When Abbey Murphy, Chloe Primerano, and Caitlin Kraemer step on the ice with the NHL's Edmonton Oilers at their Development Camp, they'll be the only women with that opportunity.

With no development league, and no development camps, women's hockey players in the best league in the world are in the midst of a six month offseason. The Montreal Victoire won the Walter Cup on May 20, and the league, with the World Championships slated to end November 16, won't drop the puck until close to December. For the league's four non-playoff teams, it's a seven month offseason.

European leagues, the NCAA, and U SPORTS will begin play in September, with some training in late August, but for most of the best women's hockey players in the world, including dozens who sit on the bubble of the PWHL, they are entering what has become a challengingly long offseason each year for the PWHL.

For men's hockey players, immediately following the NHL Draft, which ended June 27, drafted players prepared to jet off to cities across North America to take part in development camps. It's an opportunity for NHL teams to look at their prospects, set them up with offseason training and nutrition plans, and to identify and begin to work on areas in their game where those players can improve. In other words, at NHL Development Camps, development becomes the focus. 

Then, only two months after those development camps end, NHL rookies and free agent invites begin reporting for rookie camps and rookie tournaments in September. From there, it's to main camps, and NHL preseason.

For PWHL players however, it's nothing. Up to seven months of waiting, and for some, it's half a year of uncertainty about if they'll earn a contract, if they'll make a team; wondering whether they should have gone to Europe before roster spots evaporated, and hoping. 

When the PWHL does return, it's not like even the lowest levels of men's junior hockey. In the PWHL, the entire training camp and preseason process leading up to the season opener is two weeks. Last year for the Walter Cup champion Montreal Victoire, due to scheduling issues, the team was only able to practice three times and play two preseason games before they were required to submit their final roster and prepare to drop the puck days later for the season opener.

In a league that has set out to and successfully elevated the level of professionalism for women's hockey players, their hold on an offseason and preseason plan that college and minor hockey teams wouldn't accept, is one of the final logistical hurdles the league must change.

Development camps would be a monumental step forward. 

In the PWHL, it would allow contracted players, including new signees to get on the ice and familiarize themselves with their new teammates, connect with training staff, and also to lay the groundwork for what becomes a sprint in the preseason.

It would also give general managers and coaches their first head-to-head look at how their new draft picks, and free agent invites stack up. Perhaps more than that, it would give those rookies and camp invites an opportunity to themselves measure up and see if they should pursue opportunities overseas. 

PWHL players should be heading to the ice this week with the best young rookies in the world to set the stage for the 2026-27 season. Instead, the PWHL offices are closed for vacation, and players are left to their own devices for the next half a year. 

When the league returns to action in November and December, there's no legitimate way any professional team can make the best and most informed decisions possible to finalize their rosters, nor can teams expect to even bring the best options on the market to training camp when players know they'll only get 3-4 days to prove themselves before their future is decided. 

Development camps would change everything, and help women's hockey move toward the same professional environment during the offseason that men have had for decades.