The dream of a unified professional women's hockey league in North America received a huge update on Thursday after Los Angeles Dodgers chairman and controlling owner Mark Walters purchased “certain assets” of the Premier Hockey Federation.

The move could clear the way for a single professional women's league, a source told The Associated Press. Players for both the PHF and rival Professional Hockey Players' Association were informed of the purchase in a private meeting, although details of the acquisition have not yet been made public.

The players were informed that the Mark Walter Group, which operates the PWHPA, will launch a new league next January.

“The Mark Walter Group has spent the past 14 months working with the PWHPA in a bid to launch its own league. Thursday's deal has the potential of eliminating the PWHPA's competition: the seven-team PHF, which was scheduled to enter is ninth season,” wrote AP on Friday.

“The PWHPA certified as a union this spring and is in the late phases of completing negotiations to establish a collective bargaining agreement. Once ratified, the CBA would become the final step toward establishing a league that would launch before the end of the year. The ratification vote is expected to take place within the next week.”

It's certainly excellent news for women's hockey in North America; the pro landscape has been divided since the PWHPA was founded in 2019 following the folding of the Canadian Women's Hockey League.

The number of teams and their locations are still being determined for the proposed new league; the PHF had franchises in Boston, Buffalo, Connecticut, the New York/New Jersey area, Minnesota, Montreal and Toronto last season, per ESPN.

The PWHPA itself is made up of mostly American and Canadian national team players, and many have refused to join the PHF. Their goal is to have a direct say in launching another league “with a sustainable economic model and fair wages for players.”

It looks like Dodgers co-owner Mark Walters is working towards just that as he attempts to unify women's professional hockey in North America.