PWHL Mailbag: Trade Deadline, Expansion, Salaries, Reviews And Much More

There's a lot going on in the PWHL these days. The trade deadline and roster freeze is only a week away, expansion announcements are expected in the next month, and the playoff race is in full swing.

Here's what PWHL readers and fans were asking in this mailbag edition.

General managers across the league are kicking tires on players, but the biggest source of that right now remains looking at free agents from outside the league. Gabrielle David signed with Seattle after her season in SDE, Sam Cogan is joining the Minnesota Frost also coming from SDE, while Nadia Mattivi is heading to Montreal from Lulea. There are plenty of other worthy candidates to fill reserve spots or depth roster roles. 

There are a lot of factors that make trades difficult, but one that has changed this stretch leading up to the roster freeze is the number of injuries players are incurring. Montreal was looking for a defender, but with Maureen Murphy out and Marie-Philip Poulin banged up, do they have the forward depth to make a move? 

Right now teams are in a holding pattern until as close to the deadline as possible to get better reads on their rosters. Teams still want to make moves, but with more expansion, no picks to move, and injuries mounting, there's not a lot of tangible action...yet.

For the first time in league history, the team average that guides the PWHL's salary cap will climb above $60,000 to $60,099.98. That's due to the 3% annual raise built into the collective agreement. That said, salaries are continuing to be renegotiated and restructured around the league.

What this season will really do however, is force the 36 players who signed those foundational deals to renegotiate deals based on their on-ice performance, not their name recognition.

Some have already re-negotiated for raises, like Ottawa's Gwyneth Philips who was only making $40,000 in her first season when she won the PWHL's playoff MVP award. Had she entered the PWHL a year earlier when the league was founded, she'd have made double that. But she got a lot of it back in a significant raise by Ottawa ahead of year two. 

Others however, are going to have to accept significant pay cuts. Abby Roque is an example. She remains a top six talent on just about any team in the league, but right now she's being paid like a top five player in the league. This season Roque made more than Marie-Philip Poulin, Hilary Knight, Kendall Coyne Schofield, Megan Keller, Aerin Frankel, Taylor Heise, and the list could go on and on. Her close to $117,000 per season deal will not be renewed at that level by any team in the league. There are plenty of players in that same boat. But there are even more waiting for a raise. 

Others like Emily Clark, who it's been well reported that she's the highest paid player in the league, will see their numbers change significantly. After Clark's record setting salary this year, the number drops by more than $40,000 next season on a front ended deal. So what some think might be a team's financial situation this season, is going to drastically change next season even within teams with guaranteed deals.

We've also learned through acquiring PWHL salaries, that some players have deals quietly changed, receiving raises, without it ever being announced. It's likely a way to keep teams balanced at the cap average, but it's also confusing. 

Probably the best way to put what we'll see in 2026-27 is a redistribution of salaries.

Great question. In the PWHL, you can't separate teams and the league so this is an extremely intricate question. I don't think there will be a date in the foreseeable future where we know if one team over another is more profitable, or loses more.

This season the team salary average equals roughly $1,342,038. It's tiny in the world of professional sports. The WNBA's new super max contract will be $1,400,000 for a single player, while in the NHL there are currently 469 players earning $1,350,000 per season or more. When you couple in how few staff PWHL teams have in comparison to NHL teams, how poorly the players are treated in terms of travel and accommodation compared to other pro athletes, and the lack of other financial remuneration compared to other pro leagues, the PWHL's operating costs are certainly less than a league like the NHL. Again, it's better than it's ever been, but there's always going to be room for improvement, and the drive for equity.

If we were breaking this down by teams, it would be pretty easy to imagine there are a handful of PWHL teams who are already turning a profit. In an arena like Seattle's Climate Pledge Arena, the Torrent likely covered their entire season salary expenses on the night they sold out the venue. That's a fantastic start, although there are plenty of other operating costs that climb into the millions per team.

The best answer to this is that whenever the PWHL lands a multi-year national broadcasting deal in the USA, this league will be on a clear path to widespread profitability that isn't reliant on ticket sales. But the players will know this as well, and the push for better compensation, better supports, better benefits, and more player rights will then take over, and the league may well face a few more seasons of growth to balance the books again.

Confusing, right? We've asked the league in the past for broadcasting numbers, and I've heard this question asked multiple times in press conferences. Typically it's met with a simple response that no, they won't be divulging those numbers. Most media have been frustrated by the lack of response. It's a number shared in every other league, and with every other broadcasted event or show. At some point the PWHL will need to share these numbers. They have repeatedly touted that their new trial with ION for national broadcasting will reach 126 million households in the United States, so it only seems logical they'll share how many tuned in. The PWHL has been their own worst enemy on many, many occurrences for lack of or unwillingness to communicate on things that matter to fans. At some point concealing information that's available to fans of other leagues begins to deteriorate trust, in my opinion.

The good news is, networks want to broadcast this league right now. And the broadcast opportunities are growing. I'm sure when the league achieves a mark of viewership that the want the world to know about, they'll publicize the number. They did share many stats about social media engagement and YouTube viewership, which can be openly sourced anyway, but those broadcast numbers would certainly be nice.

