PWHL Rumblings: Draft Date, Eligibility, Award Event, Coca-Cola Coliseum and More

It's another edition of PWHL Rumblings where The Hockey News' Ian Kennedy looks at the latest news and rumors from across the league, including the PWHL Draft, Award Event, venues, and much more.

The first ever Walter Cup will soon be awarded, marking the end to the on-ice portion of the PWHL's inaugural season. But it's set to be a busy few weeks for the PWHL with the draft, awards, and free agency coming.

It took until only weeks ahead of the draft for the PHWL to inform prospects of the date of the draft, although they've yet to confirm a specific location other than "St. Paul, Minnesota." The draft itself will take place in the afternoon/evening of June 10 in St. Paul, a point the league has not stated publicly yet. Nor has the league released an official list of eligible players, although a list has been circulated internally among general managers and scouts. One item the PWHL did clarify with players, is that if they're ineligible to play int he 2024-2025 season, they're also ineligible to be selected. This will restrict teams from selecting a player like Lina Ljungblom. It's also yet to be seen if teams will retain the rights to drafted players who do not making their opening night roster. Last year it went on a case by case basis where a player like Audrey-Anne Veillette was made a free agent when she wasn't named to PWHL Ottawa's roster due to her injury, while other players like Tatum Skaggs, Minttu Tuominen, and Ljungblom had their rights retained for a two-year period by the teams who selected them. The deciding factor last year was who attended camp (although even that wasn't uniform). This season knowing late round picks may not crack a roster, it will be interesting to see if PWHL teams have the option to "assign" a player to their European club for the season.

League staff are hurriedly preparing for the 2024 PWHL Draft, but behind closed doors, they're also preparing for an award event to be held in Minnesota in conjunction with the draft. The league has been announcing finalists for various awards from best goaltender to rookie of the year, and had previously stated those awards would be handed out sometime in June. That sometime looks like it will be either the night before, or the night after the PWHL Draft in Minnesota. It's unclear if that event will be open to the public, media, or even have all the players nominated present for a formal gala style event, or if it will be a smaller streamed event. That said, the league is certainly working rapidly to put something together.

When PWHL Toronto averaged more than 8,500 fans per night for their three home playoff games, in an arena whose website advertises capacity as 8,140 for hockey it looked like PWHL Toronto would be moving in alongside the AHL's Toronto Marlies in the near future. It will be interesting to see how this week's announcement that the WNBA's new Toronto franchise would be playing out of the Coca-Cola Coliseum come 2026 will impact that. Only the AHL and PWHL playoffs have a chance of overlapping with the WNBA schedule, but it's unlikely a WNBA franchise in Toronto would be interested in perennially starting their season on the road to ensure playoffs for the other two leagues can play in Toronto. There are certainly seven nights a week that can be used, but adding another major professional team to the building will make scheduling more difficult if PWHL Toronto does move to the facility.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledge the PWHL's impact in Canada in his comments to welcome a WNBA franchise to Canada. He said, "Toronto, along with Ottawa and Montreal, wholeheartedly embraced their new hockey teams ... Sitting in that sold out crowd, watching the PWHL with my kids, my daughter especially, made me so proud to be Canadian." But owner Larry Tanenbaum seemingly dissed on the PWHL, claiming women's professional sport was an item missing from Toronto's sports landscape. “Our Toronto sports franchises are thriving but, we have been missing one critical piece — women’s professional sports," he said. Don't tell the three sold out crowds at Coca-Cola Coliseum, the future home of Toronto's WNBA franchise, to see PWHL Toronto during the playoffs that, or the 19,285 crowd that sold out Toronto's Scotiabank Arena in minutes to see PWHL Toronto host PWHL Montreal. Tanenbaum must have missed those moments.

There was anticipation that general managers would already be renegotiating contracts for returning players coming off one year deals. That process has been held up by the continued discussions between the PWHL and PWHLPA related to minimum salaries for highly drafted players. Based on the CBA, there's no way incoming stars like Sarah Fillier, Hannah Bilka, Cayla Barnes, Amanda Kessel, or Claire Thompson will make a anywhere near pro rookies like Gabbies Hughes, Ashton Bell, Maureen Murphy, Sophie Jaques, Grace Zumwinkle, and others. In fact, without a mandated minimum salary, these players will make less than half what last year's highly drafted players made, no matter how skilled they are. The problem the PWHLPA created however, is that if they negotiate a minimum salary of even as much as $40-45,000 for first and second round picks, they'll have depleted almost all the remaining money veterans could ask for seeking raises or new deals from other teams. Any minimum salary for draft picks will almost guarantee a rise of players making the league minimum. Last year there was a restriction that only nine players per team could make the league minimum of $35,000. That restriction is gone this year, and there is now no limit as to how many players can make the new league minimum of $36,050. Until this point is finalized however, the league has not opened a window for contract negotiations for potentially returning players. The reason? Until this decision is made, general managers and the league will have no idea how much, if any, money will be available for players coming off of one-year deals.