This week, The Hockey News is publishing a series of articles analyzing the PWHL's salary data. Yesterday, we examined the salaries of the first five players Vancouver and Seattle signed during the 2025 exclusive expansion signing window.

Today, it's a look at the top 10 highest paid goaltenders for the last full season, being 2024-25.

The top PWHL goaltender salaries in 2024-25 were led by Ann-Renée Desbiens ($94,972 / Montreal), followed by Emerance Maschmeyer ($87,750 / Ottawa), Nicole Hensley ($83,945 / Minnesota), Aerin Frankel ($82,400 / Boston), Kristen Campbell ($82,400 / Toronto), Corrine Schroeder ($52,000 / New York), Maddie Rooney ($51,500 / Minnesota), Emma Söderberg ($49,440 / Boston), and Gwyneth Philips ($40,000 / Ottawa) and Elaine Chuli ($40,000 / Montreal).

To see Ann-Renee Desbiens topping the list of highest paid goalies in the PWHL isn’t surprising at all. She was one of the first three players signed by Montreal ahead of year one, and she was named PWHL Goaltender of the Year last season in the PWHL. 

Ottawa was also one of the three teams to sign a goalie in their first three franchise players, hence Emerance Maschmeyer’s second place, a few thousands less than her Canadian national team counterpart. 

It’s important here to keep in mind that for the first five goalies on this list, this salary was the second year of a three-year deal signed when the league started.

Therefore, even with Kristen Campbell being voted best goaltender after the first season, her salary for 2024-25 was already decided. That said, she did get a $4,000 bonus for being voted top goaltender of the year.

In the offseason, Ann-Renee Desbiens was one of three Montreal Victoire veterans to accept a pay cut, reportedly to open more cap space for the team. When Emerance Maschmeyer signed in Vancouver, she took a small cut, agreeing to a $90,000 contract, when her contract in Ottawa would have paid her $90,382.50 based on the guaranteed 3% pay raise those who signed contracts in the inaugural window received.

While they took less, others from 2024-25 received raises. Corinne Schroeder received a raise to $60,000 in the first year of her new contract with Seattle, which jumps to $77,500 next season. Gwyneth Philips of Ottawa, got the biggest raise of any netminder in the PWHL this season. Philips was set to be paid $41,200 this season, but renegotiated and extended her contract so that she is now earning $91,200. That number however drops to $80,000 next season on the front ended deal.

Veteran Nicole Hensley is being paid $1,500 more than Aerin Frankel. Frankel was chosen as one of the three franchise players by Boston, and is a back-to-back PWHL Goaltender of the Year finalist. 

Also, at the World Championships prior to the inception of the league, Frankel was USA’s number one goalie. Hensley was her back-up, bringing gold for the United States. The year before, Hensley had been voted top goalie, but her team lost in the finals against Canada. She was the first goalie to be chosen in the inaugural 2023 PWHL draft, with Campbell second, and Schroeder third. Frankel, Maschmeyer, and Desbiens were signed in the exclusive window prior to the draft.

Another interesting stat is the drop between Campbell and Schroeder. The latter was the second-lowest-paid number one goalie in 2024-25 earning $52,000, which was approximately $30,000 or 37% less than both Frankel and Campbell. It’s also worth noting that half of the goalies on that list, including Schroeder and Maddie Rooney, didn’t make the league average salary of $56,650. 

The Minnesota Frost had the top paid duo in 2024-25 with a total of $135,445. 

This is not really surprising, since both of them were the team’s starter at different times. The number went up this season as Hensley got her prescribed 3% raise, while Rooney renegotiated a new contract and extension.

In 2024, Hensley played four more games than Rooney in the regular season, while both of them played five games in the playoffs, Hensley playing mostly in the finals, including the deciding game. In 2024-25, Rooney was the starter, both in regular season and in the playoffs. Therefore, the American was the lowest paid number one goalie that season, a few dollars less than Schroeder.

The Boston Fleet had the second-highest paid duo with Frankel and Soderberg, followed by Montreal, thanks to Desbiens’ contract. 

Finally, Gwyneth Philips was the first goalie selected in the 2024 draft, in the third round. She made $40,000, the minimum a team could pay a third-round draft pick. That season Philips ended being named Playoff MVP, playing her way into a large raise.

*All salaries are in US dollars