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The Weekly Links post highlights important or interesting writing from the hockey blogosphere and media. Enjoy!

• The NWHL opened its first season last weekend. Joe DeLessio, Greg Wyshynski, and Lindsay Gibbs all had good overviews of the new league. [Sports on Earth; Puck Daddy; Think Progress]
• Meanwhile, Brigitte Noël questions what will happen with the CWHL now that it has a rival league. [VICE Sports]
• James Mirtle argues that, despite Mike Richards and the Los Angeles Kings reaching a settlement regarding his drug charges, future cases of player addiction will not be helped by the resolution: “There’s growing evidence that Richards’s struggle is part of a trend. What the resolution here does is reward a team for ignoring the warning signs.” [Globe and Mail]
• The WHL’s new Player Impact Program may appear to be a positive step for addressing sexual assault in junior hockey culture, but some problematic details have emerged. These include the disavowal of the term “rape culture” and an emphasis on protecting players from trouble with the law rather than respecting women and the process of consent. [Buzzing the Net]
• A strong argument, aimed at Washington Capitals fans, against taunting Patrick Kane over his rape accusations: “This isn’t about protecting Kane’s precious feelings. . . . This is about trivializing something that should never be trivialized, taking a serious situation and making it into a joke.’ [Japer’s Rink]
• TSN analyst and ex-NHLer Aaron Ward was arrested for a domestic assault. He has been removed from the air until further notice. [The Hockey News]
• The International Paralympic Committee is holding a sledge hockey in Germany later this month, a move that could help grow participation in the sport. [Inside the Games]
• An overview of the Brampton Beast vs. Team India game that was staged earlier this week. [IIHF]
• With the New York Islanders moving to Brooklyn for this season, the Brooklyn Historical Society has opened an exhibit on the former NHL team the New York Americans, who almost moved from Manhattan to Brooklyn in the 1940s. [New York Times]