World Rumblings: More PWHL Draft Interest, Mrazova Nearing Return, Teams Talking To Prospects and More

The 2024 World Championship preliminary round is already wrapping up with elimination games incoming. The return to the PWHL is now down to single digit days, so fans will be watching closely for any sign of player movement, injuries, or other announcements from the world of women's hockey.

Here's a look at what we're hearing and seeing from Utica.

Katerina Mrazova refused to leave Utica. Although she entered her time with Czechia banged up from the PWHL season, Katerina Mrazova was put out of the lineup via a collision in a pre-tournament game. Some advised Mrazova to return to Ottawa to begin rehabilitating there, but she wanted to remain with her national team, rehab in Utica, and hope to return. Receiving plasma treatments to her lower body injury, things are starting to feel better for Mrazova, who there is now an outside chance, could be available to Czechia for the quarterfinals. Even if she returns, her use could be limited, but the fear of this being a season ending injury are beginning to subside.

There's a lot of conversation around who will declare for the PWHL Draft from the 2024 World Championships, and the number may be larger than many expected. Players may enter their names to the draft and see how it plays out before re-signing in Europe. One player who could be in this exact scenario is 21-year-old Czech defender Sara Cajanova. She looks like part of an ever growing group of players from Czechia and Brynas set to declare. Cajanova is a good skater with offensive upside who finished this season with Brynas in the SDHL with 25 points in 36 games, and was Brynas' top scorer in the playoffs with five points in seven games.

Almost all the big names at the 2024 World Championships have openly stated their intent to either declare for the 2024 PWHL Draft or remain in Europe. For many, like Finland's Viivvi Vainikka, it's a question of playing out her contract next season before coming to the PWHL. Two players however, Czechia's Michaela Pejzlova and Sweden's Maja Nylen Persson have been a little more hushed about the chance to play in North America.

"Of course I'm thinking of that," Nylen Persson said of playing in the PWHL. "I haven't figured it out yet, we'll see." Nylen Persson has been playing in Sweden's SDHL.

For Pejzlova, who has been studying and playing in Finland, it's again a matter of timing, which could be this year, or in the future, but she's not ruling anything out.

"I'm obviously not closing any doors, I think the PWHL is a great league and mayne in the future I'll look into it," said Pejzlova. "I haven't decided anything for next year yet, I'm still in the process, so we'll see, but I definitely would like to play there one day."

If you talk to prospects coming out of the NCAA, their phones have been ringing. As have the phones of their coaches. Why? PWHL teams are working their way through the ranks talking about the league and their teams with potential players and draft picks. There is no Draft Combine (yet) meaning teams need to do all of their interviewing and information gathering informally through former teams and the players themselves. Teams are making those calls, and it was easy to spot the pockets of general managers, coaches, and scouts at the World Championships this week.

The NCAA transfer portal is a way for players to change schools without having to sit out a season the way players used to be forced to do. It's also become a way for players who are chasing professional dreams to find a better situation to showcase their skills. Ohio State, who is only weeks following their NCAA national title, looks to be scooping up talent as quickly as they can, much like the school did last season with Cayla Barnes, Hannah Bilka, Stephanie Markowski, Kiara Zanon, and Kelsey King. This year, they opened their transfer portal window with the acquisition of defender Sara Swiderski from Clarkson, and the rumored additions of Brooke Disher and goalie Hailey MacLeod. The portal is already filled with star power including Sara Boucher, Kayle Osborne, Alexis Petford, Madison Chantler, Lacey Martin, Tindra Holm, Jane Gervais, Krista Parkkonen, and Sarah Davies. Other players like Vermont netminder Jessie McPherson (to Minnesota State), Quinnipiac's Nina Steigauf (to Minnesota-Duluth), Penn State's Josie Bothun (to Bemidji), and Dartmouth's Jenna Donahue (to Quinnipiac) have already changed schools.

There's another wrinkle in the mix of players from the SDHL. After years of allowing North American agents to negotiate contracts and help place European players in Sweden's SDHL, the top women's league in Europe, the SDHL has cracked down on agents from North America, allegedly fining teams for negotiating with agents from North America who are not part of the Swedish Ice Hockey Central Organization (SICO), a union that governs hockey agents in Sweden. SICO's website only discusses men's hockey related to leagues like the SHL and Hockeyallsvenskan, without mention of women's hockey. While North American agents can take the classes, tests, and pay the fees required to join SICO, it presents an immediate threat to women's hockey players from North America who are looking to play in Sweden. 58 agents are currently listed on the SICO website, including only one woman.