What’s the Professional Women’s Hockey League, and how’s it different from the hockey you’ve seen before?
The PWHL, founded in 2022, is the most popular professional sports league for women’s hockey. It shares a lot of its DNA with the NHL, home to the Seattle Kraken. The basics for men — six players on the ice, three periods, highest score wins — are the same. The leagues are not exact twins, however.
THE BASICS
Beyond obvious differences of history and gender, the PWHL has used its smaller status to innovate on existing rules and make a centuries-old game feel new again.
Power plays
There’s no free throw line in hockey. Instead, whenever a player breaks a rule, they have to go to the penalty box, a chamber in which they sit and watch the game unfold for two to five minutes, while their team plays without them and has to deal with one less defender to protect the puck or one less forward to press the offense. The steam is “shorthanded,” in hockey lingo.
As for the other team, a penalty makes for a golden opportunity to exploit a player’s absence, what’s called a “power play,” when the opposing team has an advantage in numbers. Many of the game’s most exciting plays happen in this small window of time.
Jailbreak rule
While shorthanded teams usually focus on survival and protecting the goal, there’s the rare instance when they actually score. In the PWHL only, these lucky goals allow the penalized player to immediately leave the penalty box (called a “jailbreak”), regardless of how much time remains on their sentence. It’s a fun bonus that encourages active play among shorthanded teammates. If they somehow defy the odds, their victory becomes just a bit sweeter!
No-escape rule
When a power play begins in the NHL, the shorthanded team can quickly swap their nonpenalized players on the fly, in the hopes of staying competitive. PWHL teams don’t have that same privilege. Whoever’s on the ice is required to stay there until their penalized teammate is let out of the box, no matter how tired they are or how ill-prepared they might be. They have to keep playing.
Checks
Hockey players wear guards, pads, and helmets for a reason. The sport simply wouldn’t be the same without checks, which is when one player uses the force of their body to separate an opponent from the puck. If you have a quick temper and an instinct for delivering beatdowns, this is the game for you!
Of course, checks come with their fair share of rules. Whereas the men of the NHL have free range to knock each other around, the PWHL insists that players can only check each other when they’re intending to “gain possession” of the puck. Thankfully, wanting the puck is a consistent part of the game, so you’ll still see plenty of physicality in any match. This rule intends instead to prevent feuding that can — too easily — break out into a fight.
Point system
Another odd quirk of the PWHL is that basic wins and losses don’t determine your playoff chances. Instead, each game earns you “points”: three for a straightforward win, but only two if you win in overtime. This system ends up rewarding teams that decisively win, less so for teams who struggle more.
THE PLAYERS
Hilary Knight
Knight is truly in a class of her own. She’s a four-time Olympic medalist and Team USA and former Boston Fleet captain. She leads the league in combined goals and assists. The PWHL was built to create more icons like Knight, but for now, she’s the lone player you could describe as a superstar. Seattle sent a clear message when they signed her: we’re already a contender by simply having Hilary Knight on our team. Whenever she plays, she leaves an impact.
Knight’s leadership and play style will almost certainly define Seattle’s offense on the ice. She’s an all-around forward and a natural playmaker, able to both score and assist in equal measure. She’ll be the anchoring force for a lot of exciting moments, and through her passing game, she’ll create opportunities for her costars to show off their unique talents.
Corrine Schroeder
They called her “Shutdown Schroeder” in the Big Apple. She was the first goaltender to hold a PWHL team to zero points. She’s one of a few goalies to have made 500 saves. She’s got a storied career of disappointing opponents with the shot that “almost went in.”
The best goalies in the game will give you a chance to win, every night, even when your offense has an off day. A first-year team like Seattle is destined to learn and make mistakes as they go, so Schroeder’s mere presence on the ice will be a lifesaver.
Alex Carpenter & Hannah Bilka
Every good captain needs a trusty second-in-command, and luckily for Knight, Seattle’s brought in two of her old friends to help support her ambitions. Alex Carpenter is a reliable member of Team USA who has regularly shared the ice with Knight over the last decade. On her own in New York, she’s been an absolute beast: she earned the most points last year, with five goals and 13 assists, during power plays. Do you need someone who can deliver in a clutch moment? You call the Carpenter.
Hannah Bilka, meanwhile, has idolized Knight since she was a teenager in Texas. Now, living out her dream scenario, she plays alongside her hero as a promising young sophomore, first for the Boston Fleet and now in Seattle. On the ice, Bilka is a speedster who can scramble out of tough situations. She’ll juke out opposing defenders and leave the whole team disoriented if they aren’t careful enough.
The possibility of Knight, Carpenter, and Bilka playing together on the same team was immediately recognized by insiders as a dangerous triple threat. So much so, Vancouver was expected to steal Bilka away from Seattle in the expansion draft, but they chose Toronto defender Ashton Bell with their #1 pick instead. If this deadly trio ends up dominating, Vancouver might have some buyer’s remorse.
Aneta Tejralová
In 2022, Tejralová and Knight faced off as opponents on hockey’s biggest stage: the Winter Olympics. As the captain for her home country, Czechia, Tejralová led with conviction, but Team USA ultimately outplayed her. That year in the States, Tejralová and Knight were teammates with the Boston Pride. Last year, they were rivals yet again. Now, they’re allies once more.
