Contracts this offseason in the PWHL have been signed, restructured, extended, terminated, and for some, are still being negotiated. It's been an offseason of firsts, of record setting deals, and of new ways of seeing deals get done.
One of the most talked about contracts was the record setting deal of Ottawa Charge star Emily Clark.
Clarification On Emily Clark's Record-Setting Contract
The PWHL has had multiple players move into new echelons this offseason. While there were false reports that Emily Clark was the first player to earn more than $100,000 in a season (a position already held by several star players including Marie-Philip Poulin, Abby Roque, Brianne Jenner, Hilary Knight, Sarah Filllier, Kendall Coyne Schofield, Renata Fast and others), it is factual that this season, Emily Clark will earn the highest single season contract in the PWHL.
What wasn't reported, is that she'll hold that status for only a single season. Clark's deal was front-loaded significantly, which will give the Ottawa Charge financial freedom moving into the second and third years of her deal.
Restructured Contracts Keep Charge At Salary Average
Emily Clark and Gwyneth Philips' new contracts with the Ottawa Charge help keep the team that lost other stars at the new league average salary of $58,349.50. While the PWHL's salary is often discussed as a "cap," it is actually an average that can fluctuate by up to 10% and based on the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the average is a league-wide marker.
As Section 8.2 (b) of the Collective Bargaining Agreement read, "the League shall endeavor to maintain the required average Salary on each Team, but there may be a variation in the Salary on a particular Team as compared to the average annual base Salary of up to ten percent (10%) due to Player movement and new signings. In all years of this Agreement, the average annual base Salary shall be maintained on a League-wide basis."
In other words, the average is not a hard cap allowing for some fluctuation.
Many teams this offseason, including the Ottawa Charge, saw significant portions of their salary leave in the expansion process. It allowed teams to give raises to many players, and restructure contracts. In some cases, internal raises were necessitated to reach the salary average.
Ottawa also signed a handful of free agents, including defender Brooke Hobson, to contracts well above the league average to continue driving their average toward CBA expectations.
Other Teams Restructured As Well
The PWHL's expansion teams led the way in restructuring contracts in order to lure players West during the exclusive expansion signing window, but they weren't the only team reworking deals.
In Montreal, as previously reported by The Hockey News, veterans took pay cuts to their contracts in order to allow the Victoire to attract more talent. This process was led by captain Marie-Philip Poulin who took a pay cut. It is also rumoured that Laura Stacey and Ann-Renee Desbiens may also have taken reductions in pay to make Montreal's salary work.
The Victoire, unlike the Ottawa Charge, will have minimal wiggle room with their cap space over the next two seasons unless more expansion occurs.