PWHL Minnesota selected divisive Wisconsin captain Britta Curl tenth overall in the 2024 PWHL Draft.

PWHL Minnesota selected divisive Wisconsin captain Britta Curl 10th overall in the second round of the PWHL Draft.

Coming out of the NCAA, 24-year-old Britta Curl has pretty much accomplished everything a player her age can. Curl has a U-18 World Championship gold, a World Championship gold and two silvers, and three NCAA national titles with Wisconsin.

“A well-rounded player who is hard to play against makes her ready for the PWHL from the drop of the puck," the PWHL hockey operations department said of the forward. "A powerful skater who can score the hard goals or capitalize with her strong shot and game sense that puts her in consistent positions to be an offensive threat.”

This season the Wisconsin captain recorded a career high 62 points in 41 games, and played her first full World Championship recording three assists in seven games for USA.

While Curl is respected for her on ice play, there are concerns related to her off-ice support for transphobic and anti-LGBTQ+ messaging online. A large portion of the PWHL's fan base and athletes are members of the LGBTQ+ community, and Curl's support for bigoted messaging including social media posts referring to initiatives supporting the transgender community as "perverted", and attacking inclusive language related to transgender individuals, meaning her actions could become a significant issue for the PWHL and whatever team selects Curl. In other circumstances, Curl liked online posts spreading conspiracy theories related to COVID-19, and posts questioning police brutality against Black people.

It's a difficult pathway for PWHL Minnesota to follow after the controversy the team has experienced this past week following the dismissal of general manager Natalie Darwitz.