PWHL Draft Takeaways: Fillier goes first, Ohio State wins big, mystery surrounds Kessel

The 2024 PWHL Draft is officially in the books as the league welcomed 42 talented new players into the fold across all six markets Monday night.

Twenty-four forwards, 15 defenders, and three goaltenders were selected from the class of 2024, which featured a heavy NCAA influence and an early wave of international talent.

The night started off as predicted, with New York smartly staying on script to select Team Canada’s Sarah Fillier out of Princeton, followed by Ottawa landing Danielle Serdachny at second overall. Defence factored in prominently, with Claire Thompson (third to Minnesota) and Cayla Barnes (fifth to Montreal) selected early on while both Boston and Toronto got exacted what they most needed: scoring for Boston in Ohio State’s Hannah Bilka gift-wrapped at fourth overall, and a prototypical power forward (in the vein of Natalie Spooner) for Toronto, in Julia Gosling at No. 6.

But the draft featured a few surprises, too, with some top forwards falling down the draft order. From some of the evening’s biggest wins to its most notable and intriguing picks, here’s a collection of takeaways from Monday’s PWHL Draft.

New era in New York as Sarah Fillier drafted first overall

For the second straight year, PWHL partner and women’s sports icon Billie Jean King took to the podium to welcome players, teams, and viewers — both in-house at Saint Paul, Minnesota's Roy Wilkins Auditorium and watching from afar — before announcing the first pick of the night. No surprise here; the Princeton captain and Team Canada star had been slated to go No. 1 overall from the start, and that’s exactly what happened.

Just as there was very little question that we’d be hearing Fillier’s name first on Monday night, there’s really no questioning the immediate impact the dynamic forward will be able to make upon landing in New York. The 30-goal scorer this season will bring an instant scoring boost to her new pro squad — one that ranked second last in goals over the course of the regular season and struggled to drum up much offence beyond its top line, led by Alex Carpenter.

While the selection of Fillier was, of course, the headliner of Monday’s draft, New York had an eventful evening overall, including closing out the top 10 with a splash. GM Pascal Daoust pulled off the league’s first draft-night swap (trades weren’t permitted at the inaugural draft, and teams couldn’t deal away any future draft picks this year) as New York moved its second-round pick (seventh overall) and pick No. 37 to Boston in exchange for the 10^th, 16^th, and 28^th picks. Getting a little extra draft capital in a class as deep as this one was a smart move for the team that struggled throughout the 2024 campaign in several categories. Doing so without sacrificing the ability to land a top defender made the move look even better. With the 10th-overall pick, New York targeted its blue line with the drafting of Sweden’s Maja Nylén Persson. At just 23 years old, she’s already got a résumé a mile long, having been named Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) defender of the year three years running while leading all blue liners in points all three seasons. Noora Tulus, a veteran Finnish forward out of the Swedish pro league, was a steal in the third round — she was the SDHL’s top scorer last year and gives New York more depth down the middle. Centre was a much-needed position for New York, and they stocked up accordingly with five of their eight picks on the night dedicated to centres (they also took two defenders and a netminder to round out their haul).

Ohio State well-represented in Class of 2024

The Ohio State Buckeyes were crowned NCAA champions earlier this spring, and can now lay claim to another victory after hockey’s best gathered on Monday night. A whopping eight players were drafted out of Ohio State’s program, including back-to-back first-round picks and three Buckeyes within the first two rounds. Two of those top-12 picks, defender Cayla Barnes and forward Jennifer Gardiner, were selected by Montreal with picks No. 5 and 11, respectively. The national champs’ leading scorer, Hannah Bilka, landed in Boston’s lap at fourth overall after Minnesota opted to take a defender third overall (Canada’s Claire Thompson) rather than upgrade its offence.

While the Buckeyes were the best-represented of the class of 2024, there weren’t the only program to shine on the draft stage. Colgate, too, had a really strong showing. Headlined by Canadian forward Danielle Serdachny being scooped up second overall by Ottawa, the Raiders saw five players selected Monday night. Two Raiders, fittingly, landed in New York where they’ll be coached by a familiar face in Greg Fargo, former coach of Colgate’s women’s program who was named New York’s bench boss last week.

