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2023 Women's Pro Hockey Offseason: New League? Defections?

Scott_TG

Scott_TG

Well-known member
While we wait for the rumored PWPHA league, the PHF is going into its off season with a doubled salary cap of $1.5 million and 20 of the 22 rostered players for each team must make at least $30,000 for the season with a cap floor of $1,125,00 per team. Former Harvard captain Nicole Corriero is the union Executive Director for the PHF players (her PWHPA counterpart is Northeastern grad Kendall Coyne Schofield).

The defending champion Toronto Six have already committed 10% of the new cap to Badgers great Daryl Watts for $150k.

The CT Whale has announced that 35 year old former Olympian Kacey Bellamy has signed for $122k.

I don't know if there are any players who signed 2 year agreements prior to last season and are still under contract.

Will the doubled cap entice PWHPA players outside of the top stars to defect if the price is right? Will the PWHPA deliver on their promises or return to barnstorming for another year?

With the new cap they might want to try and entice some of the better known players even a little past their prime. Could the Whitecaps draw more eyes with the Lameroux twins if they are in hockey shape? Toronto has a lot committed to Watts but Spooner is fairly well known having done reality shows and the like and can probably still outplay many of the 2022-23 players
 
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Scott_TG said:
Could the Whitecaps draw more eyes with the Lameroux twins if they are in hockey shape?
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I'm not sure how big a draw the Lam's would be in the T.C. market, given their NCAA history. Might draw more fans as visitors, like the villains in pro wrestling.
 
ARM said:
I'm not sure how big a draw the Lam's would be in the T.C. market, given their NCAA history. Might draw more fans as visitors, like the villains in pro wrestling.
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You might be able to answer how many Gopher victories over North Dakota ended with one of the Lameroux sisters sitting in the penalty box.
 
Steamboat said:
You might be able to answer how many Gopher victories over North Dakota ended with one of the Lameroux sisters sitting in the penalty box.
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The most important one did. They were actually a little better while playing with the whioux than they were while wearing maroon and gold.
 
2023 PHF Rookie of the Year and Goalie of the Year Corinne Schroeder along with 2020 Patty Kazmeier winner Elizabeth Giguere leave Boston to sign with Montreal.
 
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The Metropolitan Riveters have signed Olympian Nora Raaty to one year deal and she has elected to keep terms private.

The Minnesota Whitecaps have signed two rookies: MSU grads Brooke Bryant and Claire Butorac.

Montreal made a third poach this offseason, signing defender Emma Keenan away from the Connecticut Whale. Montreal also adds rookie Theresa Schafzahl from UVM.
 
The writer of the article you posted still implies the PWHPA league is imminent. If that's true why would Raty, a member of their board, jump ship so far into their journey from barnstormers to a league?

Either there is no league or the terms the PWHPA agreed to are worse than what the PHF is offering.

More news:

The Riveters have signed another Finnish Olympian in Susanna Tapani.

The Connecticut Whale have signed German goaltender Sandra Abstreiter as a rookie out of Providence College.
 
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Northeastern alumnae Chloe Aurard and Alina Mueller have signed with the Boston Pride (Aurard story, Mueller story); Yale graduating captain Claire Dalton is signing with the Toronto 6, and there's a story about her (Dalton story). (As a note, she played 4 years, rather than 3, and the "scholarship" mention is misleading since Yale does not give athletic scholarships per se.)
 
Top story today is there is an overseas club in talks to move to Calgary and join the PHF, though the deal is not necessarily close. I saw speculation it is Kunlun Red Star, in which case the PHF should tread carefully considering how things fell apart for the CWHL within a couple of years of KRS involvement
 
Boston has signed 2 rookies who could have a very big impact: Sophie Shirley out of Wisconsin and Gabrielle David from Clarkson
 
A couple more rookie signings in the PHF:
Emma Soderberg (G, UMD and Swedish national team) to the Connecticut Whale for a 2-year contract - she had 12 shutouts this season with UMD and a fantastic Worlds with Sweden;

and Zoe Boyd (D, Quinnipiac - Caledon East, ON) to the Boston Pride for a 1-year contract - she had a successful college career as blueliner.

These seem like significant gets for the PHF.

The PWHPA will look for about 40-50 more players if it is to expand to form a 6-team league in fall 2023, this article of May 2 reports. Some of the players mentioned there have since officially joined PHF teams.

Here's another recent story, on Victory Press, recapping developments with the PWHPA. Players who participated in this past Secret Dream Gap Tour are generally, reportedly, contracted through August. The competition between the two leagues may be helping create a living wage for the players.
 
