The 2025 Professional Women’s Hockey League draft is heading to Ottawa this summer, the league announced on Tuesday morning.
The PWHL’s third annual entry draft will be hosted at Ottawa’s new (yet to be opened) Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on Tuesday, June 24, starting at 7 p.m. ET.
It will be the first time the draft is hosted in Ottawa, one of the league’s original six markets, and the first time the event will be held in Canada since the inaugural 2023 draft in Toronto, where Taylor Heise was taken first overall by the Minnesota Frost. Last year’s draft, along with the PWHL Awards, was hosted in Minneapolis, Minn.
According to the release, this will be the first event held at the Hard Rock Live theater venue, which is part of the $350 million renovation and expansion project of the local Rideau Carleton Casino.
The draft declaration window will be open until May 8; all prospective players interested in playing in 2025-26 must declare for the draft to be eligible for selection and subsequent free agency.
The PWHL also announced several top players who, as of Monday afternoon, had already made their official declaration. The group is led by 2025 Patty Kazmaier Award winner Casey O’Brien, who led the NCAA in scoring this season with 88 points in 41 games en route to a third national championship with the Wisconsin Badgers; Czech forward Kristýna Kaltounková, one of the top 10 finalists for the Patty Kazmaier after a 26-goal season for Colgate; and U.S. national team defender Haley Winn, who led Clarkson University in scoring over her final two seasons.
Defenders Nicole Gosling, who won gold with Canada at last year’s world championship, and Rory Guilday, who won gold with Team USA in 2023, are among the other highlights announced by the league.
Forwards Abby Newhook (Boston College), Anne Cherkowski (Clarkson) and Natálie Mlýnková (Minnesota), as well as goalie Hannah Murphy (Colgate), have also declared.
U.S. forward Abbey Murphy could be the consensus No. 1 pick should she declare for this year’s draft. But she still has the option to return to the University of Minnesota for one final season. If Murphy returns to the NCAA, O’Brien would be the top prospect available.
O’Brien is an all-situations center with vision and a solid shot, and was among the best players in the faceoff dot last season. She finished her college career as the all-time points leader in Wisconsin hockey history, with 274 points in 183 career games.
There’s a case to be made for Winn in the No. 1 spot, given the premium general managers typically put on defenders. Winn is an offensively gifted right-shot defender who could upgrade any team’s blue line and top power play. She has also played against top competition for years as a member of Team USA, and is currently playing in her third straight women’s world championship in Czechia.
Selecting Winn would be the first time a defender went No. 1 at the draft in the PWHL’s short history.
Last year, the New York Sirens drafted star forward Sarah Fillier first overall after winning the Gold Plan, the league’s innovative approach to determining its draft order. Essentially, in the PWHL, the draft order is determined by how many points a team earns after being eliminated from the playoffs.
No teams have been mathematically eliminated from the 2024-25 season yet, but the Sirens once again sit last in the league standings and could start accumulating draft points soon after the PWHL returns from its international break for women’s worlds.
According to the PWHL, the Gold Plan will be used again this season, and the team that accrues the most points after elimination will get the top pick among the league’s current six franchises.
It’s unclear how potential expansion might impact the draft order.
(Photo: Dave Kallmann / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)