Bold Predictions for Each PWHL Team: TIG Mailbag

Your questions, my answers!

What three active players are locks to be in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

I have very little trust in the Hockey Hall of Fame selection process, but I think these first two are no-brainers.

1. Marie-Philip Poulin, PWHL Montréal

Captain Clutch, Captain Canada, MPP, Pou, whatever you call her, is a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame after she's done playing.

Putting all her accomplishments in here would be impossible, but she has four Olympic medals (three gold), 12 World Championship medals, and three professional championships.

There are only three guarantees in life: death, taxes, and Marie-Philip Poulin scoring a game-winner.

2. Hilary Knight, PWHL Boston

Probably the only other sure-fire pick from active players is Marie-Philip Poulin's character foil, Hilary Knight.

The American has 14 World Championship medals (nine gold), four Olympic medals, two CWHL championships, two NCAA championships and one NWHL championship. She was also a Patty Kazmaier finalist and won IIHF Player of the Year in 2022.

She is one of the best players to do it and I expect to see her in the Hall of Fame pretty darn soon.

3. Natalie Spooner, PWHL Toronto

I'll be honest. I really wanted to go outside the box here and go with someone like Jillian Dempsey who is a staple in the women's game and was one of the best in the pre-PWHL days.

But the HHOF really values international play, which makes sense because most of the players in the hall right now didn't play during the time of the recent professional leagues. Unfortunately, Demps hasn't played much for Team USA.

So, I'll go with another obvious one, Natalie Spooner.

Her 2024 season with PWHL Toronto was spectacular. She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and has three World Championship gold medals, plus one CWHL championship. Spoons has been a staple on Team Canada for a long time and definitely should get a spot in the Hall of Fame.

I also want to give an honorable mention to Carla MacLeod, PWHL Ottawa's Head Coach, who should 100% be in the Hall of Fame, either as a player or a builder.

Why didn't the PWHL give the teams proper names and logos for Season 1?

I don't think we'll ever know the answer to this.

The likely, non-conspiratorial reason is that they just didn't have time to do it the way that they wanted. On June 29, 2023, it was reported that the PHF had been purchased, and the Mark Walter Group and Billie Jean King Enterprises were planning to create one league.

At the end of August 2023, the teams and locations were announced, with a start date planned for January.

That didn't leave a ton of time to build teams, hire people, and get everything rolling.

We did hear about some potential team names in October when trademarks were filed by the league. The names, Boston Wicked, Minnesota Superior, Montréal Echo, New York Sound, Ottawa Alert, and Toronto Torch, faced a ton of criticism. In November, the league announced they'd be operating without team names for the season.

The longer we go without names, especially when we were expecting to have them in August (now delayed to September), the more concerned I get.

Was it the criticism of the names? Did they want to wait and see how things shook out after year one? Was it an opportunity to get people to purchase jerseys/gear from Season One and then again in Season Two when names were released?

Does Minnesota have a chance at being competitive again?

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: Yes. Unlike what we often see with NHL teams, where they win the Cup and then have to dump a lot of contracts, the PWHL teams are staying relatively the same.

Minnesota's core team is staying, all signed to multi-year deals. The team has added three draft picks (Curl, Hymlárová, Thompson) and re-signed a few key pieces (Kríšzova, Cava, Schepers), so I expect they will still be very competitive next season.

The one caveat is that we don't know how much the off-season issues have affected the team. With a new GM likely incoming, things could change between now and the start of the season.

Right now, it's still the team that Natalie Darwitz built, more or less.

What is a bold prediction for each team going into the 2024 season?

Minnesota: They will not repeat their win. This is not maybe THAT bold, but I truly think the talent is so deep across the league that it's unlikely they will go back-to-back.

Boston: Alina Müller will have a bounce-back season. I think that there are a few players who had difficult seasons adapting to the more physical standard of play in the PWHL, and Müller is one of them. Internationally, she's one of the best players in the world, and I think we'll see a return to form this year.

Montréal: Chuli and Desbiens will split the season. Last season, Montréal's goaltending duo was incredibly strong, rivaled only by Minnesota's. Desbiens played 16 games, with Chuli getting 8, but I expect those numbers to even out.

Toronto: Natalie Spooner won't be Toronto's leading scorer. Mind you, I wouldn't have said she'd be their top scorer last season either. However, I think (and hope) we'll see players like Maltais, Nurse and new-comer Watts take over some of the scoring. (Spooner will prove me wrong, I'm sure).

Ottawa: Emerance Maschmeyer will get a bit of a break this year. It was pretty clear last season that the coaching staff didn't have much confidence in Abstreiter, Maschmeyer's backup. To deal with this, the team drafted Gwyneth Philips and signed Logan Angers. I'm hoping we'll see at least a couple of starts for Philips, taking some of the heavy lifting off of Maschmeyer.

New York: New York will be the best regular season team. They had an incredibly strong draft, and I fully expect them to bounce back from a terrible first season.

Have questions? Send them to maya@kentonsmith.net for the next mailbag.