2018-19 CWHL season

This is the 2018-19 Canadian Women's Hockey League season. This is the league's 12th season.
The 2018–19 CWHL season is the 12th season of the Canadian Women's Hockey League.
==Offseason==
*July 16: The CWHL contracted the Vanke Rays' membership after one season to focus solely on the Kunlun Red Star team in China.
*July 19: Jayna Hefford was appointed to the position of interim commissioner of the CWHL, replacing inaugural commissioner Brenda Andress, who tendered her resignation.
*August 3: The Kunlun Red Star franchise was rebranded as the Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays as part of integrating the CWHL's two teams in China. Rob Morgan, who served as the head coach of the Vanke Rays during the previous season, was also named as the general manager for the consolidated Chinese team.
*August 20, 2018: The Boston Blades relocated to Worcester, Massachusetts and rebranded as the Worcester Blades. Home games are scheduled for the Fidelity Bank Worcester Ice Center.
===One league movement===
Starting in March 2018, and throughout the offseason, current and former players took to social media to promote the concept of one unified professional women’s hockey league. Players had utilized the hashtag #OneLeague to indicated their support.
===Head coaching and front office personnel changes===
====Head coaches====
Team 	2017–18 head coach	2018–19 replacement	Notes
Calgary Inferno	Tomas Pacina 	Shannon Miller 	Miller was signed by the Calgary Inferno as their head coach on June 23, 2018.
Toronto Furies 	Jeff Flanagan 	Courtney Birchard 	The Toronto Furies signed Birchard as their new head coach on July 31, 2018. In addition, Ken Dufton was named as an advisor to the team.
====Front office====
Team 	2017–18 GM 	2018–19 replacement	Notes
Worcester Blades	Jessica Martino 	Derek Alfama 	Alfama was named the new general manager of the Boston Blades on August 2, 2018.
Toronto Furies 	Nicole Latreille	Sami Jo Small 	On June 11, 2018, Small was named general manager of the Toronto Furies.
===CWHL draft===
Heading into the draft, the league reported that general managers were authorized to "pre-sign" their first and second round selections prior to the draft. The window for pre-signing expired on August 17.
==Transactions==
=== Signings ===
Player 	Team 	Date
Hanna Bunton 	Kunlun Red Star	June 15, 2018
Cayley Mercer 	Kunlun Red Star	June 15, 2018
Emma Woods 	Kunlun Red Star	June 15, 2018
Zoe Hickel 	Calgary Inferno	June 28, 2018
Kacey Bellamy 	Calgary Inferno	July 24, 2018
Brianna Decker 	Calgary Inferno	July 24, 2018
Elaine Chuli 	Toronto Furies 	August 1, 2018
Shiann Darkangelo	Toronto Furies 	August 2, 2018
==Member Teams==
Team 	City 	Primary Arena
Calgary Inferno 	Calgary, Alberta 	Olympic Oval
Kunlun Red Star WIH 	Shenzhen, China 	Shenzhen Dayun Arena
Les Canadiennes de Montreal	Montreal, Quebec 	Arena Michel-Normandin
Markham Thunder 	Markham, Ontario 	Thornhill Community Centre
Toronto Furies 	Toronto, Ontario 	MasterCard Centre
Worcester Blades 	Worcester, Massachusetts	Fidelity Bank Worcester Ice Center
==Standings==
Pos.	Team 	GP	W 	L 	OL	SL	GF 	GA 	Pts
1 	Calgary Inferno 	28	23	4 	0 	1 	111	54 	47
2 	Canadiennes de Montreal	28	21	6 	0 	1 	118	45 	43
3 	Markham Thunder 	28	13	11	3 	1 	85 	80 	30
4 	Toronto Furies 	28	14	14	0 	0 	64 	77 	28
5 	Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays	28	13	13	2 	0 	79 	68 	28
6 	Worcester Blades 	28	0 	28	0 	0 	22 	155	0
==Clarkson Cup Playoffs==
The league playoffs consist of the top four teams qualifying for the playoffs with the one seed playing the four seed and two playing three in the best-of-three semifinals. The semifinal winners meet in the single game Clarkson Cup Final.
==References==
Category:2019 in hockey
Category:CWHL seasons