Re-Drafting The Inaugural 2023 PWHL Draft

With one season in the books, here's a look at what the 2023 PWHL Draft could have looked like if it were re-drafted today.

With the inaugural PWHL season wrapping up, it's time to look back at the 2023 PWHL Draft. It was a draft unlike others in that teams were selecting both amateurs and professionals. While best available played a part, teams also needed to fill out positional needs for a 23 player roster from scratch. 

Each team entered with three signed players, and for the purposes of this re-draft, we'll keep those three players the same for each team and only draft players who entered the draft. We'll also ignore the concept of compassionate waivers, which was the only reason Natalie Spooner became a guaranteed fourth round pick for Toronto, when based on her play, she obviously should have gone higher.

Several players dropped out of the draft completely, while others rose significantly from their previous spot, and other undrafted players heard their names called. In total, we replaced 15 drafted players with 15 undrafted players.

Listed in brackets beside each players is the round-pick and team each player was selected in last year. In the long run, many of the picks from last season may work their way back into a closer position to where they were selected like Minnesota's Taylor Heise. This re-draft also doesn't weight in the fact that many teams immediately started drafting for positional needs. 

Here's a look at how it could, and perhaps should, have all played out.

1-1. (4-23, Toronto) Natalie Spooner (F) 

1-2. (1-3, Boston) Alina Müller (F) 

1-3. (1-1, Minnesota) Taylor Heise (F) 

1-4. (1-6, Montreal) Erin Ambrose (D) 

1-5. (1-2, Toronto) Jocelyne Larocque (D) 

1-6. (1-4, New York) Ella Shelton (D) 

2-7. (1-5, Ottawa) Savannah Harmon (D) 

2-8. (2-11, Toronto) Emma Maltais (F) 

2-9. (3-13, Minnesota) Grace Zumwinkle (F) 

2-10. (5-25, Minnesota) Susanna Tapani (F) 

2-11. (2-8, Ottawa) Ashton Bell (D) 

2-12. (2-7, Montreal) Kristin O’Neill (F)

3-13. (3-14, Toronto) Kristen Campbell (G) 

3-14. (2-9, New York) Jamie Bourbonnais (D) 

3-15. (6-32, Ottawa) Daryl Watts (F) 

3-16. (8-44, Ottawa) Kateřina Mrázová (F) 

3-17. (3-15, Boston) Jamie-Lee Rattray (F) 

3-18. (2-12, Minnesota) Nicole Hensley (G) 

4-19. (3-18, New York) Jessie Eldridge (F) 

4-20. (3-18, Montreal) Maureen Murphy (F) 

4-21. (5-30, Montreal) Kati Tabin (D) 

4-22. (6-35, Toronto) Kali Flanagan (D) 

4-23. (2-10, Boston) Sophie Jaques (D) 

4-24. (4-19, Montreal) Dominika Lásková (D) 

5-25. (4-20, Ottawa) Gabrielle Hughes (F) 

5-26. (5-29, Ottawa) Hayley Scamurra (F) 

5-27. (6-33, New York) Corinne Schroeder (G) 

5-28. (13-74, Toronto) Hannah Miller (F) 

5-29. (Undrafted) Maddie Rooney (G)

5-30. (4-22, Boston) Loren Gabel (F) 

6-31. (7-41, Ottawa) Aneta Tejralová (D) 

6-32. (3-17, Ottawa) Jincy Dunne-Roese (D) 

6-33. (4-21, New York) Chloé Aurard (F) 

6-34. (5-27, Boston) Hannah Brandt (F) 

6-35. (6-34, Boston) Jessica DiGirolamo (D) 

6-36. (7-37, Minnesota) Natalie Buchbinder (D) 

7-37. (7-39, Boston) Theresa Schafzahl (F) 

7-38. (Undrafted) Kaleigh Fratkin (D)

7-39. (8-45, New York) Brooke Hobson (D) 

7-40. (7-42, Montreal) Tereza Vanišová (F) 

7-41. (Undrafted) Mariah Keopple (D)

