The Hockey News was openly provided the salary data through sources involved in the PWHL. The salary data was verified and validated through numerous league sources, as well as comparing the provided information to past salary disclosures made to The Hockey News on background from 2024 and 2025.

Today, in this final analysis, we are taking a look at draft picks.

Why?

Because there was a large difference in salaries paid to rookies coming to the PWHL through inaugural 2023 draft, compared to league's second draft in 2024.

The first ever PWHL draft, back in 2023, was a special one.

It was a mix of veterans who weren’t part of the 18 franchise players already signed by the six original teams, and rookies coming from the NCAA and Europe.

In the first 24 picks, 10 were actual rookies, while the rest had already played pro.

And since teams had only signed three players, and needed to sign, per the collective bargaining agreement (CBA), at least six players at a minimum of $80,000, many of those early picks received lucrative offers. The first eight rookies picked in 2023 were offered a three-year deal at $80,000 or more.

The highest paid of them all was first overall draft pick Taylor Heise, with a contract worth $264,272 for three years: $85,500 the first year, $88,065 the second one, and $90,707 the third and final year.

Boston’s Alina Muller, the third overall pick, is the other rookie to have signed for over $80,000 the first season, with a salary of $82,000.

Ashton Bell, Sophie Jaques, Emma Maltais, Grace Zumwinkle, Gabbie Hughes, and Maureen Murphy were the other rookies paid $80,000. Their salaries were already known-to-be $80,000 or more due to the announcements at the time and CBA.

While this was the case for draft picks in the league's first season, rookies following in the next class, the 2024 draft, would not be able to be paid as much.

Think about it.

Fourth-round draft pick Gabbie Hughes was paid, on average, more than $82,400. Toronto signed fifth-round pick Jesse Compher for $60,000. Seventh-round draft pick Natalie Bichbinder was paid close to $64,000 in Minnesota.

In comparison, the 2024 first overall draft pick, Sarah Fillier, was paid $50,000.

And that was thanks to a new regulation in the CBA imposing teams to pay first draft picks at least $50,000, second draft picks at least $42,500 and third-round draft picks at least $40,000, half of what third- and fourth-round picks made the year before.

In fact, the teams had to keep their average salary to $56,650 in 2024-25 and couldn’t afford to pay rookies what they were really worth.

That’s why Fillier only signed for one year, hoping that with expansion teams, she could leverage that into a better paycheck.

Fillier wasn’t the only one in that situation.

First round draft picks Julia Gosling, Hannah Bilka, and Claire Thompson were all paid $50,000. Cayla Barnes in Montreal got a little more with $54,000, while Danielle Serdachny was the highest paid rookie in 2024-25 with $63,500. Still $20,000 less than the highest paid rookie the year before.

With 2024 rookies making significantly less, it was not surprising to see many sign for raises with PWHL expansion teams. Barnes got a $16,000 raise in Seattle, while Thompson got a $32,000 raise in Vancouver.

Fillier ended up staying in New York.

Losing Alex Carpenter and her $97,850 salary for 2024-25 was the main reason why the team was able to keep Fillier. The Ontario-native signed a two-year deal worth $235,000: $125,000 this season, $110,000 next year, making her one of the highest paid players in the league.

Fillier co-led the league with 29 points in 30 games in her rookie season.

With many of the original three-year deals ending and more than 53% of all players becoming free agents at the end of the season, there’s hope that the most deserving rookies will earn better pay checks. It could allow some of the top draft picks like Caroline Harvey, Abbey Murphy, and Laila Edwards to be paid more.

***All salaries in US dollars