Tejralová’s experience on defense and her on-and-off professional relationship with Knight make her an easy veteran to rely on for the Torrent. She’ll share a lot in common with a younger player on the roster, Cayla Barnes: They’re both defenders who bring an offensive edge to their play. They’re both capable of unexpectedly scoring when your eyes are off them. If they both find success on the ice, then they’ll further shape Seattle into the image of a dangerous, unpredictable powerhouse.
Jessie Eldridge
Seattle’s top three (Knight, Carpenter, and Bilka) won’t be the only ones bringing offensive firepower. The team’s backups, substituting for the starters off the bench, are talented in their own right. Danielle Serdachny will seek redemption after an underwhelming 2024, while Julia Gosling’s coming off an explosive playoff debut in Toronto, fueled by her strength, size, and ability to apply pressure during power plays.
The most unique forward in Seattle’s arsenal, however, would be Jessie Eldridge. Whereas most players score with midrange shots, Eldridge has found success by getting unexpectedly close to the opponent’s net, sneaking the puck in with tricky corner shots. She’ll be the card up Seattle’s sleeve, whenever a strong defense calls for an unorthodox solution.
THE RIVALS
Vancouver Goldeneyes
Seattle’s first-ever game won’t be at home but instead 150 miles away, debuting simultaneously with Vancouver in a “new team vs. new team” matchup. Why it’s happening this way is obvious. The league would love a cross-border rivalry, similar to what’s brewed between the Kraken and Canucks over the years, so it has built it into the schedule.
Whether these teams will actually butt heads, beyond the game itself, that’s yet to be seen. We can predict, however, that the Goldeneyes will be a genuine challenge on the ice. Our Canadian neighbor took advantage of all the same playing-stealing opportunities as we’ve been given, but they’re working with a different strategy. Rather than front-loading their offense with superstars, they’ve built depth on both sides of the puck. The backup’s backup in Vancouver will still be immensely talented.
They’ve also got the mind of Brian Idalski, a veteran collegiate coach who is both feared and praised for his hockey IQ. These two unique advantages give Vancouver a level of versatility, an ability to freely mix and match different players, that Seattle simply doesn’t have. Vancouver could survive a season-ending injury, whereas Seattle needs Knight, Barnes, and Carpenter to continually perform well and stay healthy. They’re the reliable Jeep with spare tires. We’re the million-dollar sports car without an airbag.
New York Sirens
It’s difficult for a team to find itself in a rut of mediocrity when its league is only three years old, and yet here we have New York. The Sirens have been last in the standings for two years in a row.
Even worse, Seattle just took three of their starters, Schroeder, Carpenter, and Eldridge, off New York’s roster during the summer. How do you clean up a mess when people are constantly moving in and out of your house?
By drafting Kristyna Kaltounkoya, the #1 collegiate forward with a lethal shot, New York is trying its best to make up for Carpenter’s absence. Will they be able to find a way out of last place? Only time will tell, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
Boston Fleet
The Fleet, who play in the historically industrial city of Lowell, are a scrappy bunch, with a history of cultivating young up-and-comers. Its players are the only ones to have actually started a fight on the ice! We know they’ll survive losing Hilary Knight on offense, because they shocked everyone by leaving her unprotected throughout the offseason.
Whether Boston made the right call, given Knight’s potential retirement and hefty price tag, has been a hot-button topic in the league’s comment sections for months. They’ve only got one season to prove their doubters wrong. If the Fleet can win a double-digit number of games, without or even against Knight, they’ll likely become the lovable underdogs of the playoffs.
Minnesota Frost
They’ve been holding onto the Walter Cup, the PWHL’s prestigious trophy, since it could be held in the first place. Despite the challenges of an uber-competitive league, and having to endure multiple grueling overtimes during last year’s finals, they somehow survived and established their dominance as the league’s one — and so far only — champions.
This year, they’ll once again try to defy the odds and go for the elusive “three-peat,” the incredibly rare feat of winning three championships in a row. Patrick Mahomes’ Chiefs tried and failed to do it at the height of their powers. Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal were the last to do it, long ago as teammates on the Lakers. Such an accomplishment would make the Frost a genuine dynasty in the pro sports world.
You’d think the team’s near-mythic success would convince players to stay put during expansion, and yet, Vancouver was able to lure the team’s two best defenders, Claire Thompson and Sophie Jaques, out of Minnesota. Still, the Frost’s incredibly versatile offense remains, as does a clubhouse culture of self-belief and resilience. They always find a way to punish those who write them off.
Ottawa Charge
Just a year ago, the Charge was competing against Minnesota in the PWHL finals. Now, their defense has been completely stripped for parts. Vancouver signed away their star goalie, Emerance Maschmeyer, then stole their best defender, Ashton Bell, in the expansion draft.
Tejralová was taken by Seattle right after in the draft, a brutal moment that analyst Emma Buckles later described as a “double homicide.” Ottawa has now been forced to cobble together an all-new defense with free agents and draft picks. The team’s offense will remain strong, but expect Ottawa’s opponents to take advantage of its growing pains around the goalpost.
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