7-42 (5-26, Toronto) Jesse Compher (F)

8-43. (4-24, Minnesota) Maggie Flaherty (D) 

8-44. (13-77, Ottawa) Amanda Boulier (D) 

8-45. (8-46, Boston) Emily Brown (D) 

8-46. (8-48, Minnesota) Denisa Křižová (F) 

8-47 (9-52, New York) Jade Downie-Landry (F) 

8-48. (11-62, Toronto) Maggie Connors (F) 

9-49. (11-65, Ottawa) Lexie Adzija (F) 

9-50. (9-50, Toronto) Allie Munroe (D)

9-51.  (9-51, Boston) Taylor Girard (F) 

9-52. (11-63, Boston) Sophie Shirley (F) 

9-53. (7-38, Toronto) Victoria Bach (F) 

9-54. (9-49, Minnesota) Sidney Morin (D)  

10-55. (5-28, New York) Élizabeth Giguère (F)

10-56. (6-31, Montreal) Kennedy Marchment (F) 

10-57. (Undrafted) Mikyla Grant-Mentis (F)

10-58. (8-47, Toronto) Brittany Howard (F) 

10-59. (14-81, New York) Emma Woods (F) 

10-60. (10-60, Minnesota) Sophia Kunin (F) 

11-61. (12-72, Minnesota) Michela Cava (F) 

11-62. (15-90, Montreal) Lina Ljungblom (F) 

11-63. (12-67, Montreal) Claire Dalton (F) 

11-64. (9-53, Ottawa) Zoe Boyd (D) 

11-65. (9-54, Montreal) Gabrielle David (F) 

11-66. (13-78, Montreal) Elaine Chuli (G) 

12-67. (10-58, Boston) Emma Söderberg (G) 

12-68. (12-71, Toronto) Rebecca Leslie (F) 

12-69. (Undrafted) Catherine Daoust (D)

12-70. (10-59, Toronto) Melissa Channell (D) 

12-71. (Undrafted) Sarah Bujold (F)

12-72. (7-40, New York) Jill Saulnier (F) 

13-73. (14-79, Montreal) Ann-Sophie Bettez (F) 

13-74. (12-70, Boston) Shiann Darkangelo (F) 

13-75. (Undrafted) Natalie Snodgrass (F)

13-76. (13-73, Minnesota) Liz Schepers (F) 

13-77. (10-57, New York) Paetyn Levis (F) 

13-78. (11-66, Montreal) Jillian Dempsey (F) 

14-79. (11-64, New York) Abigail Levy (G) 

14-80. (Undrafted) Emma Greco (D)

14-81. (Undrafted) Becca Gilmore (F)

14-82. (Undrafted) Sarah Lefort (F)

14-83. (Undrafted) Amanda Pelkey (F)

14-84. (Undrafted) Madison Packer (F)

15-85. (Undrafted) Catherine Dubois (F)

15-86. (Undrafted) Gigi Marvin (F)

15-87. (15-85, Minnesota) Sydney Brodt (F) 

15-88. (6-36, Minnesota) Clair DeGeorge (F) 

15-89. (8-43, Montreal) Madison Bizal (D) 

15-90. (Undrafted) Leah Lum (F)

10-55. Maude Poulin-Labelle (D) Montreal

11-61. Amanda Leveille (G) Minnesota

10-56. Kristin Della Rovere (F) Ottawa

12-68. Sandra Abstreiter (G) Ottawa

12-69. Olivia Zafuto (D) New York

13-75. Emma Buckles (D) Boston

13-76. Kayla Vespa (F) New York

14-80. Caitrin Lonergan (F) Ottawa

14-83. Alexa Vasko (F) Toronto

14-84. Minttu Tuominen (RD) Minnesota

14-82. Tatum Skaggs (F) Boston

15-86. Olivia Knowles (D) Toronto

15-87. Jess Healey (D) Boston

15-88. Alexandra Labelle (F) New York

15-89. Audrey-Ann Veillette (F) Ottawa