Salary transparency has revealed just how wide the gap can be between PWHL rookie contracts. Now, with Caroline Harvey headlining a loaded 2026 draft class, the league could be headed for a new era of rookie compensation.
Rookies have been paid vastly different salaries ever since the PWHL launched. From the league minimum of $35,000 to deals worth more than $90,000, entry-level contracts have varied dramatically over the league’s first three seasons.
But with an exceptionally strong draft class entering the league and many teams finally moving beyond the initial three-year contracts they handed out at league’s inception, will that trend continue?
It’s a fair question.
When the PWHLPA released its salary data for the 2025-26 season, one discrepancy stood out in New York.
On September 8, 2025, first overall pick Kristyna Kaltounkova signed a three-year contract that paid her $90,500 in her first season. More than two months later, third overall pick Casey O’Brien signed a one-year deal worth $51,000.
There were rumours at the time that O’Brien was seeking “Poulin money,” which we now know was approximately $120,000 per season. In the end, Kaltounkova landed a contract much closer to that mark.
New York GM Pascal Daoust never appeared concerned about getting a deal done with O'Brien. After all, he had gone through a similar negotiation a year earlier with Sarah Fillier.
A Different Reality Than The NHL
The PWHL differs significantly from the NHL in this regard.
Take Matthew Schaefer as an example. When he was drafted, he was considered an elite prospect, but he had never competed regularly against the best players in the world. He had dominated his age group, but that is very different from proving yourself against established professionals.
Fillier was a different case entirely.
While she wasn’t facing the world’s best players in NCAA competition, she had already done so at the Olympics and World Championships.
By the time New York selected her, Fillier had already won three World Championship gold medals, two silver medals, an Olympic gold medal and an Olympic silver medal. At just 22 years old, she had also been named MVP and Best Forward at the 2023 World Championship.
She hadn’t simply proven she could compete with the best players in the world — she had established herself as one of them.
The Salary Structure Problem
Therefore, as the first overall pick in the 2024 Draft, Fillier understandably believed she deserved to be paid among the elite players in women’s hockey.
However, the league’s financial structure made negotiations challenging.
When the original CBA was signed, little thought was given to how elite young players would fit into the salary structure. With six players on every team required to earn at least $80,000 annually during the league’s first three seasons, there wasn’t much room left to adequately compensate incoming stars.
To address the issue, the league and the PWHLPA introduced a rule requiring first-round draft picks to earn at least $50,000. Even then, that was well below what established stars and even second-line players were earning.
In the end, Fillier signed a one-year contract worth exactly $50,000—the same salary or less as teammates Brooke Hobson and Taylor Girard—before going on to win the league scoring title and being named PWHL Rookie of the Year.
She more than made up for it a year later, signing a two-year contract worth $235,000, including $125,000 in 2025-26, the second-highest salary in the league that season.
A Wide Range Of Rookie Salaries
With that in mind, there’s a strong possibility O’Brien will seek a significant raise this summer. Although her rookie season didn’t quite match Fillier’s, she led all rookies in scoring and is a finalist for Rookie of the Year.
With Kristin O’Neill’s $87,000 contract coming off the books and the Sirens no longer carrying the retained salary from the Abby Roque trade, New York suddenly has additional flexibility to reward O’Brien.
While she received a qualifying offer with the minimum three percent raise to allow the team to retain her rights and protect her during expansion, Daoust admitted on Thursday that he had not yet had time to negotiate a new contract with her camp.
“The most important part was to be clear, together, that we want to be building in New York and not just for the next few months,” mentioned Daoust. “It's all about a partnership because we believe in New York that we're building a program. That's why already a year ago we went on a lot of changes and drafting many players. So, adding a younger group of players, Casey is part of the group and to build now for many years. We want the players now to be looking to stay in New York to build in New York and to re-sign in New York." There was not really the time at the moment to sit and clarify this. So, we just went straight to a shortcut just to finalize the paperwork in time. And we're going to have plenty of time to discuss and make something work so that she is happy to be in New York, we're happy to have her and we can build to, to add great players to play with her.”
When you look at the other first-round picks from last season, the salary range was significant.
After Kaltounkova’s $90,500 contract, second overall pick Haley Winn—who is a finalist for both Rookie of the Year and Defender of the Year—earned $60,000. Kendall Cooper signed for $58,000, Michelle Karvinen for $52,000, while Nicole Gosling and Rory Guilday each signed for $50,000.
Seattle, however, faced fewer financial constraints. Unlike Vancouver, which chose to allocate at least $80,000 to seven players, Seattle had greater flexibility and paid first-round pick Jenna Buglioni $58,000. The investment did not pay immediate dividends, as she finished the season with no points in 18 games.
Coincidentally, second-round pick Anne Cherkowski, O’Brien’s teammate in New York, earned $51,000. It was $1,000 more than O’Brien despite finishing with 13 fewer points. Cherkowski was likely rewarded for signing long-term, although she's since been lost in expansion.
Of those first-round selections, only Kaltounkova, O’Brien and Winn were protected during the expansion process. As a result, players including Nicole Gosling (Hamilton), Rory Guilday (San Jose) and Kendall Cooper (Las Vegas) were signed in the initial Phase of expansion signing.
The Caroline Harvey Question
Which brings us to the biggest question of all:
How much is Caroline Harvey worth?
Already regarded by many as the best player in the world, Harvey enters this draft with a résumé that arguably surpasses those of both Fillier and O’Brien at the same stage of their careers.
The 23-year-old owns an Olympic gold medal and silver medal, two world championship gold medals and three silver medals, three NCAA national championships, three WCHA Defender of the Year awards, the 2026 Patty Kazmaier Award, two World Championship Best Defender honours, and was named both MVP and Best Defender at the 2026 Olympics.
She also led the 2023 World Championship in scoring as a defender.
Simply put, she has accomplished almost everything there is to accomplish before turning 24.
Of the seven players mentioned above who earn at least $80,000 per season, only Claire Thompson is set to become a free agent. That could prove significant, as Vancouver may need the financial flexibility to offer Harvey a six-figure contract.
That is why salary transparency matters. For the first time, everyone knows what the market looks like. And now the expectation isn’t whether Harvey will surpass the $90,500 Kaltounkova received as a rookie.
It’s by how much.
The same logic applies to college players such as Abbey Murphy, Laila Edwards, Tessa Janecke and Kirsten Simms, one of whom will likely be selected by the Sirens. All four are Olympic gold medallists, all could hear their names called among the first five selections, and all have the potential to make an immediate impact in the PWHL.
The days of elite prospects having to accept low entry-level salaries may be coming to an end.
The 2026 PWHL Draft could be the summer that changes the rookie salary market forever.