I saw it posted earlier, but Sophie Shirley officially signs with the Boston Pride: https://thehockeynews.com/womens/phf/pride-continue-their-ncaa-haul-signing-sophie-shirley

It's interesting from the western fan perspective as the Badgers had generally been nonexistent in the PHF in recent years (Maddie Rowe, Claudia Kepler and Brianna Blesi were the three I could think of) but with Watts last year and Shirley this year the tide seems to be turning. That's definitely going to help the perception that the PHF was kind of a niche northeast league.
 
BadgerPete said:
I saw it posted earlier, but Sophie Shirley officially signs with the Boston Pride: https://thehockeynews.com/womens/phf/pride-continue-their-ncaa-haul-signing-sophie-shirley

It's interesting from the western fan perspective as the Badgers had generally been nonexistent in the PHF in recent years (Maddie Rowe, Claudia Kepler and Brianna Blesi were the three I could think of) but with Watts last year and Shirley this year the tide seems to be turning. That's definitely going to help the perception that the PHF was kind of a niche northeast league.
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The Whitecaps were in 3 of the last 4 Isobel Cup championship games. Not sure how anyone could perceive that as being a northeast league...
 
Two more rookies join the Metropolitan Riveters. They signed Lauren Dabrowski (D, Lindenwood/St. Francis Xavier, U Sports - Tiny, ON) and Noemi Neubauerova (F, Colgate/Providence - Kolin, CZ/Team Czechia). (Riveters press release.) Neubauerova has a bronze medal at this year's Worlds and was among the top couple players at Providence. The league does have most of its teams in the northeast, although especially this year the players seem to be eclectic in their geography.
 
Player --------- Position - University - Worlds (WC) or Home - Pro team, Country - Date [TABLE="class: MsoTableGrid "]
[TR="class: cke_show_border"]
[TD]Sara Hjalmarsson[/TD]
[TD]F[/TD]
[TD]Providence[/TD]
[TD]WC, Sweden[/TD]
[TD]Linkoping, SWE[/TD]
[TD]4/19[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: cke_show_border"]
[TD]Kristyna Patkova[/TD]
[TD]F[/TD]
[TD]Vermont[/TD]
[TD]WC, Czechia[/TD]
[TD]Linkoping, SWE[/TD]
[TD]4/24[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: cke_show_border"]
[TD]Lauren Bellefontaine[/TD]
[TD]F[/TD]
[TD]Syracuse[/TD]
[TD]Kemptville, ON[/TD]
[TD]MoDo, SWE[/TD]
[TD]4/28[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: cke_show_border"]
[TD]Sini Karjalainen[/TD]
[TD]D[/TD]
[TD]Vermont[/TD]
[TD]WC, Finland[/TD]
[TD]Brynas, SWE[/TD]
[TD]5/3[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: cke_show_border"]
[TD]Andrea Braendli[/TD]
[TD]G[/TD]
[TD]Ohio State/BU[/TD]
[TD]WC, Switzerland[/TD]
[TD]MoDo, SWE[/TD]
[TD]5/9[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: cke_show_border"]
[TD]Jenniina Nylund[/TD]
[TD]F[/TD]
[TD]St. Cloud State[/TD]
[TD]WC, Finland[/TD]
[TD]Brynas, SWE[/TD]
[TD]5/10[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: cke_show_border"]
[TD]Shay Maloney[/TD]
[TD]F[/TD]
[TD]Brown/Quinnipiac[/TD]
[TD]McHenry, IL[/TD]
[TD]Leksands, SWE[/TD]
[TD]5/15[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: cke_show_border"]
[TD]Abby Moloughney[/TD]
[TD]F[/TD]
[TD]Syracuse/Ottawa[/TD]
[TD]Ottawa, ON[/TD]
[TD]MoDo, SWE[/TD]
[TD]5/25[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: cke_show_border"]
[TD]Eleri MacKay[/TD]
[TD]F[/TD]
[TD]Colgate/Penn State[/TD]
[TD]Brookfield, WI[/TD]
[TD]Fribourg, SUI[/TD]
[TD]5/25[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: cke_show_border"]
[TD]Tanner Gates[/TD]
[TD]D[/TD]
[TD]Colgate[/TD]
[TD]Oceanside, CA[/TD]
[TD]Fribourg, SUI[/TD]
[TD]5/25[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
Since April, Swedish or Swiss teams have signed 10 or more rookie players graduating from universities. The players above are compiled from the elite prospects hockey site, and the dates show when the signings were confirmed. (I hope that you don't mind the color-coding with the team colors or national colors, haha.)

Five of the players played in this year's Worlds for European teams, and five others are from the US or Canada and didn't play at Worlds.

Europe seems to be an excellent option for some strong players to choose.
 
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