The PWHL will certainly increase the number of women joining the Hockey Hall of Fame in the coming years, and Natalie Spooner is a likely candidate to have her legacy secured through the league.
There are only four goal scorers ahead of Natalie Spooner in Canada's all-time World Championship goal scoring chart. Three - Hayley Wickenheiser, Jayna Hefford, and Danielle Goyette - are already in the Hockey Hall of Fame. The other, Marie-Philip Poulin will join the Hall the first day she is eligible.
Like many Hall of Fames, Hockey's shrine often ignores the history of oppression and inequity that women and athletes of colour faced in their careers. For women's hockey players, it's an incredibly small sample size based almost exclusively on the World Championships, and Olympic Games every four years.
There are Canadian women like Cassie Campbell-Pascall, Jennifer Botterill, Meghan Agosta, and Gillian Apps who could all find themselves in the Hall of Fame had a professional hockey league that met the criterion of men in power positions existed.
For Natalie Spooner, she might be one of the players whose final seasons in the PWHL could push her over the top and into the Hall of Fame.
Spooner's career has been speckled by the typical stops and starts of women's hockey over the past two decades. She spent four dominant seasons at Ohio State University, but then over the following 11 seasons only played five full campaigns in a league, all with the CWHL's Toronto Furies. The rest of her time in that period involved Team Canada competitions, and eventually three seasons with the PWHPA.
With Canada, Spooner has two Olympic and two World Championship gold medals, along with seven silver medals and a bronze. She was twice named a World Championship tournament All-Star, and between the U-18 World Championships, World Championships, and Olympics, Spooner has totalled 35 goals and 83 points in 73 games.
Her totals place her among Canada's all-time leaders in goals and points, but many talented players sit there. The difference maker for Spooner, could be what she is doing this season in the PWHL, and what she will do over the next 3-4 seasons.
This year, playing in a best on best situation, Spooner appears heads above the competition as a goal scorer and power forward. Few in the league can take over a game like Spooner has through her first 11 games, a span in which she's scored 10 goals.
If Spooner can maintain her pace as one of the top goal scorers in the league this season, and produce again next year, the larger sample size as one of the best all-time will be secure.
As players retire from the PWHL in the future, which stars like Spooner, Hilary Knight, Gigi Marvin, and Ann-Sophie Bettez will likely lead the way with, the number of women entering the Hockey Hall of Fame is certain to rise, and if Natalie Spooner has anything to say about it, she'll join the hallowed Hall.