Fans will have to wait more than five months to watch another PWHL game, but the league’s first off-season promises to be anything but quiet.
Less than two weeks after Minnesota won the first Walter Cup championship, 42 players will hear their name called at the league’s entry draft in St, Paul, Minn. on June 10. That’s also where the league will hold its awards ceremony on June 11.
Teams will be able to sign free agents beginning on June 21, including players who do not get drafted.
Behind the scenes, the PWHL is preparing to release long-awaited team names and logos in August, the league’s senior vice-president of business operations, Amy Scheer, confirmed on TSN’s Game 5 broadcast this week.
WATCH | Recapping the Walter Cup playoffs on Hockey North:
Host Rob Pizzo is joined by reporter Karissa Donkin to break down Game 5 of the PWHL final, as Minnesota defeats Boston 3-0 to win the Walter Cup.
Also high on the league’s to-do list is to find the right venues for each team next season, and figure out a way for players to keep developing if they don’t make a PWHL roster.
“When the season’s over, we’re going to review everything — every city, every venue that we’re in, and we’re going to try to improve,” PWHL advisory board member Stan Kasten told reporters last week.
It’s all in preparation for a 30-game regular season, up from 24 games this season, that’s expected to kick off toward the end of next year.
A talented draft class
More than 160 players from 19 different countries have declared for June’s seven-round draft and are eligible to be selected.
The draft order is based on regular-season standings, meaning New York will select first, followed by Ottawa, Minnesota, Boston, Montreal and Toronto.
That order will repeat over each of the seven rounds, with one caveat: teams weren’t allowed to trade draft picks up to this point, but have a window to do so now that the season is over.
While teams in the NHL draft teenagers who will typically spend several years developing in a junior league or in college before turning professional, PWHL teams will be selecting slightly older players who can ideally contribute right away. Teams have only two years to sign a drafted player or they will become eligible to enter the draft again.
This year, there’s a ton of talent graduating from the NCAA, thanks to extra eligibility stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. That list is led by Team Canada star Sarah Fillier (Princeton University), a generational talent who’s expected to be taken first by New York.
Fillier, 23, has an Olympic gold medal and three world championships on her resumé. She was the MVP of the 2023 world championship.
Any player who wants to play in the league has to go through the draft, meaning it’s also the entry point for talented players who want to come to North America from Europe.
European players who have declared for the draft include long-time Finnish national team forward Noora Tulus, who led the Swedish Women’s Hockey League (SDHL) in points this season, Czech defender Daniela Pejšová, and veteran Finnish defender Ronja Savolainen, among others.
“The next draft class is incredibly deep, incredibly strong, skilled players that are going to enter this league and make it better,” Jayna Hefford, the league’s senior vice-president of hockey operations, said last week.
One player on the draft list already has already won a PWHL championship. As a full-time pharmacy school student, forward Abby Boreen was only able to play via Minnesota’s reserve list this season. She got into nine regular-season games and five playoff games, registering six points.
She needed to enter the draft to be eligible to play full-time next season, and will be eligible for any team to select.
Finding a place for players to develop
The problem with adding 42 draft picks, on top of all the players who competed in the PWHL this season, is finding a place for players to keep playing if they don’t make a team next season.
Each PWHL team has 23 active players and three reserve players for a total of 156 roster spots. While expansion may be on the horizon in the future, the league has said it’s not happening next season.
For the players who are cut from those six teams, including young players who need a bit more seasoning, there are no other professional leagues in North America. The PWHL doesn’t have a farm-team system like the NHL has with the American Hockey League.
The next best option for those players to continue playing and developing might be the SDHL in Sweden, with other European leagues an option, too.
Finding a short-term solution to that problem is at the top of the league’s to-do list, according to Hefford.
“To try to build a whole ecosystem for hockey is just not something that we can do right now, but we are thinking creatively around places that players could play if they don’t end up on our 23- or 26-player rosters next season,” Hefford said.
“It’s a bit of a work in progress, but in speaking to a number of stakeholders, there’s many, many people that want to figure out a solution to this so that we can keep more women playing the game at the highest level.”
Between the draft and free agency, fans could see their favourite PWHL team looking quite different next year.
A significant number of players across the league were on one-year deals this season, which could set up a busy summer of player movement. The average annual salary for PWHL players was $55,000 US this season, and will increase by three per cent next season, according to the collective bargaining agreement.
In New York, for example, all three goaltenders who played this season were on one-year deals, including goaltender of the year nominee Corinne Schroeder. New York GM Pascal Daoust said earlier this month that re-signing Schroeder is an off-season priority.
Team name and logos coming this summer
Teams could also look different in their appearance next season. Players will be wearing new jerseys designed by Bauer that will have team names and logos. The latter is something the PWHL opted to start without in the race to begin play in January.
“That’ll be really exciting to be able to to build those brands and make those brands significant in the markets and the communities we’re in,” Hefford said.
The league registered trademarks for several potential team names last fall, but that doesn’t mean those are the ones they’ll ultimately stick with.
Before the 2024-25 schedule can be released, the league has to figure out venues, a puzzle that’s impacted by other leagues’ schedules.
In some markets, like Toronto, the PWHL will need to look for ways for more fans to attend games. Hefford said the league is considering all options in Toronto.
In New York, the league will likely be looking to find a more stable home, after the team played in arenas in three different states over the first season.
“We’re aware of the New York situation,” Kasten said. “It wasn’t ideal this year, but we’ll see what ways we can improve the situation.”
The PWHL also plans to play more games in neutral sites next season. More than 13,700 people attended a game between Boston and Ottawa in Detroit in March, while another 8,850 watched Toronto and Montreal face-off in Pittsburgh.