You can learn a lot from numbers. Here's some of the numbers that stood out in the PWHL Draft.
You can learn a lot from numbers. Here's some of the numbers that stood out in the PWHL Draft.
Numbers don't lie, and they can teach us a lot. Here's a look at some of the new numbers from the 2023 PWHL Draft.
10: Much like the recent World Championships, Canada, USA, and Czechia led the way in players selected. Other nations seeing players drafted included Sweden, France, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Finland and China bringing the total to 10 nations represented in the PWHL Draft.
33: Dominika Laskova and Loren Gabel were the first PHF players picked in round four. The league saw 33 members who played in the league last season signed, and over a dozen more who had signed to play in the PHF next season before the league was acquired. It's expected the bulk of the final free agent positions will be composed of PHF alumni.
27: There were 18 PWHPA players signed in free agency, and another 27 heard their names called at the PWHL Draft. The first was second overall pick Jocelyne Larocque, and the last was Alexa Vasko who was chosen by Toronto 83rd overall.
One: USports player drafted. Audrey-Anne Veillette was the lone USports player selected in the draft. She played for the University of Montreal last season and was selected 89th overall by Ottawa. The All-Canadian was slated to play for the Montreal Force this year.
26: NCAA players taken first overall was Minnesota's Taylor Heise, and third overall was Northeastern's Alina Muller. The future of the PWHL was set in the draft as nearly a third of the players selected were NCAA graduates.
36: That's the age the league's oldest player will be when the puck drops in January 2024. That player? Montreal's Ann-Sophie Bettez.
Seven: Of the first ten selections in the PWHL Draft, seven were defenders. It was undeniably the shallowest portion of the player pool, so teams selected top defenders early and often to shore up their bluelines.
21: The youngest player selected in the PWHL Draft was 21-year-old Lina Ljungblom. Ljungblom is signed with MoDo this season, making it unclear if she'll come to Montreal immediately, or spend another season in the SDHL. Either way, she's the youngest player whose rights are owned by a PWHL team.
11: You'd need to travel back in time 11 years to find a Patty Kazmaier Award winner as the NCAA's top player not either signed in free agency or selected in the PWHL Draft. The 2023 winner Sophie Jaques was a second round pick, 10th overall to Boston. The 2014 winner was Jamie Lee Rattray. The winner 11 years prior to Jaques was Amanda Kessel, who chose to take a hiatus from the game this season.