PWHL Teams Announce Free Agencies, GMs

As of Wednesday, three of the PWHL’s teams have signed all three of their available free agency spots. Brianne Jenner, Emerance Maschmeyer and Emily Clark agreed to terms with Ottawa; Kendall Coyne Schofield, Lee Stecklein and Kelly Pannek will be playing in Minnesota; and Sarah Nurse, Renata Fast and Blayre Turnbull have signed with Toronto.

Though unconfirmed by the leagues or teams, the Athletic’s Hailey Salvian has reported on the locations or probably locations of some of the game’s biggest stars. Abby Roque has reportedly signed with New York, while Hilary Knight is expected to go to Boston.

The announcement of Montréal’s reported – and unsurprising– signing of Marie-Philip Poulin, Ann-Renée Desbiens and Laura Stacey is expected to come Thursday, per Christine Roger.

Each of these free agency players have been signed to three year contracts.

Still upcoming is the league’s draft. The results of a draft lottery determined the order in which teams would select players in the first round. Minnesota won the first pick, to be followed by Toronto, Boston, New York, Ottawa, then Montréal.

Any players not signed during the remainder of the free agency period will go into the draft, assuming they are both eligible and declared for it.

After the first round of selections, the draft will follow a “snake format” in which each round, teams select in the reverse order of how they picked in the previous round.

In addition to player signings, the original six teams’ general managers have also been announced. Quinnipiac University alum and former Boston Bruins Player Development and Scouting Assistant Danielle Marmer will be Boston’s GM. Olympians Natalie Darwitz and Gina Kingsbury will be Minnesota’s and Toronto’s, respectively. Danièle Sauvageau adds yet another executive position to her résumé as Montréal’s first GM.

Pascal Daoust (New York) and Michael Hirschfeld (Ottawa) round out the cadre of general managers.

As the PWHL draft, and even the league’s inaugural season, draws closer, the six teams are beginning to take shape.

Stay tuned for more hockey content, including off-season moves and prospect updates.

Featured content courtesy of Harry How/TNS

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