Opinion: Daryl Watts Belongs On Team Canada, Period

There is no world where Daryl Watts isn't one of the most skills players in the world, and certainly in Canada. It makes her complete absence not only from Team Canada itself, but even from their camps, baffling.

Daryl Watts, as The Hockey News' Ian Kennedy explains, cannot continue to be snubbed by Hockey Canada, as she's one of the most skilled and dynamic players on the planet.

Last year at the World Championships, I got a little insight into the divide. I was in a conversation with members of the PWHL's current leadership group, former PWHPA members, and Hockey Canada members. In that conversation, Watts came up, and it was clear, for whatever reason, these women did not like Daryl Watts. They mocked her $150,000 contract with the Toronto Six, with one long time team Canada member clearly stating she did not deserve it. Another was even more insulting.

It was a strange conversation about the former Patty Kazmaier winner and four-time All-American, who finished her NCAA career with an astounding 297 points in 172 games. When I spoke to Watts' former Wisconsin teammates, they boasted about her as a player and person. When I spoke to her Toronto Six coaches, it was all praise. And when I spoke to her current PWHL staff, it was good and more good. In my personal interactions with Watts, she's approached every interview with grace and a willingness to help, something that isn't true for all professional athletes.

The relationship had soured long before that point. As Watts once said about the camps with Hockey Canada she attended, "It wasn't an atmosphere where I felt like they fostered a successful result or performance for me. So Hockey Canada, as I got older, like the past four years, I'd say, it hasn't meant as much to me as it did when I was a kid. But I never would have said that because I would have been cut if I said that. Now that I'm done with them, I'm an open book and I'm not going to hide my feelings about them because there's no reason to."

On the ice, to anyone who had ever seen Watts play in the NCAA, it was clear she was on another level. Her skill and speed, pinpoint shot, and willingness to take the puck through traffic to the net, were all world-class.

After the NCAA, Watts planned to step away from the game. She wanted hockey to be her career, but couldn't justify the lack of wages in the PWHPA, or the contracts she'd seen in the PHF, that is, until the Toronto Six came calling, offering Watts the largest contract in professional women's hockey history.

"I'm so grateful to the Toronto Six and the PHF, without their record breaking salary cap, I never would have come out of retirement," Watts said. "So I'm beyond grateful because I'm playing the sport I love more than anything in the world."

While it's unclear what the critiques are, especially after speaking to Watts' coaches in Toronto, and this season in Ottawa, she's silenced the critics nonetheless. Watts has been one of the most electrifying players all season, and she's gotten stronger as the season progresses, including seven points in her last five games.

She's the highest scoring Canadian player in the PWHL not included on Canada's national team, sitting ninth overall in league scoring. Above her? Marie-Philip Poulin, Natalie Spooner, Sarah Nurse, and Brianne Jenner. Below her, Emily Clark, Laura Stacey, Emma Maltais, Jamie Lee Rattray, Blayre Turnbull, and Kristen O'Neill.

The problem for Canada is, there really is no good reason to exclude her. Whoever had an old grudge against Watts, because that's what it was, is certainly gone. And Canada is foolish for not capitalizing off the natural chemistry Brianne Jenner and Watts have developed as linemates in Ottawa.

PWHL Ottawa has been nothing but happy with her performance in the league, both on the scoresheet and away from the puck, as well as in the locker room and community.

"When we drafted her, we certainly thought she had the ability to be one of the most dynamic, offensively gifted players in the entire league," said Ottawa GM Mike Hirshfeld of Watts. "Credit to her for her hard work, credit to our coaches and credit to her linemates, Brianne Jenner, and Kateřina Mrázová, who together have become one of the best lines in the PWHL over the last few months. It’ll be fun and exciting to watch Daryl, a young player continue to grow in the months and years ahead."

Watts, still only 24, has years remaining where she could be a cornerstone of Canada's attack, and with players like Poulin, Spooner, Rattray, Jenner, and Turnbull all in their 30s, Canada is in need of elite skill and scoring for the future. Even more, Canada is in need of players like Watts to battle with Team USA, who is markedly the faster, and more skilled team at the moment. She's more skilled than many on Team Canada, and unlike other players who have struggled to find their space on Canada's national team, Watts is not afraid to battle for every inch.

Although Watts represented Canada with the U-18 national team at two U-18 World Championships, she's since been completely overlooked by Canada. After scoring the NCAA winning goal for Wisconsin in 2021, Watts received an invite to Canada's summer selection camp. She did not make the team, and not once in her incredible NCAA career, or since, has she been invited to even participate with Canada's Rivalry Series roster.

It's an astounding snub for a player who was once, and is again reemerging as one of the best offensive players in the world. She has the skill, intangibles, and drive to elevate Canada's national program to new heights. And Hockey Canada would be wise to put salve on the wound, and work to heal this situation for the good of their program.