Players and fans with the Toronto Sceptres, and Canada's women's national program, deserve a clear separation of church and state. And one is needed for either program to move forward successfully as Ian Kennedy writes.
For the good of the Toronto Sceptres and their fan base, it's time the organization makes a clear separation between church and state. Or in this case, between the PWHL and Hockey Canada.
The lines have been blurred since the beginning, but Toronto's reliance on Hockey Canada resources, and the split efforts of their general manager and head coach for two meaningful roles, has not left time for Gina Kingsbury nor Troy Ryan to do both well. While Canada's players fought hard at the Olympics, they were put at a disadvantage from the very beginning from an extremely limited pool of players being considered, and then refusal to adapt. In many ways, the Sceptres are experiencing a similar issue. Neither program is receiving the full attention they deserve.
From the inaugural draft, where staff at the Toronto Sceptres draft table were seen using laptops with Hockey Canada insignia on them, questions were raised. There's also the access the Sceptres staff have to personal medical records, fitness testing, and scouting reports on Canadian players from the U-18 level to pro. Even unintentionally, this transfer of knowledge, specifically of confidential medical information, has been a point of contention among other teams, and players, in the league. It's also been a concern for players within Canada's national program, specifically this season after Canada hired a physiotherapist who was also in a relationship with Ryan. The concern was reported to Hockey Canadas independent third party, sources have confirmed.
Hockey Canada responded to The Hockey News' inquiries regarding reports made regarding the perceived conflict of interest and how it could impact athletes' willingness to report medical issues to staff.
“The safety and wellbeing of our athletes, coaches and staff is incredibly important for Hockey Canada and we take any allegations of potential conflicts of interest extremely seriously," a Hockey Canada representative said. "While we cannot comment on specific files because of employee privacy requirements, Hockey Canada has a Conflict of Interest Policy in place to support managing any potential conflicts that includes a thorough review process and the ability to request an additional independent third-party review to confirm that the policy is being managed appropriately for a specific situation.”
The lack of separation however, has not only been discussed from a medical standpoint. General managers across the PWHL voiced their concern about the situation after Kingsbury and Ryan seemingly used invites to Hockey Canada's national team camp for Daryl Watts and more specifically, Emma Woods, for what they perceived as a recruiting tactic to bring them to Toronto. When both were free agents following the league's inaugural season, both left money on the table to move to Toronto, and both soon after received their first invites to skate with Team Canada, which carries a financial benefit as well. Watts' selection was obvious and unquestioned, but Woods has remained predominantly on Toronto's fourth line since being acquired, and is not, nor has she been, in contention for a spot with Team Canada.
What was once seen as a strength, or even an unfair advantage by some, however, has turned into a detriment to the Toronto Sceptres this season. Other clubs across the league have adapted to find players better suited to the style of play in the league, and shifted their rosters without allegiances in mind, while Toronto has not.
At the 2024 PWHL Draft, general manager Gina Kingsbury even went so far as to explain to media that she did not have a formal scouting staff in place, which at the professional ranks seems like an unforgivable claim, and instead relied on the connections she's made through Hockey Canada, and opportunities to scout while working for Hockey Canada.
"I caught a lot of NCAA games, I caught obviously some games at the World Championships this past season, where I changed my hat a little, and took my Hockey Canada hat off and put my Toronto glasses on if you may and then looked at the game from a draft perspective," Kingsbury said at the time.
"I've done probably the majority of the lifting on the scouting side with just being in those rinks," Kingsbury said. "The good thing with my experience as a general manager of the national team, I have a lot of contacts in the NCAA, a lot of coaches that have been part of our program that I trust, that I know they've got a good eye for the game."
This year, Toronto made a major splash at the PWHL Draft acquiring Canadian national team defender Ella Shelton in exchange for the 3rd overall and 27th overall picks in the 2025 PWHL Draft. The New York Sirens used the first pick on Patty Kazmaier winner Casey O'Brien who was coming off a campaign at Wisconsin that saw the forward score 88 points in only 41 games to lead the NCAA in scoring by a mile. They used their second pick on Ohio State grade Maddi Wheeler.
At the midway point in the season, Shelton was on pace for career worst totals recording two goals and four points in 16 games. She has noticeably struggled alongside the rest of Toronto's blueline this season. Meanwhile, O'Brien and Wheeler have been key contributors in New York with O'Brien totalling 11 points in 16 games, while Wheeler has eight in 16 games.
In the now eight team PWHL, the Sceptres sit dead last with only 27 goals for, the equivalent of 1.68 per game. It brings the deal, where they gave up two offensive players in exchange for a defender, albeit a valuable one, into question.
Toronto made another draft day deal sending former national team goaltender to the Vancouver Goldeneyes as well. That relationship went sour in the offseason when Kingsbury and Ryan removed Campbell from Canada's national team pool, and preemptively offered a contract to Montreal Victoire backup Elaine Chuli to replace Campbell in a tandem with Raygan Kirk before finding a new home for Campbell.
Separating Kingsbury from Ryan is more difficult than it seems. It would be hard to leave one and keep the other in either role, and the more logical end is seeing both leave one job or the other. With the duo sharing housing in Toronto while with the Sceptres, their ties run deep making the separation of programs nearly impossible without both leaving one or both orgnization.
Ryan and Kingsbury are both capable in their roles, but which role is the focus and when? And are they capable of effectively compartmentalizing both roles?
By every definition, real and perceived conflicts of interest exist within the Toronto Sceptres organization and Hockey Canada's women's national team, and those conflicts are beginning to show in on-ice results, and off-ice perception from fans.
The fans of the Toronto Sceptres and Canada's women's national team, and the players involved in both, deserve the best possible chance for success. Until there is a clear separation of church and state, or in this case the PWHL and Hockey Canada, with separate staff for the Sceptres and Team Canada, neither will be able to achieve this goal, and both will suffer.