“I think that the focus is on the players, and it will be a player-centered league and something they will be happy to promote,” said Rylan, who added that the N.W.H.L. would include a players’ union and some form of health insurance.

Mary Jo Kane, director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport at the University of Minnesota, said it was too early to know whether competing leagues would hurt the growth of women’s hockey.

She noted that the salaries, which average out to $15,000 per player, were not enough to live on.

“If nothing else, it’s a symbolic statement that these women should be acknowledged financially, because that’s how we basically acknowledge everything,” Kane said. “This could be a pivotal moment in women’s hockey.”

The C.W.H.L. commissioner, Brenda Andress, did not respond to phone calls or email requests for an interview about the N.W.H.L. The league said in a statement on March 26 that the C.W.H.L. was “taking all necessary steps and measures to protect its interests” and that its primary goal was to expand women’s hockey in North America.

The Blades won the Clarkson Cup, the C.W.H.L.’s equivalent of the Stanley Cup, in March, and it was the first final televised on the Canadian channel Sportsnet. And the Montreal Canadiens announced recently that they were entering a partnership with the C.W.H.L.’s Montreal Stars. The Dairy Farmers of Canada also agreed to provide financial and promotional support to the league.

The C.W.H.L. would like to pay players in the future and has estimated that each team would need about $2.5 million per year to provide livable wages and cover team operating costs.

But the current promise of money, no matter how small the amount, and the N.W.H.L.’s compact Northeastern scope could be a deciding factor for many free agents. The season will run from October to March, and teams will have two practices and one game per week.