Back To Work This Offseason For PWHL Montreal Players, In Many Ways

PWHL Montreal players are going back to work this summer to train for year two...while others not at the top of the league's pay grid are also going back to work to make a living.

According to PWHL Montreal players and management interviewed during the end of season press conference held on Friday, this was year one of the PWHL and not much should change for year two.

Why? Because before the PWHL, these players didn’t have what they had this season.

“When you put this year into perspective, and compare it to what we used to have in the past, since I graduated college, there’s absolutely nothing that compares to this year, this season, so even a small bump on the road like a meal that wasn’t your favourite, well at the end of the day, we’re having meals now,” Laura Stacey said.

“When you zoomed out, everything far exceeded anything we had before,” the 30-year-old athlete added. “It was a dream come true and there’s not too many things that I would change. Obviously, we want to improve tons of little things along the way to make it bigger, better and keep improving, but I wouldn’t be able to put my hand on anything that seriously needs to change.”

Goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens agreed with Stacey.

“Aside from a few things, like equipment not arriving on time, there’s not a day when I showed up and didn’t feel like a pro,” she said.

“Maybe a wall needs to be painted a different colour, or another needs to be darker, but the foundation is really strong," added GM Danièle Sauvageau.

Of course, these comments come from players who are signed to three-year guaranteed deals earning north of $80,000, some more than $100,000 a year. 

Speaking to Catherine Daoust, however, who like many others only earned the minimum of $35,000 this season, the perspective changed.

“You all know about the minimum wage in the league, I have a mortgage, so no time off for me, I’m going straight back to work,” said Daoust, who graduated in mechanical engineering from the University of Minnesota-Duluth in 2018. 

“The company I work for let me take the season off and was very supportive throughout the season. They bought 40 tickets for the game at Bell Center. But now, I have to go back to work. Fortunately, they have already asked what day I would need to report to camp. So, I should be playing next year, here or elsewhere. But I’d like to stay in Montreal, that’s for sure.”

Daoust is not the only one in her situation. More than half of the players don’t know if or where they will play next year. A lot of them, more than some would think, had to keep working elsewhere during the season or will have to work over the summer to make ends meet. And of course, like many of her PHF’s peers, Daoust didn’t have a say in the PWHL’s CBA.

These are things that “seriously need to change.”

When asked what her biggest challenges would be this summer between the upcoming draft, having to sign new players and comply with the average salary, Sauvageau gave an interesting answer, fitting the other answers given by the leaders of the team.

“From a math standpoint, this year’s first-round picks won’t be able to make as much as the first-rounders from last year,” she said. But these girls will come into year two of a league that didn’t exist last year. So, one of the challenges will be to remind people that the league is young, to remind them where we were last year and to appreciate where we are right now.”

It's not about meals or painting the walls. It’s about having a grip of what’s working and what’s not, and hopefully the PWHL realizes that. Changes will need to be made for this league to succeed in the long run, whether some like it or not.