With no development league in place and roster spots to become harder and harder to earn, could an affiliation system or partnership with European clubs benefit the PWHL and the global development of women's hockey?
When this year's NCAA and USports cohort graduates, the real roster pinch will be felt. There's a real potential teams could replace 4-5 players immediately, if not more, meaning there will be a gap in available roster spots.
As this compounds each year, the discussion of a development league will become magnified.
In the meantime, could PWHL teams look overseas to form affiliations? While the NHL has the AHL and ECHL, no such system exists in women's hockey. Some leagues in the world however, have formed partnerships with European clubs, both formally and informally.
Perhaps the best example of this system exists in soccer, where teams from across the globe have partnered to form webs of affiliations. For example, in Major League Soccer, the Colorado Rapids partnered with the Premier League's Arsenal FC. The team's have played international friendlies, transferred players, and conducted joint training.
In hockey, players are heading from North America to Europe regularly. In the future, agreements could be put in place between teams to allow PWHL drafted players to play overseas for a development fee. It could also become a place for reserve players to spend stints, or play a full season in the case of a player like Lauren Bench, who is Minnesota's fourth goalie and is highly unlikely to see any game this year.
It's a style of relationship PWHL owner Mark Walter is certainly aware of as he's also a part owner of the Premier League's Chelsea FC, who formed a partnership with MLS' LA Galaxy years ago.
Similar partnerships exist for several MLS teams, and second tier professional soccer teams in North America with higher level European clubs.
There are European leagues constantly looking for talent, and if the placement of a PWHL drafted or signed player comes with a stipend for those clubs, it will benefit both teams, and the global development of the sport.
The SDHL is the best league outside of North America, but Switzerland's SWHL-A is looking to take the next step, and other leagues like the EWHL could certainly benefit from an influx of talent.
This season there are multiple players whose rights are owned by a PWHL team playing overseas. Lina Ljungblom remains under contract with MoDo in the SDHL until the end of her season, and MoDo has sunk significant resources into the development of Ljungblom. When Ljungblom travels to North America next year hoping to earn a roster spot with Montreal, certainly MoDo would benefit from Montreal being able to send another talented player to Europe for the season, and Montreal would benefit from keeping a player active and "in their system."
Eventually, a feeder system like the AHL and ECHL would be ideal, but the PWHL will certainly approach expansion as the first avenue to increase opportunities before they look into a league sponsored development loop.
Even after expansion, the long term need will continue to increase, and a European relationship may be the most logical and cost effective method for the PWHL, and it's also a plan that will send more talent to Europe helping to develop the players from other nations, and mitigate the loss of their top players who will be heading to North America.
The PWHL has already done things that step outside hockey's limited scope of how things "should" be done, and this could be another opportunity to help develop the game globally, and support top teams and players on both sides of the Atlantic.