2023-24 Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) News

[JMCx4]

Some gap-filling speculation from THN ...

Three Free Agency Targets For Each PWHL Team

With free agency underway, here are three players each PWHL franchise could be targeting and already in negotiations with.

IAN KENNEDY
8 HOURS AGO (September 3, 2023)

Free agency for the PWHL is underway, albeit with a slow start as teams and general managers work to meet and negotiate with players, navigate salary and the CBA, and plan not only for free agency, but the draft.

With the draft the only opportunity to take NCAA and USports graduates, it seems that the initial free agency will be used to secure veteran talent. Looking at a mix of professional, geographic, and NCAA allegiances for players, as well as age and position, here's a look at three targets for each of the PWHL's six franchises. ...


Read more at: https://thehockeynews.com/womens/pwhl/three-free-agency-targets-for-each-pwhl-team

 

[JMCx4]

The Athletic has a placeholder for a PWHL free agency tracker. No news yet.

 

[JMCx4]

And SportsNet's Emily Sadler tries to fill the radio silence from the ghost League offices with her guesses on free agent names & destinations ... SN-Sadler: PWHL Free Agency Primer: Where Poulin, Knight, Nurse could go and why

 

[FrHockeyFan]

Kind of confirming what I thought 2 months ago... they weren't planning to launch the league for at least another year...

 

[red devil]

 

[caymanmew]

Hoping for one of the better under-30 players. Fast, Nurse, Turnbull, Ambrose, or Thompson

 

[caymanmew]

Not exactly who I'd choose but getting a solid goalie locked up as well as a star forward is good. Can now focus on getting a top D in the draft hopefully.

 

[MMC]

 

[MMC]

 

[MMC]

 

[JMCx4]

Should we be labeling this thread as "Speculation" (or whatever the equivalent HFB tag)? "News" has been an awful lot of "sounds like" guessing. I'm losing enthusiasm for this "soft start" in a time crunch.

 

[Gigantor The Goalie]

Not exactly who I'd choose but getting a solid goalie locked up as well as a star forward is good. Can now focus on getting a top D in the draft hopefully.

I would have gone either Clark or Jenner and then sign two top pairing defenders. There's so much forward talent available and goalie talent available compared to the defensive talent available it makes sense to wait on the first two in favour of building a great defense. Luckily for Ottawa every other team decided to opt for name recognition so the draft is going to be huge especially picks 5 and 7.

 

[caymanmew]

I would have gone either Clark or Jenner and then sign two top pairing defenders. There's so much forward talent available and goalie talent available compared to the defensive talent available it makes sense to wait on the first two in favour of building a great defense. Luckily for Ottawa every other team decided to opt for name recognition so the draft is going to be huge especially picks 5 and 7.

I actually really like how we are set up here. We have a good goalie so we don't need to worry about picking one early, whereas Toronto does not have one. If their first pick doesn't go to a goalie they might end up with slim pickings. Montreal is basically the same as us, 2 forwards and a goalie, but we draft before them. Hopefully, that means we can get a top pair D, Either Thompson or Ambrose would be my pick. I'd suspect Montreal would take the other if both are on the board come our pick.

 

[FrHockeyFan]

Maschmeyer confirmed Geneviève Lacasse will not play in the PWHL and will retire from hockey. So one less contender for a goalie spot.

 

[BayStBullies]

So pumped for this league. Maybe it will be run by competent people with respectable officiating!

 

[JMCx4]

So pumped for this league. Maybe it will be run by competent people with respectable officiating!

Hey, now, let's not expect miracles so soon.

 

[Gigantor The Goalie]

I actually really like how we are set up here. We have a good goalie so we don't need to worry about picking one early, whereas Toronto does not have one. If their first pick doesn't go to a goalie they might end up with slim pickings. Montreal is basically the same as us, 2 forwards and a goalie, but we draft before them. Hopefully, that means we can get a top pair D, Either Thompson or Ambrose would be my pick. I'd suspect Montreal would take the other if both are on the board come our pick.

I think it's a fine and safe trio. You get name recognition and high end talent. If you're looking at making the most of your signings though and picking from the pool that has the least amount of high end talent available at the most important position then teams are making a mistake by not grabbing at least one defender if not two. Defense that provides offence wins championships. There's actually a lot of forward and goalie talent available. You could wait till almost every team has two goalies before you pick your first goalie and not be worried about the goaltending position.



Instead by every team not going defense you can grab a very good top pair at picks 5 and 7 from a group of: Bourbonnais, Thompson, Shelton, Ambrose, Harmon, Jaques, Poulin-Labelle, Bell. That's pretty much it for top pair defenders though with vets like Fortino and Mikkelson maybe having enough in them to provide one more year of top pair play.

 

[LadyStanley]

I sense that the PWHL lottery gods have deemed the Minnesota & Montreal franchises their favorites ...

Snake draft. First round is A, B, C, D, E, F and next round is the reverse: F, E, D, C, B, A. Repeat.

Kendall Coyne-Schofeld signs with Minnesota.

 

[red devil]

Montreal making the signings official tomorrow.

 

[JMCx4]

Snake draft. First round is A, B, C, D, E, F and next round is the reverse: F, E, D, C, B, A. Repeat. ...

You forgot "Lather" and "Rinse" ... I hope this draft comes off squeaky clean for all 6 teams.

 

[red devil]

 

[caymanmew]

Zandee-Hart to NY, the first player to sign outside of their country I believe?

 

[Gigantor The Goalie]

Zandee-Hart to NY, the first player to sign outside of their country I believe?

Yup! Only GM to make it look like they're actually trying to build a team and not just grab the best players within 100KM.

 

[red devil]

 

[JMCx4]

Yup! Only GM to make it look like they're actually trying to build a team and not just grab the best players within 100KM.

Could it be that adding players on a compressed schedule (which somehow seems long & drawn out from where the fans sit) while dealing with visa issues is dictating the free agent signing patterns? Plus there's the matter of this process (among many others) being new to the GMs & team/league staffs. The learning curve is mighty steep.