So, you want to build a professional women’s hockey team. Great! The new league starts in January.
There’s a lot we don’t yet know about this brand new league, the vision of the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association and their financial backers that will soon come to life.
We have a rough start date (January 2024), a general framework (six teams; three in Canada and three stateside) and, most importantly, a signed and sealed CBA that was ratified shortly after last month’s seismic announcement of the league’s launching and the shuttering of the Premier Hockey Federation. The dust is still settling on that sport-altering news, with many now-former PHF players facing uncertain futures after having their contracts voided as a result of the league’s sale.
As we continue to understand the new landscape of women’s hockey as a new foundation is built around this single league, we can’t help but daydream about the great hockey to come. And while we don’t know exactly how each team will come together — there’s promise of a draft and free agency, but few details have emerged — we thought it would be fun to do a little scouting considering all the incredible talent that’s about to come together under one league.
Which begs the question: with a clean slate and 23 roster spots to fill, who would you want to build a team around? As we see in the game at every level, there are many different approaches to building a hockey team. Maybe you’re looking to build from the back end, focusing on landing a solid netminder first and establishing a defence-led roster. Perhaps you want value experience above all else, choosing a vocal veteran and proven leader to hit the ground running, or maybe you’d prefer to start young and build for the long-term. Identity will be key as each team looks to carve out its place in a new market, which means the importance of bringing in starpower not just on the ice but off it should not be overlooked.
An important note: You’ll notice the omission of some major names here, which is why we’re pointing out that for the sake of this thought experiment, we left off college stars like Sarah Fillier and Caroline Harvey. (Hey, at a time when we still don’t know all the ins and outs of this new league, we have to create our own rules!) Fillier is entering her senior year as Princeton University’s captain while Harvey is fresh off an electric freshman campaign at Wisconsin. Their contributions to their respective national teams have already been massive — Harvey led all players in points at this year’s world championship and was the tournament’s best defender enroute to USA gold while Fillier, who won Olympic gold with Canada in 2022, was named best forward and tournament MVP. We will likely have to wait a little longer to see them suit up in the pros.
So, with all that in mind, and to help fuel your own roster-building exercises as we all anticipate more insights into this new league to come, we’ve put together a fun (and not at all exhaustive) list of some of the biggest stars who could pilot a team to success from Day One based on six different strategies.
The national hero: Marie-Philip Poulin (CAN, PWHPA), Hilary Knight (USA, PWHPA)
You already know her resume. Now, picture Marie-Philip Poulin captaining one of six new franchises in a brand new professional women’s league, plying her trade on the regular and surrounded by the kind of elite talent we usually only get to see on the international stage.
Ditto, for her American counterpart in Hilary Knight. While Poulin and Knight are two very different players with different skillsets, they each serve as the face of the game — globally, yes, but especially in their own home nations. That’s why we’ve listed them both here. While the talent pool of elite hockey players extends far beyond just Canada and the United States, the nations’ shared dominance atop the sporting world — not to mention, the location of this new league — will see Canadian and U.S. women take leading roles on all six squads. And while we don’t know how, exactly, all six rosters will fill out — we have yet to know the markets, let alone draft rules — a perfect start to this new league would feature both Poulin and Knight wearing a C as the first pick for a professional club in her own home country.
Neither player is hinting towards retirement (at 32 and 34, respectively, Poulin and Knight are still each in their prime but on the second half of their careers) but both would be best-suited for a situation that would see them on a contender off the hop.
Vocal veterans and longtime leaders like Team USA’s Kendall Coyne Schofield, who was instrumental in the PWHPA’s vision right from the start and captained Team USA before going on maternity leave this spring, as well as Canada’s Brianne Jenner, will also no doubt be integral foundational players as this new league comes to life.
The instant icon: Sarah Nurse (CAN, PWHPA)
A power forward on the ice, Nurse knows how to bring the energy with her strong stride, physical game, and nose for the net. She dominated during the 2022 Olympic Games, setting a new record for points in a single tournament (18), and was a force at this spring’s worlds. Off the ice, she’s one of the most powerful and recognizable figures in the game — a leading voice for the PWHPA the face of many ad campaigns she also appeared on the cover of NHL23, had a Barbie made in her likeness, and stole the show during this year’s NHL All-Star Skills Competition.
