2024 Top 25 Under 25: Taylor Heise (2)

First-overall picks have high expectations, and for whom could expectations be higher than the first ever first overall pick? Taylor Heise rose to those expectations and delivered in her first professional season with PWHL Minnesota.

2023-24 season

As the first overall pick of the 2023 draft, Taylor Heise hit the ground running, headlining a high-performing PWHL Minnesota team that earned the first championship in league history. She started off the season strong, impressing audiences with her scoring touch and hockey IQ, but her campaign was affected by injury. Heise still finished fourth on Minnesota and fifth among rookies in scoring, and by the playoffs she was back in fighting form, tallying five goals and ten eight points across ten games to earn the title of Playoffs MVP.

With Team USA, Heise took home another silver medal, scoring seven points in seven games.

Past and Future

Named Ms. Hockey Minnesota in 2018, the 2022 Patty Kazmaier Award winner, and the 2022 Women's World Championship MVP, the University of Minnesota captain Taylor Heise was destined to be the first overall pick for PWHL Minnesota in the 2023 draft. At age 23, she had a resumé few could match: she boasted three gold medals at the Under-18 Women's World Championship and one MVP trophy there, and a gold and a silver with Team USA at the senior level, each of which came with the title of Top 3 Player on her team. At the college level she was coming off of two years in the top two of NCAA scoring. Heise was challenging for the title of best player in the world while she was still in college.

In her first professional season, she showed that she has the skill set to earn that title. Heise has two years remaining on her contract with PWHL Minnesota, and she is absolutely a player they’ll want to extend far beyond that short time. Heise is a player to build a franchise around. Both in Minnesota and on Team USA, expect to see her as a top-line center for many years to come.

Ranking

While I may quibble with the placement of players around Taylor Heise in the rankings, I do think that the #2 ranking is appropriate for her. She has shown that her collegiate game can translate to the professional level while maintaining her international game. I feel that without the injury that impacted her season, Heise could have shown an even better PWHL performance, and I expect to see her shine next year.