PWHL Rumblings: Gilmore Retires, Gender Inclusion, Ottawa's Arena, and More

PWHL Rumblings: Gilmore Retires, Gender Inclusion, Ottawa's Arena, and More

PWHL free agency is only days away, and it's the main focus of teams. Draft picks will also wait until the June 21 opening of free agency to begin signing contracts. Until then, another player has called it a career, the future of Ottawa's TD Place Arena looks dismal, the PWHL missed the boat by not creating inclusion policies, players are signing in Europe, and much more. 

Here's what we're hearing and seeing from across the PWHL this week:

One year after winning a gold medal as a member of USA's national team at the World Championships, PWHL Ottawa forward Becca Gilmore is hanging up her skates. Gilmore earned an economics degree from Harvard University while playing her college hockey there and has a career in investments waiting for her. Gilmore was working at Silversmith Capital Partners before joining PWHL Ottawa this season and is headed back to the Boston area. Gilmore showed flashes of brilliance this season with Ottawa showcasing the skillset that saw her represent USA three times at the U-18 World Championships while playing for Noble & Greenough School. She scored 125 points in her 122 game career with Harvard. She made her pro debut in 2022-2023 playing for the PHF's Boston Pride. She scored a single goal for USA at the 2023 World Championships. This year Gilmore had three assists in 22 games for PWHL Ottawa.

As first reported by The Ice Garden's Mike Murphy, he first asked the PWHL about a Gender Inclusion Policy in September. He followed up in October where the league told him "there's no update to report at this time." He followed up again in November, and again in December. In December, Murphy wrote that the league told him "The policy is on track for the commencement of the season and will be published when ready."

On January 31, a month into the inaugural season the PWHL told The Ice Garden, "The PWHL is actively working on the development of an Inclusion Policy, through consultation and collaboration with various LGBTQI+ athletic advocacy groups and leaders."

With the inaugural season complete, no gender inclusion policy, nor any policy related to diversity, inclusion, equity, and justice for the PWHL exists in the public domain.

The number of undrafted players who have signed in Europe continues to grow. That list now includes Reece Hunt from the University of Minnesota-Duluth who signed in Lulea, Jessica Adolfsson who signed with HV71, Nadia Mattivi who signed with Lulea, and Ida Kuoppala who signed with Skelleftea AIK.

In other European signing news, we knew Michaela Pejzlova and Julia Liikala were leaving Finland's HIFK for Switzerland, but we hadn't heard where they were going, until now. The duo signed with HC Ambri-Piotta, continuing to strengthen the SWHL as an up and coming contender alongside the SDHL to be Europe's top league.

There were fans and onlookers surprised not to see Swedish standout Sara Hjalmarsson selected at the PWHL Draft. Hjalmarsson after all, was one of the top scorers in the SDHL last season finishing 7th with 18 goals and 41 points in 36 games playing for Linkoping. She added four points in four games with Sweden at the World Championships. Hjalmarsson declared for the draft, and was part of the league's initial eligibility list, but her name did not appear on the final eligibility list updated on the day of the draft. Hjalmarsson still had a season left on her contract with Linkoping, and it's believed this was the likely reason she was ineligible. 

Ottawa will tear down TD Place Arena in the not too distant future. The plan was in place before the PWHL came around. The new arena was planned to be 5,500 seats, which is likely too small for PWHL Ottawa, which would crush their fan base who average close to 2,000 fans more than that capacity this season, often topping 8,000 fans per game, with their largest home crowd of the season bringing in an over capacity crowd of 8,452.

The City of Ottawa's plan for the site calls TD Place Arena "functionally obsolete", but the new proposal would cut the future financial viability of the franchise and make it less valuable to PWHL ownership.

There is a public meeting Tuesday, June 18, from 6:30 to 8pm inside Gate 2 at TD Place Arena. It sounds like many PWHL Ottawa fans may be in attendance.

We still might see more signings before the July 21 free agency period opens, but according to teams, agents, and players, the conversations slowed following the draft. So far only PWHL Ottawa and PWHL New York have re-signed players this offseason. A few more bit pieces might sign prior to free agency, but the real spot to watch is Ottawa. They have two significant pieces to lock down, and although there isn't much money out there, but that doesn't mean they won't wait to find that out first hand. PWHL Draft picks won't be signing until June 21 either, but beginning that day, we should see a slew of action.