On June 10, 2024, the Montreal Victoire drafted seven players, including several very promising young talents. Of the group, four players who would represent their national team at the most recent World Championships, one winner of the Walter Cup, and a legend of women's hockey. One year later, only one of these players is still part of the team, a sad realization largely caused by the expansion draft.
An expansion draft is supposed to give new teams the tools to be competitive, not ammunition to dominate. After all, we are no longer in the days when the New York Islanders and the Ottawa Senators lost five times more often than they won in their first season.
However, what we are seeing in the PWHL these days is a plundering.
Worse yet. A purge.
Losing the future
Let’s take the case of the Montreal Victoire.
During the two phases of the expansion draft, the team lost their first, second, third, and fifth-round picks in the 2024 PWHL Draft. Indeed, Americans Cayla Barnes and Anna Wilgren will play in Seattle, while Canadian Jennifer Gardiner and American Abby Boreen will play in Vancouver. For Montreal, this isn’t the worst-case scenario because they managed to add Erin Ambrose to their protection list after losing Barnes and Gardiner, but it’s still disastrous.
These are not just prospects that Montreal has lost. Barnes and Wilgren won the gold medal at the last World Championships, while Gardiner finished second in the tournament in scoring. The three will certainly make up half of the All-Star rookie team that will be unveiled in a few weeks. It is outright the future of the team that the PWHL has stolen from Danièle Sauvageau and Kori Cheverie.
The same happened to Toronto, with the Sceptres losing Julia Gosling, Megan Carter and Izzy Daniel, respectively their first, second and third-round draft picks.
Who is to blame?
PWHL’s management also underestimated the impact that all of this could have on its supporters. And by management, one person is primarily to blame, and that is the executive vice president of hockey operations, Jayna Hefford.
For those who don’t know, Hefford’s résumé off the ice isn’t the best. It is because of her that the now-defunct CWHL closed its doors in 2019. While she was at the head of the PWHPA, her refusal to work with the PHF led to the purchase and dissolution of the league. Few people can boast about having closed two professional hockey leagues.
And many of the worst decisions made by the PWHL, like this draft, and a weirdly placed free agency period, right before the amateur draft, can be attributed to her.
Fans have been furious since the announcement of the expansion draft rules and even more after Monday night. And rightfully so. In Montreal, fans had grown attached to Barnes, Gardiner, and Wilgren, and they will be more hesitant to buy the jersey of the team's next first round pick.
Boosted teams
One has to admit that the league pushed it a little too far.
Initially protecting just three players was clearly not enough, and protecting two more would still have allowed Seattle and Vancouver to be competitive.
Think about it. No other team but Seattle will start the 2025-2026 season with three of the 15 top scorers from last season (Hilary Knight, Alex Carpenter, Jessie Eldridge).
These are not just expansion teams; these are expansion teams on steroids!
And with the idea of bringing the league to 12 teams by the end of the collective bargaining agreement, which ends in 2031, it is very likely that this is a process we will see again very soon, more than once, probably even within a year or two.
A completely obsolete first round
In 2024, the PWHL held its first true entry draft.
The previous year, just before its inaugural season, the goal was to fill the teams with players, and the majority of those who were drafted already had professional experience. Last year, the number of rounds was reduced to seven, and the players selected were mainly university graduates.
However, of the six first-round picks of the 2024 draft, five are no longer with the team that selected them. Danielle Serdachny, Hannah Bilka, Cayla Barnes, and Julia Gosling, drafted respectively with the second, fourth, fifth, and sixth positions, will now play in Seattle. Claire Thompson, drafted third overall, will continue her path in Vancouver.
Of the 42 players selected in the 2024 draft, 39 were not initially protected, while 13 were picked by Vancouver or Seattle, which is a third of the available players.
To be honest, it wouldn’t be surprising to see fan interest in the upcoming PWHL draft greatly diminished. Because no matter which team will draft the next stars-to-be, the chances that these players will align with these teams in three years are slim.
The PWHL will need to reevaluate its expansion rules, but for the season to come, the damage is already done.