Global presence felt on draft stage with strong SDHL influence

The United States led the way in terms of players drafted, with 20 American players selected Monday night followed by 13 Canadians. While college programs, predictably, accounted for the majority of draft picks Monday night (28 coming out of the NCAA, with one — Concordia University’s Emmy Fecteau going to New York in Round 6 — from U SPORTS), there was another major presence on the draft stage: the SDHL, which saw three players drafted in the top 10.

Nine players were drafted out of the Swedish pro league, the PWHL welcoming the wave of international talent coming over after watching the first season from afar and making the jump for Year 2. The SDHL, like its men’s hockey counterpart, is known for its defensive-forward game and that showed among its top PWHL-bound prospects, with all three top-10 picks (Daniela Pejšová, Ronja Savolainen, and Maja Nylén Persson) suiting up on the blue line. Two of them, Pejšová and Savolainen, are D partners for Luleå HF, which had a total of four players drafted to the PWHL on Monday.

Pejšová, a Czechia standout who, at 21 years old, has already played several years in the pros, was the first international player off the board to Boston. They traded up to get her at seventh overall — a smart play, considering Ottawa was picking eighth and likely would’ve scooped her up there as Carla McLeod, who coaches Team Czechia when she’s not behind the bench in Ottawa, knows the young rearguard well. Instead, it’s her Luleå D partner, Savolainen, who lands in Canada’s capital, the first Swedish-born player drafted in the PWHL.

Both players bring size to the blue line and an ability to drive puck possession from the back end. Pejšová, in particular, takes pride in playing a physical game — something that will serve her well in the PWHL.

Of the players drafted out of the SDHL, four spent the 2023-24 season with league champion Luleå. The SDHL wasn’t the only international league represented — Boston selected Russian forward Ilona Markova out of Russia’s idel Ufa of the ZhHL, the lone Russian-born player drafted. (Two of the SDHL players were American.)

In addition to the 33 players hailing from North America, the PWHL draft saw three Czechia players selected, two each from Sweden and Finland, and one each from Austria and Russia.

Philips, Daniel, Kessel among top steals of draft

One of the questions heading into the evening was at the goaltending position — despite some significant talent in net, it was anyone’s guess where the top netminders of the night might go. It was Ottawa that took the first goalie off the board in Gwyneth Philips, whose outstanding numbers at Northeastern had her the unquestioned top netminder of this year’s draft class. She’s a steal at 14^th overall.

More surprising was the fact that two of the top forwards available Monday night lasted as long as they did. At 18^th overall, Toronto took Cornell forward Izzy Daniel to close out the third round. Daniel won the Patty Kazmaier Award this season as the top college player on the circuit, and it was more than a little surprising to see her still on the board through two rounds of selections. She’s a shifty player, dynamic goal-scorer, and has excellent stick work. Pair her skill with Toronto’s hard-hitting power forwards, and you’ve got a really fun offence in Toronto.

The biggest mystery of draft night, though, was seeing Team USA legend Amanda Kessel still on the board as the final picks were announced. At 33, and coming off a year away from playing as she focused on her job in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ front office, there are questions about how much longer Kessel will play, sure, though that didn’t stop teams from signing and drafting veteran players in the their 30s last fall to build around. Despite her hiatus from playing, she’d made it clear she wasn’t retiring just yet and by declaring for the draft this spring she signalled her desire to suit up again. And yet, the more selections made without hearing Kessel’s name, the more rumours emerged about the idea that Kessel might not play after all, but instead join a squad’s management team. Or, perhaps more likely, she would have gone undrafted and signed as a free agent wherever she wished

In the end, she was selected with the second-last pick of the night, 41^st overall to Montreal, where she could be playing alongside the likes of Marie-Philip Poulin… how fun would that be? Whether or not she winds up lacing up her skates, Montreal was smart to take a chance on the talented veteran. And considering head coach Kori Cheverie’s own ties to Pittsburgh — she was a coaching consultant there in the pre-season before being hired by PWHL Montreal —  there’s a fun Penguins tie-in here regardless. Kessel’s status will be a storyline to watch this off-season.