This season the PWHPA operated four teams. Their proposed league will have six teams. We look at where the remaining 40-50 players will come from.
This season the PWHPA operated four teams. Their proposed league will have six teams. We look at where the remaining 40-50 players will come from.
When the PWHPA launches the Professional Women’s Hockey League, the group will immediately be on the hunt for 40-50 additional players, a process of recruiting which is already underway.
The PWHPA has stated they will launch a six team league this winter, with each team, according to PWHPA promotional materials, composed of 23 players and three coaches.
That’s 138 players needed for the PWHPA’s league. Last season, the PWHPA’s Secret Dream Gap Tour had 98 players rostered. Of those players, 13 were goaltenders, and all but one, who was rostered but did not play, appeared in at least two games.
With that in mind, the league will be looking for at least 40-50 new players, assuming each player drafted by an expansion team accepts the offer to move to their new home city, and no current members retire move to other leagues.
So where will the PWHPA find 40-50 new players? Let’s take a look.
Existing North American National Team Players
This has always been the main source of talent for the PWHPA. The Association's claim to the top players in the world exists within 31 national team members who play within the Association.
Assuming the group of NCAA players who were current Canadian and USA national team members tow the party line and follow the majority of their teammates to the PWHPA, this adds seven players - Taylor Heise, Jesse Compher, Grace Zumwinkle, Emma Maltais, Danielle Serdachny, Britta Curl, and Nicole LaMantia.
Graduating players Ashton Bell and Natalie Buchbinder were also past senior national team players who could choose the PWHPA.
Could International Players Factor In?
This has been a distinct gap in the PWHPA since they were founded, with the exception of early players like Noora Raty. Recently however, the Association has not been able to bring over International players for multiple reasons. First, is the inability to pay a liveable wage, meaning all players coming to North America would need to do so on a work visa separate from hockey. Second is lack of immigration services.
According to Jayna Hefford, the lead operations consultant for the PWHPA, the group aims to have this situation rectified in time to launch their new league.
"We have been in touch with many of the European players," she wrote The Hockey News in April 2023. "The league we are building is one for the best players in the world and we will ensure there is proper immigration support in place."
The PWHPA could welcome a handful of players from Europe, although with the offseason well underway, that number will be small as the majority of elite European talent has already signed for the 2023-2024 season.
While European born players may not be available, the PWHPA could look to bring back North American born players like Brooke Hobson, or a handful of former PHF players now competing in Europe.
Bubble National Team Players
There has long been the narrative that to play on a Canadian or USA national team program, you must be in the PWHPA. It's messaging that appears to come from the player level, not the Association or governing bodies.
"Any suggestion that the PWHPA or anyone involved with our organization has any impact on National Team selections is untrue," Hefford told The Hockey News in an April 13, 2023 email.
Hockey Canada also unequivocally denied the idea. USA Hockey was contacted for comment, but did not return the request.
Despite this, pressure from national team players exists, and will certainly lead to many 'bubble' national team players who are not currently in the PHF or NCAA to participate in whatever is next for the PWHPA.
Looking at members of Canada's Summer Showcase roster and Team USA's selection camp roster, a group of NCAA graduates including Zoe Boyd, Claire Dalton, Kristin Della Rovere, Sophie Shirley, Maggie Flaherty, Gracie Ostertag, Maureen Murphy, and Gabby Rosenthal are the obvious selections. Others including Sophie Jacques, Lexie Adzija and Gabrielle David are also prospective players, although this trio has been heavily linked to PHF discussions.
From USports, members of those respective camps include Kendra Woodland, Rylind MacKinnon, Maude Labelle, Emmy Fecteau, Amy Potomak, and Kate Stuart.
If all of these players committed, the PWHPA would be more than halfway to their need of 40-50 new players.
Outside of these core players, other NCAA and USports players unable to secure a PHF contract will certainly be looking at the PWHPA.
Will Former PWHPA Members Return?
Since founded in 2019, the PWHPA has seen a drop in participation from 181 down players to 98 this season. Perhaps players who participated in the PWHPA in past seasons will return to the loop.
The group, according to Eliteprospects, has shrunk each season from 181 in 2019-2020, to 175 in 2020-2021, down to 109 last season, before playing with 98 players this year. From that first season, 10 players moved on to Europe and 30 departed to the PHF, accounting for nearly half of the decline. The other half however, could provide a potential pool of players to round out PWHL rosters.
Another potential location for player recruitment will be veteran players unable to secure a contract in the PHF. With the caliber of the PHF increasing and new European and NCAA players signing in the league, some PHF veterans will be looking for work next winter, which could result in horizontal transfers between the leagues.
What about the goalies?
The most intriguing position, and perhaps deepest in the Association, is between the pipes. Last year, the PWHPA had 13 netminders play. Should all of those goalies return, that represents more than two netminders secured per roster for a new six team league.
With graduating NCAA netminders including Sandra Abstreiter, Andrea Braendli, Emma Soderberg, and Blanka Skodova and the aforementioned Kendra Woodland and Kate Stuart, competition for netminding roles will be fierce across North America and in Europe. Throw in North American goalies playing in the SDHL including Lindsey Post, Loryn Porter and Stephanie Neatby as potential future players, and the group of goalies looking for a home grows again.
Whatever pathway the PWHPA takes for recruitment, they'll have work to do, providing free agent excitement while filling out rosters for their promised six teams.
According to a Zoom call with prospective players in 2022, Hefford stated the league will have a formal draft to select the home team for all current and prospective members of the league. The league will not be driven by geographic proximity as tour versions were prior to this season.
When the PWHPA announces a league, the excitement of player movement and roster building will be a storyline to watch.