Still realistic, and still believed to be the target, but it's certainly no guarantee. Players want more teams, but they don't want to go through the experience of expansion over and over year after year. Some players may be forced to move 3-4 times in 3-4 years in this system, and when some of those players are making $40,000, it's hard to justify the cost to families, future career opportunities, and your own mental wellness. For many reasons, including these, the league and players want expansion done as quickly as possible so the league can settle in for a few years and focus on growth and improvement internally.

That said, the player pool coming in this season won't sustain the on-ice product fully. There are maybe nine top six forwards in this draft if you put them into the league today. That's less than one line on four new teams. There will be a clear dip in on ice calibre for likely two seasons until the next two drafts can refill the cup. It could increase scoring for stars however, as they'll be able to expose some of the weaker incoming players, so it doesn't mean what fans are experiencing will be "better" or "worse," it just means there could be some statistical abnormalities. There are other issues, however. Fans are already upset over officiating. With expansion the league needs more new officials on ice, and more off ice officials to oversee reviews, along with more staff for those teams, and bigger schedules, and much much more. It's a lot to consider. Can they do it all? I believe the PWHL can. The league has proven resourceful. Will it come without hiccups? I doubt it.

If it were me, I'd want to get through expansion in one season and settle. But the league is going to base that decision off of the number of markets who are ready and capable of successfully housing a team, nothing more, nothing less. If they think there are four markets who can put fans in the stands and treat players well, there will be four teams. If they can't finalize those four markets this year, they'll do two and wait. 

The best want to play with and against the best. Those programs recruit well, provide supports, give athletes top competition in practice and in a strong WCHA, and develop pro ready players. It might be time for the NCAA to look at bringing together a midseason event with top teams, or allow some conference realignment. Penn State for example, needs to jump to a better conference like their men's hockey team has with the Big Ten. The good news is, some programs are making inroads in the recruiting race, and in targeting more players from Europe. NIL is certainly going to play a factor moving forward as some athletes will be able to earn significant sponsorship and endorsement deals, and programs can help facilitate these opportunities.

The bigger question is, why aren't more schools putting an emphasis on women's hockey, investing in their athletes, and helping their own programs? Why do major hockey schools like Michigan and Michigan State refuse to run women's teams? Why did North Dakota drop their program? People like to fault the big programs for writing the script, but the onus is on the conferences and programs who like to say they have women's hockey, but give them scraps compared to men's teams. 

Most valuable? Aerin Frankel. Closely behind her, Megan Keller. If healthy, Poulin is still the best player in the PWHL overall. Daryl Watts is pretty electric. This league doesn't have a singular player who is miles ahead like some leagues, but the star power is well spread.

I'm not sure if they'll add rounds, but more players will be selected. Keeping it a six round draft seems logical. I'm not sure teams or players want more rounds because after a certain point, giving those depth round players more choice to pick a team and situation is better for them, and better for the teams. No one wants to be the 9th round pick of a team if they're picking just because they have to. In particular, a team might have 8 defenders or 14 forwards and pick another, and that's not good for anyone. 

Players are wildly underpaid as professionals in the PWHL. The conditions they have are the most professional women's hockey players have ever had, which is monumental, but as you're alluding to, there is a need for much more and still significant gaps.

One place I want to push back a bit on this however, is that player safety is in fact a major portion of this topic. Illegal hits and dangerous play will greatly limit the ability of players to make a living, and to live healthy lives beyond hockey. When you are inhibited in how much you can make, longevity is important. When you can't make enough from this league to retire, your health is crucial.

I understand the calls for consistency from PWHL fans, and truly, from my vantage, it's refreshing to see fans care about more than just the score in this league. Fans are as interested in the wellness and humanity of the athletes, as they are hockey's flawed traditions. But it all impacts the fan experience as you've mentioned, and you're 100% correct, but I think it's all interwoven into one bigger picture topic of continuing to push for improvement on all levels of league operation.

We reported on this prior to the season, but the PWHL fired their entire Central Situation Room staff in the days leading up to puck drop after they asked for better compensation since they'd be working more games with more responsibility. 

It's likely why we saw such lengthy and confusing challenges early in the season, coupled of course with the removal of the coach's challenge. 

What we also learned while investigating the firing of their Central Situation Room staff, was that the PWHL was not, at least when we reported on it originally, paying networks for all available camera views. The NHL has 14 available, the PWHL only had 8. It meant at times, according to sources who were in those situations with the PWHL, that league staff were often waiting and hoping the broadcast would show the angles they didn't have access to in making those crucial decisions. For example, the PWHL was not paying for an overhead view of the net, at least originally.

That said, I do think the goal in question, Anna Bargman's tip, is not one the league will be concerned on moving forward, although it certainly doesn't change things today. The WCHA this year is piloting a rule change allowing players to high stick pucks, including to score. We'll see. Either way, the frustration of wrong calls is certainly something the league will look to deal with this offseason, perhaps reconsidering their change for a coach's challenge, hopefully looking at the absence of offsides being reviewable, and maybe looking at rule changes like high sticking the puck.