in the PWHL

 

[LevelingSolo]

I'm sure this will go well

 

[Bouboumaster]

I guess no but I think that, like combat sport for exemple, women are at a physical disadvantage
It's not a talent thing, it's just reality

I could see women goalies at some point tho

 

[Realgud]

Would be neat if we got to see another Manon Rhéaume one day, even if it's just for a few regular season games.

 

[saintunspecified]

It would destroy the entire integrity of the sport.

Imagine the entire opposing team constantly avoiding hitting her, playing 100% soft against and basically turning professional hockey into flag football everytime she has the puck?

This is total nonsense. If she's out there, she's fair game. That's how athletes are wired.