The Women's Euro Hockey Tour showed the gap between the PWHL and other leagues is already expanding, and it's an issue the PWHL must address with a formal development plan, before it's too late.
The Women's Euro Hockey Tour showed the gap between the PWHL and other leagues is already expanding, and it's an issue the PWHL must address with a formal development plan, before it's too late.
Right now, there is no formal plan for players who don't make the PWHL, or who are already beyond the NCAA or U Sports and want to attempt to make the PWHL in the coming seasons.
In men's hockey, players could move to any number of leagues. Primarily, NHL prospects go to the ECHL and AHL, but some prospects also stay in strong European leagues like the SHL, Liiga, or KHL, and there are other strong leagues like the DEL and NL that also house prospects, or pay players enough to continue chasing the dream.
In women's hockey, there are no competitive equivalents, as the step down from the PWHL to the SDHL would be more consistent with moving from the NHL to ECHL aside from a handful of strong player who remain signed to longer contracts, and from there the options of the PostFinance Women's League, DFEL, Auroraliiga, or EWHL aren't legitimate development paths.
What does it mean for the PWHL? It means the league will need to get creative, and fast, when it comes to finding homes for potential players where they can face more concentrated competition of other players on the cusp of making the PWHL.
This week's Women's Euro Hockey Tour was a perfect example of the good, as well as the need. For many players, the six team event was an excellent opportunity to face better competition, but in a four game event, it's simply not enough.
Looking at the players in attendance, there were certainly those capable of making the jump to the PWHL immediately. It's a list that includes a group who will declare for the PWHL draft this season including Kristyna Kaltounkova, Viivi Vainikka, Nicole Gosling, Haley Winn, Rory Guilday, Natalie Mlynkova and several others. There were a few, like Finland's Petra Nieminen who could play in the PWHL, but still have contractual obligations in Europe. There were also players who are the future of the league like Abbey Murphy, Caroline Harvey, Laila Edwards, Kirsten Simms, Nelli Laitinen, Hilda Svensson, Emmalee Pais, Jocelyn Amos, Caitlin Kraemer, and Adela Sapovalivova who have decisions to make about when they leave the NCAA to declare.
But what about the other players? Those who fall in neither of these categories. They are the players who are beyond the NCAA, but not yet to the PWHL. Most of those players are in the SDHL at the moment, but right now, the SDHL is watching loads of talent being picked over by PWHL teams or leaving for the NCAA, which is lowering the calibre of the world's second best league, and weakening the potential for these "in-between" players to make another step forward.
This year alone the SDHL lost Ronja Savolainen, Daniela Pejsova, Maja Nylen Persson, Noora Tulus, Noemi Neubauerova, Anna Meixner, Shay Maloney, Anna Kjellbin, Anneke Rankila, Jessica Adolfsson, Klara Peslarova, and Taylor House to the PWHL and others like Mira Jungaker, Nicole Hall, and Tuva Kandell to the NCAA. Next year it will grow to include Viivi Vainikka, Andrea Brandli, Sara Hjalmarsson, Jenniina Nylund, and potentially others like Michelle Karvinen or Hanna Olsson to the PWHL, and Adela Sapovalivova, Sanni Vanhanen, Hilda Svensson, Jenna Raunio, and Linnea Natt Och Dag to the NCAA.
It's a weakening of the SDHL that will only get worse when the PWHL expands.
What about the "in between" players?
Watching the Women's Euro Hockey Tour this week, there were a number of players outside the NCAA who had eye catching performances. The question is, can they get to a point where they'll take the next step to join the PWHL unless action is taken to strengthen current leagues or build a new development league? From Sweden, homegrown players like Elin Svensson, Wilma Sundin, Hanna Thuvik, and Emma Forsgren all showed their upside. If you look at the Finnish roster, Elisa Holopainen, Emilia Vesa, and Sanni Rantala all look like legitimate future PWHL players, but they'll also find the adaptation more difficult the longer they wait. For Czechia it's the likes of Michaela Pejzlova, Sara Cajanova, and Tereza Radova. You could name players from every nation who have the tools, but not the path. It's an issue, and has already been an issue. Akane Shiga is a perfect example. Shiga could think the game at a PWHL level, had the puck skills and skating, but needed to get stronger and more opportunities to face stronger competition, but not at the PWHL level. This year, Ilona Markova in Boston had the tools, and she got better every day at Boston's camp, but camp wasn't long enough, and in a 30 game season, teams can't afford to develop players on the fly. Without a development plan, there's a chance none of the "in-between" players make it to the PWHL, or if they do, that they won't stick.
What is the solution?
The SDHL has a problem, and the PWHL can be a solution. The PWHL also has a problem and the SDHL can be a solution. There are already PWHL teams working with SDHL teams informally to help place players who are released. After camp this year, most of the cuts with PWHL experience like Sarah Bujold, Maude Poulin-Labelle, and Savannah Norcross headed to Sweden. As more Swedish and Finnish players continue to move to the NCAA and PWHL, and with talks of expanding the SDHL by two teams, the league may need to, and be wise to expand their import limits. Speaking to agents, they have the players who want to keep playing after the NCAA, U Sports, or being cut from PWHL teams, but the roster spots aren't there, and a trip to one of Europe's other leagues is too much of a step backward at the moment. A formal affiliation agreement between the PWHL and SDHL makes too much sense for both leagues, as well as European national teams, specifically the ever improving Swedish team. For the PWHL, paying SDHL teams a development fee to help cover wages and living expenses would be far more affordable than starting a development league in North America. It would not only give PWHL teams a place to put prospects for a season, it would also motivate the best players from other countries to move to the SDHL as an intermediary step because they would see the clearly established pathway to the PWHL.
It needs to happen sooner than later
A development plan is something that cannot wait. Every season the PWHL gets stronger, the jump becomes larger, and fewer players will ever have a hope of making the league. The league needs to plan for the idea that expansion will happen, and attrition will continue, and the NCAA will have cohorts, including the 2025 Draft, which might not be strong enough to fill the gaps without a noticeable drop as expansion occurs. Speaking with PWHL representatives who were in attendance at the Women's Euro Hockey Tour, they already saw the issues. According to scouts in attendance, they didn't believe there were many players outside of the American and Canadian NCAA players capable of making the jump to the league. The gap between the PWHL and other leagues is already expanding, and the PWHL needs to build outside their walls in order to have the players to continue to grow inside. Waiting for a formal development path beyond college is no longer an option for the PWHL, or the SDHL.