Quoting: rangersandislesfan
It's an interesting question that has been asked a lot. I'm not gonna lie, i think it might happen sooner than we think. No idea when though. But you never know what could happen in 10-20 years ... go ahead 10 years from now and there might be a few women in the NHL. What do you think?
I'm curious as to why you think it's possible?
Have you heard of
Hayley Wickenheiser? She's the Wayne Gretzky of women's hockey (the greatest ever by a wide margin). She's also 5'9 and 175 lbs.
26-GP| 18-G | 33-A | 51-PTS | Olympic Totals (19 points and 0.5 points per game better than any women in history).
51-GP| 68-G | 87-A | 155-PTS | WWHL Totals (over 3 points per game and 1 point per game better than anyone else).
The Olympics are the pinnacle of women's hockey and the WWHL was the best women's league in the world when she played.
Here's where it gets interesting. She also made history as the first women to play men's professional hockey.
10-GP| 0-G | 0-A | 0-PTS | Mestis - 2003-04 (Finand's 2nd tier men's professional league after Liiga).
21-GP| 1-G | 2-A | 3-PTS | Ettan - 2008-09 (Sweden's 3rd tier men's professional league after the SHL and Allsvenskan).
CONCLUSION:
1. Wickenheiser dominated women on the same level that Gretzky dominated men.
2. She's taller and heavier than a fair number of NHL superstars and Hall of Famer's.
3. She didn't last a year in men's professional leagues that rank far below the ECHL.
4. Defense and puck battles were her glaring weakness (not her offensive stats).
The Canadian Women's Olympic Team loses exhibition games to 14 year old boys (AAA teams) who aren't allowed to hit.
That's a big jump to the NHL.