Former CWHL Governor and financial contributor W. Graeme Roustan made an offer to assume control of the league in the wake of its announced shutdown.

Toronto Furies/CWHL

With the future of women’s professional hockey uncertain in Canada in the wake of the CWHL’s announcement that it will be shutting its doors in May, former CWHL Governor and financial contributor W. Graeme Roustan has made an offer to assume control of the league.

In a release, Roustan wrote that he contacted the CWHL’s Board of Directors Thursday with his offer. “I would like to immediately move forward with replacing all of you as Directors/Members and bring in my own team of Directors/Members with the intent of carrying on the CWHL next season and beyond,” Roustan wrote, asking the Board to respond by noon EST Friday. Per the release, CWHL Chair Laurel Walzak and Vice Chair Art Mannarn have not responded to Roustan.

Requests for comment from Walzak have not been returned as of this writing.

Roustan, who had contributed to the league since 2008, left the CWHL in November 2018 over concerns about financial transparency amongst the Board of Directors

On March 31, the CWHL announced the not-for-profit league will shut down effective May 1, 2019, as a result of an unsustainable economic model. Founded in 2007 following the closure of the former National Women’s Hockey League, the CWHL completed its 12th campaign in 2018-19.

(Disclosure: W. Graeme Roustan is the executive chairman and publisher of Roustan Media LTD., which owns The Hockey News.)