The fact, the PWHL waits until two weeks before their regular season starts in November to begin signing and selecting the final players that fill out rosters is an issue that is currently negatively impacting the growth of women’s hockey and the overall global player pool.
In the NHL, development camp rosters are announced within days of the NHL entry draft being completed. Those development camps include newly drafted players, young prospects, and free agent invites.
In women’s hockey, however, while general managers complete their camp invites, teams and players must wait four months before they can actually see the players they’ve selected, and the players they’ve invited as free agent invites to their camps compete against one another.
By holding development camps immediately following the PWHL‘s draft, teams would be able to make more offers to players that they’ve invited to camps and secure a larger portion of the roster while allowing other players to explore options with with alternative teams in the PWHL, or to examine what opportunities are available in European leagues to continue their development.
Forcing players hoping to secure a depth role in the PWHL to wait until November, it puts their careers in jeopardy as European roster spots are already gone when those cuts begin to happen.
It leaves too many players without places to go for the upcoming season and ends the careers of others. Similarly, without a development league for the PWHL hosting a development camp would give an early opportunity for players from other nations or from the NCAA to identify their weaknesses and utilize the summer to gain skills and strength to help bridge those gaps. Team staff could also help set more specialized plans for their young players to help prepare them for the jump to the PWHL.
While the on-ice importance of a development camp for the PWHL is obvious, primarily in allowing teams to better plan for their roster, and players to have an additional opportunity to earn a roster spot in the league from more than one team as they could conceivably attend development camp for one team and training camp for another, these camps are also important off the ice.
Development camps are often attended by fans and media to get a first glimpse of incoming players to the league. In the NHL, it's important because it might be years before those prospects make it to the league. In the PWHL, it's an opportunity to shorten the league's abnormally long offseason, allow fans to interact with new players for the first time, and for media to continue storytelling and analysis of players and rosters.
With no development league, a week long development camp immediately following the PWHL Draft is a logical, and already overdue step for the league in order to more effectively build rosters, grow media and fan support, and give all players, drafted and undrafted, the best chance possible to earn a roster spot in the PWHL, or secure one overseas to continue their development.