U Sports is becoming a double sided development pathway where players can maintain eligibility after declaring for the PWHL Draft, after being drafted, and even after multiple seasons in Europe. It's a path that can benefit the PWHL and U Sports itself.
U Sports women's hockey features elements that aren't available to players in the NCAA. Inequitably, NCAA men's hockey players are allowed to enter the NHL draft or even play professionally and retain their eligibility, but in NCAA women's hockey, should a player declare for the PWHL Draft, they lose all of their remaining NCAA eligibility.
U Sports however, allows players to declare for the PWHL Draft and maintain their eligibility.
In fact, this season, a pair of PWHL Draft picks - Audrey-Anne Veillette and Ilona Markova - both finished the season in U Sports women's hockey.
Both will compete at the 2026 National Championships and were paramount in the playoff runs for their programs.
Last season Veillette played professionally in the SDHL with HV71. Markova spent multiple seasons playing in the semi-professional Russian league, the ZhHL.
It's a circular path of development coming back to U Sports women's hockey that could prove a popular route for fringe PWHL players, and it's a move U Sports may embrace as a way to improve the competition level nationally.
Next season, another player, Lauren Dabrowski, will complete the cyclical pathway from U Sports to pro and back as she's committed to play for Nipissing.
Dabrowski was a U Sports All-Canadian playing for St. Francis Xavier before signing a professional contract with the PHF's Metropolitan Riveters. When the PHF was acquired by Mark Walter for the purpose of forming the PWHL, Dabrowksi entered the draft but was unselected. Instead she went to Europe playing for SDE in the SDHL for a season, before playing the last two campaigns with HC Fribourg-Gottéron in Switzerland's PostFinance Women's League.
Now with three seasons of professional hockey under her belt, Dabrowski is heading to Nipissing for another round of university hockey.
The ability for players to join U Sports hockey after declaring for the PWHL Draft or a season or two in Europe is an asset the PWHL itself should appreciate, and that U Sports could lean into to build a more competitive, pro level development league.
Markova and Veillette are undoubtedly targeting opportunities in the PWHL following this season, and Dabrowski may take another shot at North American pro hockey after her season with Nipissing as well.