Prior to the Professional Women’s Hockey League’s (PWHL) inaugural draft, the league’s six teams – as yet unnamed, but based in Boston, Minnesota, Montréal, New York, Ottawa and Toronto – each signed three players during a ten-day free-agency period.
It was during this period, which began Sept. 1, that the game’s biggest stars were signed. By Sept. 8, these signings included Hilary Knight to Boston, Kendall Coyne Schofield to Minnesota, Marie-Philip Poulin to Montréal, Abby Roque to New York, Brianne Jenner to Ottawa and Sarah Nurse and Renata Fast to Toronto. All players signed during free agency have been Olympic and/or World Championships medalists.
Following free agency, the PWHL’s first-ever draft took place on Monday, Sept. 18. Nearly 300 eligible players declared for the draft, which followed a snake format and lasted 15 rounds, given that teams were building out their rosters from scratch. Minnesota had previously won the draft lottery to select first.
Unsurprisingly, University of Minnesota alum Taylor Heise was the first overall pick. The 23-year-old forward won the Patty Kazmaier Award as the top collegiate women’s ice hockey player in the U.S. in her 2021-2022 season with the Golden Gophers. She was also named the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) Forward of the Year in both 2022 and 2023. Over the course of her NCAA career, Heise picked up 225 points in 172 games.
Heise joins a number of fellow Minnesota natives in either playing or executive positions for PWHL Minnesota. General manager and former Olympian Natalie Darwitz, free agency pickups Kelly Pannek and Lee Stecklein, and seven of Minnesota’s 15 draft picks all hail from the Gopher State. (Coyne Schofield also notably formerly played for the now-defunct Premier Hockey Federation’s (PHF) Minnesota Whitecaps.)
The remainder of the first round saw Toronto draft veteran defender Jocelyn Larocque; Boston selected Alina Müller, who scored the game-winning goal to win bronze for Switzerland at the Sochi Olympics at just 15 years old; New York selected former Clarkson University captain Ella Shelton; former PHF Buffalo Beauts player Savannah Harmon went to Ottawa; and Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) alum Erin Ambrose was drafted by Montréal.
The PWHL aims to be a centralized league, with players signed and drafted from the United States, Canada and Europe, and with prior playing experience in the now-nonexistent PHF or Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) or the NCAA.
The league’s abbreviated first season will begin in January of 2024.