Amanda Kessel wanted to play for only one team, Boston. That's why no other team selected her in the PWHL Draft...that is until PWHL Montreal used their last pick on the USA star. Similarly, Abby Boreen only wanted to play in Minnesota. What's next for the pair?

Of all the teams in the PWHL, Montreal is the one who surprised everyone by drafting Abby Boreen in the third round, Amanda Kessel in the seventh round, and locally in the province of Quebec, by not drafting Emmy Fecteau.

There’s been a lot of backlashes from French-Canadian fans in Quebec towards the team for not drafting Fecteau, the only francophone drafted on Monday. On the night of the draft, The Hockey News reported that a trade was in the talks between Montreal and Minnesota, the former wanting to use Minnesota’s sixth-round pick to draft Fecteau.

Other details have emerged from those trade talks and it concerns Abby Boreen. According to what The Hockey News has learned, Boreen wants to stay in Minnesota. Boreen lives near the Xcel Energy Centre and wants to play there next season. Although she declared herself for the draft, meaning she could eventually play elsewhere, she also remains enrolled in the University of Minnesota's pharmacy school where she had planned to continue attending in person next season.

The trade talks were about swapping draft picks, but also, a player swap that would have included Boreen. What is unknown at this time is if the trade wasn’t completed because Fecteau wasn’t available anymore, or if the two teams couldn’t agree on the player Montreal would have received in return for Boreen. The Wisconsin-native has played 14 games in Minnesota last season, after signing a reserve-player contract.

Amanda Kessel wants to play in Boston

Regarding Amanda Kessel, anyone who followed the draft realized something was off when no team was picking the veteran player. While the rumour the night of the draft was that she was going to be offered the GM position in Minnesota, what The Hockey News has learned is that it was well known around the league that Amanda Kessel wanted to play in one market only, that being Boston. Kessel’s sister-in-law, Courtney Kessel, is PWHL Boston’s head coach, which is her link to the team. That’s why no team drafted her. According to the PWHL rules, she had to declare herself for the draft in order to sign a standard contract, but the idea would have been to convince the other teams not to draft her so she could sign with Boston after the draft.

She was two picks away for it to work, but Montreal, after calling their second time-out, decided to take a chance on her. Either she will play or Montreal will trade her to Boston. One of the problems is that as of this moment, the league doesn’t allow teams to trade future draft picks yet. So, trading her right now might be more complicated for Sauvageau. It is expected that picks will become available for trading at the start of the season.

Amanda Kessel was not in attendance at the PWHL Draft in Minnesota.

Danielle Sauvageau will have two options heading into the offseason; work on trades for Boreen to Minnesota and Kessel to Boston, or convince them to compete with PWHL Montreal.

Season 2 would start in December

Talking about next season, the rumblings around the league is that as we speak, training camps are scheduled to start in mid-November, with game number one of the next season scheduled for the beginning of December, a month before the start of season one. As a reminder, next season will have 30 games instead of 24.