The success of a franchise is measured by more than on-ice wins — though, Nurse is well-acquainted with those — and bringing in a universal fan favourite like Nurse brings an instant dose of leadership, personality, and identity around which to build your organization.
The rising star: Taylor Heise (USA, University of Minnesota)
The state of women’s hockey has never been stronger — both in terms of the prospects of this new league’s success and the actual prospects who will be lacing up their skates for its inaugural season. As mentioned above, we will likely have to wait a little longer to see rising stars and national team difference-makers like forward Sarah Fillier (senior, Princeton) and defensive sensation Caroline Harvey (sophomore, Wisconsin) hit the pro circuit. Forward Taylor Heise, on the other hand, stepped off the ice this spring for the final time with the University of Minnesota and will now have the change to step straight into the pros come January.
The 23-year-old knows how to make a strong first impression — she won tournament MVP in her Team USA debut at the 2022 women’s world championship, leading the field in goals (7), assists (11) and points (18) and has since solidified her status as one of the brightest young pieces of the national squad’s future. At the same tournament in 2023, Heise flexed her playmaking muscles, leading all players in assists (11) and finishing second in team scoring with 12 points enroute to gold. The 2022 Patty Kazmaier Award winner and 2023 top-10 finalist would be a smart pick for a franchise to build a young, fast team with sustainable long-term success in mind.
The franchise netminder: Ann-Renee Desbiens (CAN, PWHPA)
We see it year after year, on every stage the game is played: a hot goaltender can carry a team as far as their glove will take them. This spring in the NHL saw Sergei Bobrovsky will his team into the Cup Final, where Adin Hill’s unlikely run led to the Golden Knights’ victory at the other end. At April’s women’s worlds, Team Canada was almost barred from the semi-finals after running into a nearly-impossible-to-solve Swedish netminder in Emma Soderberg. (Soderberg, who had much success at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, was set to join the PHF’s Connecticut Whale this upcoming season before the league was shut down. It’ll be fun to see where the 25-year-old lands in this new league.)
Desbiens, 29, has backstopped Team Canada to both Olympic and world championship gold and, well, put simply: she doesn’t lose. In fact, April’s loss to Team USA in the women’s worlds gold medal showdown was her first loss on the international stage with the senior team. Her steady presence in the blue paint brings instant contender status to whichever club is lucky enough to pick her up.
The cornerstone defender: Megan Keller (USA, PWHPA)
Offence is fun and all, but as we see at every level of the game, building your team’s foundation from the blue line out is a smart strategy for success. And building that blue line around a blue-chip defender like Megan Keller would be a great place to start.
At five-foot-11 and boasting a booming slap slot, the 27-year-old brings the kind of physical presence any team would love — and all other teams would hate playing against; In a recent player poll conducted by The Athletic’s Hailey Salvian, Keller was listed among the hardest defenders to play against.
The three-time Patty Kazmaier Award finalist is coming off a strong performance at the women’s worlds and has developed into an indispensable building block for the national program. She’s also proven over the course of both her college and international career she’s more than capable of driving play from the blue line. Much like Team Canada’s Renata Fast and Toronto Six star Saroya Tinker, she’s not afraid to play a physical game and brings the kind of leadership and strong identity you can build around.
The international star: Alina Müller (SUI, PHF Pride)
Though all six franchises are based in Canada and the United States, this league will feature the best players from across the globe all in one place. By now, we’re used to seeing Switzerland’s Alina Müller dazzle on the international stage as well as on the college circuit with Northeastern University. Fans in Boston were preparing to see her step into her first professional season with the PHF’s Boston Pride, but her contract was voided when the league was shut down earlier this summer.
At 25, she’s already got a well-decorated resume with Switzerland’s national squad and in the NCAA, where she was in the Patty Kazmaier Award conversation every single season as the college game’s top female player. (She was named a finalist in all five of her college seasons, earning a spot in the top three twice — including the 2022-23 campaign, in which she tallied 60 points 38 games as a senior.
Now, for the first time in her elite career, we’ll have the chance to see what she can do when surrounded by the top talent in the world — not just suiting up opposite them in international competition but playing alongside them as teammates in the pros and helping pave a path for more European players to follow.
While Müller is just one of many elite talents from outside Canada and the U.S. who will suit up in this new league and is well-known in hockey circles, she has the talent and resume to quickly become a truly global hockey star.
from Sportsnet.ca https://ift.tt/D4VfGho
Post a Comment