PWHL releases list of 268 eligible players for inaugural draft

The Professional Women’s Hockey League has released the list of 268 players eligible to be selected in the league’s inaugural draft on September 18.

The draft will populate the rosters of the six PWHL teams in addition to the 18 players (three per team) who signed contracts in the free agency period earlier this month.

The list, which can be found here, features 146 forwards, 78 defenders, and 44 goaltenders, all of whom declared for the draft before the deadline of September 3. The player pool contains a mix of PWHPA, PHF, NCAA, U SPORTS, and assorted national team representatives.

Of the 268 players who declared for the draft, 90 will be selected by the six teams over the course of 15 rounds. The draft is set to take place on September 18 at 1:00 p.m. ET at the CBC headquarters in downtown Toronto.

The Minnesota team will select first overall in the draft, followed by Toronto, Boston, New York, Ottawa, and Montreal. The draft will follow a snake format, meaning Montreal will pick first in the second round.

Minnesota is widely expected to pick forward Taylor Heise with the No. 1 selection. Heise, 23, is from Lake City, Minnesota and scored 65 points in 38 games as the captain of the Golden Gophers women’s team in 2022–23.

Earlier on Wednesday, the PWHL announced a multi-year sponsorship agreement with Canadian Tire. As part of the deal, the group will sponsor the draft, which will also be streamed live on CBC.

The PWHL has yet to announce team names or arenas for its six franchises, but here is how their rosters currently look leading up to the draft:

Minnesota

Kendall Coyne Schofield, F
Kelly Pannek, F
Lee Stecklein, D

Toronto

Sarah Nurse, F
Blayre Turnbull, F
Renata Fast, D

Boston

Hilary Knight, F
Megan Keller, D
Aerin Frankel, G

New York

Alex Carpenter, F
Abby Roque, F
Micah Zandee-Hart, D

Ottawa

Brianne Jenner, F
Emily Clark, F
Emerance Maschmeyer, G

Montreal

Marie-Philip Poulin, F
Laura Stacey, F
Ann-Renee Desbiens, G