NWHL Free Agency Begins June 1

Today the NWHL announced that free agency for its fourth season will begin on June 1. All of the NWHL’s players had a one-year contract this year, which means that every player in the league has the potential to move to a new team. Last offseason we saw a great deal of player movement between the league’s four teams — with the Pride collecting most of the coveted free agents. It will be interesting to see if that trend continues this summer.

From the league’s press release:

Preparations for Season 4 of the National Women’s Hockey League are in full flight. Today, the league confirmed that Free Agency will begin on June 1. In addition, registration for prospective players that were not drafted by NWHL teams is now open at NWHL.zone/freeagency. To be eligible, players must have graduated college.

Of course, the question on everyone’s mind is how many of Team USA’s NWHL alumna will return to the league after winning gold in PyeongChang? And how many of those players will want to return to Boston to play for the Pride? One way or another the decisions made by Brianna Decker, Emily Pfalzer, Haley Skarupa, Amanda Kessel, and others will shape the landscape of NWHL free agency.

Thus far we’ve had one iconic NWHL star, Harrison Browne, announce their retirement. We’ll have to wait and see how many more players hang up their skates and leave teams with holes to fill in their rosters.