When Minnesota Frost lifted the Walter Cup only one month ago, players from all over the league knew that things were about to change.
With the dust now established in the PWHL expansion draft, the free agent firm window and the input draft, it is clear that there has been a massive reboot in the entire league.
Seattle and Vancouver accumulated a lot of talent through the expansion draft, and the GM of the six existing teams have been working to fill the gaps.
With a greater expansion on the horizon and many large contracts throughout the league that expire after the next season, it seems that the teams have to prioritize the immediate future. Long -term planning is almost impossible.
“I think that if you ask most of the general managers in this league, this league has made a transition a bit now,” said Draft GM night by Ottawa Mike Hirshfeld, who prioritized the players eligible for the draft with previous professional experience.
“He is really focused on winning now and players who can immediately intervene.”
All that led to a Draft day full of action in Ottawa, where three greatly successful trades were announced.
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The defender Shelton is a massive addition to the Toronto defensive nucleus, and gives the Sceptres two of the best defenders in the world.
Meanwhile, Abby Roque will make Montreal more difficult to play, since the Victoire seeks to translate the success of the regular season into a Walter Cup.
The PWHL firm window is now closed until July 8 at 9 am with the low apogee season, there are four stories to see while we look towards the third season of PWHL next autumn.
Paper talent
There is no doubt that Seattle and Vancouver seem two of the strongest teams in the League. Both stored young talents. Vancouver has the deepest blue line of the league and two reliable goalkeepers. Seattle, meanwhile, has a top six with skill and size in swords.
But how will that translate into the ice?
It is a problem that the general manager of Seattle Meghan Turner knows well, having been the assistant in Boston before heading to the west.
“You can look at something on paper and then as soon as you put it on the ice, you are like, Oh, we need to change something,” Turner said. “Much of what I take from my time in Boston is not that everything goes as planned all the time. The injuries happen, things go differently in the season than could have planned.”
In the first season of the PWHL, it took time in all teams to adapt to a new league with a physical game style.
There are many veterans in Seattle and Vancouver, but it could still take some time for everything to be gelled.
How will Ottawa complete his team?
Ottawa lost a lot of talent in free agency and expansion draft. Tereza Vanišová and Shiann Darkangelo, in particular, were important and were important for Hirshfeld on the 2024 exchange deadline, and helped the team secure their first place in the playoffs.
But despite the loading race towards the PWHL finals, they both left. Vanišová signed with Vancouver and Darkangelo chose Montreal.
Hirshfeld said the position made “convincing” offers to both players. Finally, Vanišová wanted a new opportunity in Vancouver and Darkangelo was attracted to the idea of playing and competing every day with Marie-Philip Poulin in Montreal.
“People want to play in Ottawa,” said Hirshfeld. “People believe in this city. They love fans in this market. Again, personal situations and personal decisions were reduced. Again, unfortunately for us, we went secondly a couple of times different times in free agency.”
When asked if that could be contagious, that players choose other markets on Ottawa, Hirshfeld admitted that he has caused “look a lot in the mirror” about what the team could have done differently.
“We have talked to the agents,” he said. “We have talked to other players of the League. We have talked to players of our team. There are some settings that we are going to do internally to help us improve our reputation among the league players.”
Ottawa has only 12 of 23 players signed at the break out of season. Three other players are restricted free agents, which means that Ottawa has their rights next season. How Hirshfeld fills the rest of the list will be something to see in the next season.
Hirshfeld also selected two Russian players, who has not competed on the international stage since 2022 due to the invasion of Ukraine. However, Anna Shokhina and Fanuza Kadirova were highly recommended by the Legend of the Mel Davidson Women’s Hockey, who recently joined the position as a consultant.
Will Sarah Fillier sign in the long term in New York?
New York sirens are dramatically different from the team with which 2024, Sarah Fillier, signed a year contract last year.
The sirens lost to the first six strikers Alex Carpenter and Jessie Eldridge for the expansion, as well as the initial goalkeeper, Corinne Schroeder. Then, Daoust overtake Shelton to Toronto and Roque Montreal on the night of the Draft.
This team is clearly built around Fillier now. But at the time of writing this, she does not have a contract for the next season.
The teams have draft selection rights for two seasons, which means that Fillier cannot sign with another team unless New York exchange their rights.
Given all movements during the last month, there should be a lot of space to make a great offer to Fillier.
Daoust also did a good job by rebuilding his advance group in the Draft. Thanks to Shelton’s trade, he was able to write the two main strikers available: Kristýna Kaltounková and Casey O’Brien, who had one of the best offensive seasons of all time in Wisconsin.
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The Czech Republic striker, Kristýna Kaltounková, first selected in the Draft PWHL in Ottawa for New York’s mermaids.
“Definitely, when you make these players join Sarah Fillier, we believe that we are going to have some great players in the power game, but also to create more against five against five,” said Daoust.
It remains to be enough to convince Fillier to stay in New York in the long term.
Just as GM are thinking in the short term, players are doing the same. Many large contracts will be presented in the League after the next season, and could be on the horizon more expansion.
Several players who signed with Seattle and Vancouver opted for shorter contracts, simply without knowing what the future holds.
An Olympic year
For the first time, the PWHL will have to navigate an Olympic break in the mid -season.
The best players in the world will go to Italy to compete for Olympic gold, and will be different from any other Olympic tournament for female hockey.
On the other hand, Canadian general manager Gina Kingsbury and chief coach Troy Ryan will depend more on PWHL’s performance while selecting the team that seeks to defend the Gold Medal of Canada of 2022.
With many probable returns of 2022, that may not affect the chemistry of the team so much this time. But it could be a change of play in the future.
Another factor: many renowned players changed the teams this low season. How will that affect your ability to make an Olympic team? Will some players have more opportunities to shine? Could others be left behind?
You can see how an Olympic breakup, combined with the additional trip that comes with having equipment on the west coast, is affecting the decisions of the list.
Several teams are inclined to have a goal tandem instead of trusting a goalkeeper to play great minutes for an employed year.
Vancouver, where the goalkeeper of the Canadian team, Emerance Maschmeyer, is the headline, is an example. The team acquired Kristen Campbell de Toronto in an exchange of the draft night.
“We know that [Maschmeyer] I would love a good couple who can take a few minutes, especially for an Olympic year, “Vancouver GM Face Gardner Morey said.” It is a long season, so we love someone who is tested and ready, and Kristen Campbell is certainly that goalkeeper. “
The thought was similar in Seattle, where the team selected carrier Hannah Murphy in the second round to join Schroeder.
“Having two really solid goalkeepers is very important in this league,” Turner said. “I think we have seen during the last two years that it is important to have goalkeepers that can really intervene and jump to the game.”
