Scouting in women's hockey is a place where infrastructure has not grown, but will need to as a singular professional women's hockey league emerges.
Scouting in women's hockey is a place where infrastructure has not grown, but will need to as a singular professional women's hockey league emerges.
It seems the era of discussing on-ice growth of women's hockey is passing, because the skill level is now elite, and the star power is flowing at a constant stream. While the skill is there, it often emerges in less conventional ways. Part of this is because the scattered pathways for girls in minor hockey, whether it be playing boys hockey into their teenage years, geographic isolation of elite programs, or in Europe it's the lack of depth and competition to aid elite development at early ages.
Due to these issues, it makes scouting in women's hockey even more valuable than in men's hockey, and there are currently very few independent scouting agencies that focus on women's hockey. Similarly, most women's hockey teams, including at the national level, rely on feedback from coaches, rather than formal scouting teams. At the NCAA and USports level, scouting is left to a few major tournaments, video, and utilizing regional connections and alumni networks.
At the pro level, it's even more limited. For example, looking at the website of the now former PHF's Boston Pride, perennially one of the league's top teams, the club has no scouts listed. That isn't to say that the club's managers and coaching staff aren't scouting, but they have no primary scouts listed. Conversely, the NHL's Boston Bruins have 22 staff listed as scouts or with scouting roles. That's outside of their managerial staff and analysts. Prior to the PHF's acquisition, the Montreal Force were one of the first organizations to announce the hiring of staff for scouting roles.
With opportunities already limited in professional hockey for women, organizations cannot afford to miss opportunities in finding players, and as the talent pool becomes even more concentrated in the new professional women's hockey league, finding the absolute best players will become crucial.
There's no missing Taylor Heise or Alina Muller, that's certain. But the depth, two-way players who bring more to the ice than scoring, but play a crucial role in winning championships can easily be overlooked; as can late bloomers, or hidden gems who geographically did not have strong enough competition.
At the moment, however, the new collective bargaining agreement will be a restrictive factor in securing the best possible players to fill these depth roles, as only a certain number of individuals will be able to accept contracts paying $35,000 or the $15,000 reserve player stipend, which will require players to work second jobs either during the season, or throughout the offseason to make a liveable wage. In that way, scouting will continue to play a role not only in identifying skilled players, but also in identifying people who will be willing to work for these wages.
This will specifically stand true for University players who will face decisions whether to accept careers paying far more outside of hockey, or continuing their hockey dreams for $35,000-40,000 per season with the hope, but no guarantee, of making more in the future.
Prior to the PHF acquisition, NCAA players Maude Poulin-Labelle ($69,000), Claire Dalton ($65,000), Lexie Adzija ($60,000), and Emma Seitz ($72,500) had disclosed their salaries, signing contracts that likely will not be available to them in the new league. Conversely, Minnesota signee Catie Skaja signed a deal for $35,000, which would be the new league minimum. Her skill level is much closer to these higher paid players than her compensation.
Currently the WNBA has entry level tiers of guaranteed payment, from a minimum of $62,285 this season, to a maximum of $94,740 in 2026 for first year players. In the new professional women's hockey league, league minimum salaries, which most rookies will certainly be asked to take, will climb from $35,000 to $44,336.95 by the conclusion of the eight year CBA in 2031. It's a salary that will continue to exclude some of the best players who cannot afford to make less than a living wage. A similar tiered entry-level system could help the new professional women's league, but increases in compensation will need to come first, and given the CBA, that won't occur for almost a decade. Similarly, with the top six players per team set to earn guaranteed three-year, $80,000 minimum contracts, any increases for depth players, including rookies, in the league, will almost certainly wait until these contracts expire, and older national team veterans and other veteran stars retire.
Until then, scouting will remain a tiered system itself, in finding the best players available who are willing to accept unliveable entry level wages in hopes of future increases.
Despite these limitations, a robust scouting system from junior through to the pros is the next frontier in women's hockey, and one that needs immediate investment. Coupled with a future development league, scouting will change the face, and talent pool in women's hockey in a way that will guarantee the best possible product remains in the game.