PWHL Rumblings: New York's Coaching Search, Healey Calls It A Career, Team Names, & More

The PWHL has crowned their inaugural champion and has officially entered the league's first offseason. Here's a look at what we're hearing and seeing from around the league.

The PWHL season is over, with Minnesota being crowned the inaugural Walter Cup champions. Minnesota got to celebrate one final time with their fans, and event which officially marked the end of season one. It also officially marked the beginning of the first offseason. On June 1, the league's exclusive re-signing period opened where teams can attempt to re-sign players from their rosters who were on expiring one-year contracts. On June 10 the league will conduct the 2024 PWHL Draft, followed the next day by the league awards. Finally on June 21, PWHL free agency officially opens. 

It's a busy few weeks ahead, followed by a busy few months for the PWHL as they look to finalize many of the details they were unable to complete prior to the inaugural season. This includes team names and logos, but it also includes crucial business such as finding a better home venue for PWHL New York. Here's a look at what we're seeing and hearing from across the league.

PWHL Minnesota brought their fans into the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul for a championship celebration. Throughout the arena chants of "MVP" for Taylor Heise echoed, players signed autographs, and addressed the crowd. Minnesota had hoped to celebrate on the ice during game four surrounded by fans by needed game five in Lowell to earn the victory. After welcoming more than 13,000 fans to game four, and seeing the fans that made the trip to the Xcel Energy Center to celebrate Minnesota's inaugural Walter Cup championship, it's clear the fan base in Minnesota is strong and getting stronger.

We're seeing names fall off PWHL New York's coaching list, but no clear front runner. One thing has become clear, this will not be an assistant coach promoted from the NCAA or a pro position, unless they come with significant head coaching experience. That rules out a large number of candidates, but shows clearly where Daoust's mindset is. Last season there were visible power struggles between Howie Draper and Colton Orr on the bench. This year Daoust presumably wants only one captain for this ship. 

First announced at the ESPN W Summit, Amy Scheer the PWHL's senior vice president of business operations for the PWHL stated that team names and logos would come in August. It's a point she re-iterated during the PWHL finals during an intermission guys. No new names have been appeared in international trademark databases since the league's initial names - Ottawa Alert, Toronto Torch, Boston Wicked, Minnesota Superior, New York Sound, and Montreal Echo were released. The initial names were met with mass backlash as the names were not well received. In retrospect, the name New York Sound is also interesting, particularly if the league decides to pull out of Connecticut and Long Island, considering most believed the name was created to connect the two locations which are linked via the Long Island Sound. If the team were to settle in New Jersey, the name would have no connection to the market.

As reported by the Boston Globe's Matt Porter, PWHL Boston's Jess Healey will be calling it a career. Healey played 22 games this season with Boston recording three points. Healey scored one of Boston's biggest goals of the year in a 4-3 game one win in the PWHL finals, scoring the game winner. Healey graduated from the University of Minnesota-Duluth before spending the first three seasons of her pro career with HV71 playing in Sweden. Last season the 27-year-old played with the PHF's Buffalo Beauts. The Edmonton product won gold as a member of Canada's U-18 national team in 2014. According to Porter's report, Healey is returning to Edmonton to take on a coaching position. She's not the only player in this situation, as Toronto's Brittany Howard announced earlier this year she's taken a position with the Pittsburgh Pens Elite program.

Some might believe both of these players are first round locks, but that's not likely the case. There is some belief that Claire Thompson could upset the top four grouping of Sarah Fillier, Cayla Barnes, Hannah Bilka and Danielle Serdachny that have seemed like a lock most of the year. There's talk she could go as high as second, but it's a safer bet to see Thompson go 5th or 6th to either Montreal or Toronto. Thompson was Erin Ambrose of Montreal's partner at the 2023 World Championships, and of course Troy Ryan and Gina Kingsbury know her well from Canada. Amanda Kessel seems like a second round bet for New York, Boston, or Minnesota. The concern surrounding Kessel is her concussion history, age and time away from the game. There's no denying she's one of the world's elite offensive players, but for how long. We saw this season that not every international player will translate their game as to pro. 

Everything was rushed in year one. That included general managers being able to prepare for the first PWHL Draft. This year, teams have been scouting and doing research on players for months. From learning about past injuries, to watching game tape, scouting games in person, it's all the normal things that teams wish they'd had time for last season. This also includes doing their diligence on specific concerns about players related to off ice concerns. Teams have been making their calls to college coaches, past and present teammates, agents, and interviewing players themselves. It's the first draft we'll be able to grade the success of each individual team. At the same time, the league remains involved over all teams as the PWHL is operating under single entity ownership. So a mistake at the team level, also represents a mistake at the league level. The general managers and their staffs however, are working the phones each day right now gathering every bit of information they can in order to select players who will make an impact on and off the ice.