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In Hainsight: An Exciting Few Days Ahead for Women's Hockey |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
Last night, news leaked on X (formally known as Twitter) that the Professional Women’s Hockey League (“PWHL”) would be making some announcements this morning. The new league is expected to announce that it will be formed of six teams, the other original six if you will: Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Boston, Minnesota and New York. I’m a bit surprised that all three Canadian teams are on the east coast, when for so many years the Women’s Canadian team base was out west, but there you have it.
Hockey insider Jeff Marek further revealed that the free agency period in the PWHL will start on September 1st and end on September 10th. Each of the six teams will be allowed to sign three players in this first free agency window. Then, on September 18th a 15-round draft will be taking place in Toronto. Undrafted players will still be able to sign with a team as a free agent or to try out when training camps open during the week of November 15th.
This timetable is a very smart move by the PWHL, to have the free agency and the draft while hockey fans are foaming at the mouth for anything hockey in the last few weeks of the NHL’s offseason will mean an increased focus on the event in the news outlet. This should help drum up interest from all kind of hockey fans, even those who aren’t sold on women’s hockey right now.
The prospect of a 10-day free agency period in which each team is allowed to sign three players is intriguing, which 18 players will come off the board in this window? Who are the top 18 plyers? Who will land where?
For instance, it seems to be a given that the Montreal franchise will want to lock-up the face of women’s hockey in Canada and Montreal Canadiens Player Development Consultant Marie-Philip Poulin to a deal, but who will be their other two signings? Will they want to keep their star happy and sign her fiancée Laura Stacey to a deal as well or will they wait and draft her? No disrespect to Stacey at all, she was 4th last in points last season in the PWHPA Secret dream gap tour, but there will be bigger names out there so to speak. Could Montreal also sign American star Hilary Knight who’s a born leader and an excellent player as well? Knight did sign in Montreal once before the Canadian Women’s Hockey league folded. Although, Poulin is already 32 and Knight is 34, would the team want some younger blood? Is age a lesser factor in a sport where there is limited physical contact? The game is still very fast and wear and tear is still very much an issue.
If Sarah Fillier didn’t have a couple more years of NCAA hockey in front of her, she would definitely be my pick, but she’ll want to finish her degree. I’m fairly confident that “la Muraille de Charlevoix” Ann-Renee Desbiens will be offered a deal by the Montreal outfit as well. Could that mean that the third signing could be a defense player? Getting a strong building block in all three departments would be sensible. Micah Zandee-Hart and Ella Shelton are both young and would be interesting candidates.
The American national team also has some pretty interesting names on offer aside from Knight, the likes of Amanda Kessell, Kendall Coyne Schofield and Abby Roque are sure to get plenty of attention. I’d love to see teams mix it up personally. Have both Americans and Canadians players on the same team would be amazing, can you imagine Marie-Philip Poulin and Coyne Schofield on the same line? That would be quite something! Sarah Nurse and Natalie Spooner should both be signed in the initial free agency window, and they would be great hometown heroes for the Ontario based franchises.
I can’t wait for the first free agency window to open on September 1st, I’ll be keenly following the signings and reporting on here. Hopefully, some of you will give this new league a try and learn to appreciate women’s hockey for what it is, a whole different game from men’s hockey but one that is nonetheless full of action and electrifying.
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