The promise of possibility: PWHL could transform landscape of international hockey
CBC
Dominika Lásková was still in shock a few minutes after she was drafted to play for Montreal in the new Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL).
As she made her way to the stage to meet general manager Danièle Sauvageau, her Czech national teammates snapped photos of her, beaming with pride.
Selected in the fourth round of Monday's inaugural draft, Lásková was the first of five Czech players to hear their names called. Players from eight different countries were selected.
"Being from Europe and being from Czech, I think it's great for the little girls back home to see that there is a possibility for them to play [alongside] the best players in the world," said Lásková, a right-handed defender who can also play forward.
Lásková won a championship last season with the Toronto Six of the Premier Hockey Federation, a now-defunct league that had players from at least 10 countries competing in 2022-23, per Elite Prospects.
But there's never been a women's professional hockey league with all the best players in the world, and that's what the PWHL has set out to accomplish.
American forward Hilary Knight was one of the players who negotiated a landmark collective bargaining agreement with the new league's owners, securing benefits like a housing stipend and an average salary of $55,000 US.
They were things that didn't exist when she first started playing professional hockey in 2012 and things that drove her to become a founding board member of the Professional Women's Hockey Players' Association (PWHPA). One of the association's goals was to make it possible for the best from across the world to play in a league together.
"I'm giddy about it just from a fan's perspective as you've never seen the hockey minds meet from different countries on the women's side," Knight told reporters earlier this month.
"We see it day in and day out on the NHL side and the men's side, but we're just scratching the surface here of where we can take the game and development."
Swiss forward Alina Müller was the highest drafted European player on Monday. She was selected third overall in the PWHL's draft by Boston, allowing her to stay in the city where she racked up points with Northeastern University over the last few years.
Müller believes the league is going to help close the gap between Canada, the United States and the rest of the world. She pointed to Finland, Czech Republic and Switzerland as some of the countries that are already on the rise and providing a challenge to traditional powerhouses.
"It's going to make it more competitive for everybody," Müller said. "The European hockey style is going to get closer and closer to how hockey is played here."
WATCH | Alina Müller reacts after being picked by Boston in PWHL draft:
