In many ways, the first two seasons of the Professional Women’s Hockey League have been a great success.
The first game of the first season was played between the Toronto Sceptres and the New York Sirens in January 2024 at a sold out Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto, with an additional 2.8 million viewers watching the live broadcast. As the season continued the core six teams, Toronto Sceptres, New York Sirens, Ottawa Charge, Montréal Victoire, Boston Fleet and Minnesota Frost, gained traction, tens of thousands travelling to attend games in person, millions more watching from their TVs.
I had the opportunity to attend a Sceptres game at the Coca-Cola Coliseum, with whom the Sceptres currently share with the Toronto Marlies, in November 2024 against the Fleet. Truth be told, I wasn’t sure what to expect but I can honestly say that even if the Sceptres had lost horribly and they’d been booed off the ice, I still would have had a wonderful time.
If you’ve never been to a game at the Coca-Cola Coliseum, which was built in 1921 for the Canadian National Exhibition and the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, the thing to note about this particular arena is how intimate it is. Most visitors are more familiar with Scotiabank Arena, home to the Toronto Maple Leafs and host for many musically talented folks, but Coca-Cola Coliseum is much smaller. The arena isn’t as towering, isn’t as tightly packed, and you as a visitor are able to walk around the arena both on the floor and at the top past the seats.
The Coca-Cola Coliseum is, for lack of a better word, friendlier. I think this aids the PWHL and Sceptres more than people might realise. Attending a Leafs game at Scotiabank Arena means, more or less, that you are chained to your seat. Because of the arena’s capacity it is incredibly difficult to do anything quickly, even using the bathroom. By making the Coca-Cola Coliseum the Sceptres home, management were able to promote the team in a more positive light.
For one, ticket prices are much more affordable since the team has a smaller renting fee. The arena itself is more physically accessible, that walkway around the top level, but also the seats not being packed in as tightly, and the standing room at the top. Kids, because there are so many kids at these games, are able to freely stretch their legs between periods without leaving the arena entirely, which is not allowed at Scotiabank Arena.
Which brings me back to why I would not have had my experience ruined if the Sceptres had lost. The kids. More importantly, girls. Yes, young girls can still have fun seeing a men’s hockey team play, especially if they are playing hockey themselves, but I cannot stress enough how important and special it is that all these young girls get to see women playing professional hockey.
Not just women, though. Women of colour, and more notably, queer women. Hockey is still an incredibly homophobic sport. Young men and boys join teams and more often than not undergo hazing that is outright harassment, and in some cases, assault. For these girls to see women who look like them, who feel like them, playing the sport they all love, and being paid a near livable wage for it? I don’t think I could put that into words.
While the impact these first two PWHL seasons have had on the sport and fanbase has been incredible, there are still some issues that need to be addressed. The one I want to bring to your attention today, though, is the term ‘rookie’ and how it has been applied to the PWHL players.
According to Hockey Reference, an “NHL rookie has played less than 25 games in a single season, less than six in the two preceding seasons, and is younger than 26 as of September 15 of that season.”
While outright searching for what constitutes a PWHL rookie yields little insight, this article on the PWHL website clarifies things. “Players eligible for the PWHL Rookie of the Year award must be competing in their first season of professional hockey in North America and begin the season in their 25th birth year or younger.”
The first contract an NHL rookie is given are what’s known as Entry-level contracts (ELC) and the length of that contract depends on the age of the player as of September 15 during the year of their first contract. A player between 18-21 will have a three year ELC. Rookies between 22 and 23 will have a two year ELC, and those that are 24 will only have one year. The maximum salary for a player drafted in 2023 was set at $950,000 annually, but that was not including signing and performing bonuses. In total, these rookies could potentially be making up to $3.5 million after bonuses.
Per an agreement between the Professional Women’s Hockey League and the Professional Women’s Hockey League Players Association solidified on July 2, 2023, lasting until July 31, 2031, “six players on each team are signed to three-year “special price agreement” contracts worth $80,000 per year and the minimum contract, excluding performance bonuses, is $35,000. …each team averages between $45,900 and $65,500 per contract in lieu of a salary cap. Each season, minimum and average salaries will increase by three percent.”
Interestingly enough, the PWHLPA was founded before the PWHL. Six years ago, over 200 women began boycotting all professional North American hockey leagues to bring to attention the injustice of the fleeting existence of professional women’s hockey leagues, unfair wages, and no health insurance, for which a full contact sport like hockey is dangerous. From this strike arose the PWHLPA, and then from that, the PWHL.
The staggering difference in rookie salary aside, calling the PWHL players rookies is misleading. Of the 52 players that joined the league for the 2024-25 season, 34 came directly from college-level. This past season (2024-25) had a total of 162 players across the six teams. It is difficult to find a direct source that outlines the playing history of all the players, but based on that number above, I think it would be safe to assume that at least half of the players had already been playing at a professional level before the formation of the PWHL as we know it.
So, are they really rookies then? Based on how the PWHL defines a rookie, yes they are. But many of them have played at a professional level before the PWHL, in leagues that now no longer exist. Even so, it doesn’t take away the experience that they gained from those professional leagues at the time, and it almost certainly gave them an edge over the players drafted directly from college. So why does joining the PWHL erase their professional history? And, if you agree that it shouldn’t, what changes could be made to properly reflect the level and skill at which these women
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