Do you think a woman's NHL would do well if most of its teams were from Canada/northern U.S.A.?

No, don't think so, just not enough interest even in established hockey towns. There's little interest in the WNBA, it gives away a lot of tickets to get people in the seats and this is in a country where basketball is a major sport. If they can't get an audience for women's basketball, they're sure not going to get one for hockey. The only time I follow women's hockey is the Olympics and I'm probably among the majority of fans.