Grant-Mentis opens up about PHF's demise, tough road to new era for women's hockey

Mikyla Grant-Mentis was on the ice when news broke that her league, the Premier Hockey Federation, was no more.

On Thursday, at 8 p.m. ET, players from the PHF convened with league leadership on Zoom for what was expected to be an annual, run-of-the-mill meeting. “We normally have these town halls before the season starts, and they kind of just explain everything that's going to happen during the season,” Grant-Mentis says.

The 2021 PHF MVP spends her off-seasons coaching a double-A team in her hometown of Brampton, Ont., so she wasn’t able to make the call. She figured if anything noteworthy came up, her teammates would let her know.

“At 8:05, I had five people text me and say, ‘Oh my god, the league’s over,’” she says.

During that call, players were informed that the PHF had been purchased by the Mark Walter Group and Billie Jean King Enterprises, the entities that a year ago partnered with the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association to plan the launch of a new women’s hockey league. An official statement, released the next day, spelled out the new era for the sport — one long-awaited unified league, featuring all of women’s hockey’s best, and financed by owners with deep pockets, like Walter, the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks.

For the PWHPA, the new league will represent a long-sought goal finally reached. But for those who until late last week suited up in the PHF, the landmark moment brings with it a drastic, unexpected change of course.

“I got off the ice and was like, ‘Holy crap, I need to get on this call to see what's happening,’” Grant-Mentis remembers. “It didn't really last much longer than that, because I feel like everyone was honestly pretty blindsided and didn't really have much to say. We didn't really know what was happening at that point.”

In the days since, more details have emerged. A new collective bargaining agreement has been ratified for the yet-to-be-named, six-team league, which will begin its inaugural season in January 2024. But while there’s plenty of excitement surrounding that new prospect, for PHF players — who had their contracts terminated when their league was sold, and have had little say in how their group moves forward — much is still uncertain.

“You know, the first few days were definitely very tough,” Grant-Mentis says. “Because we were expecting to make a certain amount of money next year, have our plans set — pretty much getting ready to move back to Buffalo, for me. And then in a very short Zoom call, it was kind of all just torn down.”

With a contract already inked for the 2023-24 season, Grant-Mentis had planned out her full off-season calendar before last week’s news dropped. Like every other pro athlete, she was to spend the coming months training, travelling, getting physically and mentally ready for the campaign ahead. “Now, I'm in the position where I'm like, ‘Oh crap, I need to find a job,’” the former PHF scoring champion says. “I won't have money to last to December, because of all the things that I have to pay for. That's what I was really thinking about in those days — I was like, ‘Oh my God, I have to find a job, I have to cancel my trip that I was going to go on in August,’ because financially, I'd rather save that money than go on vacation.

“That was pretty much the first couple of days: trying to figure out what the heck I'm going to do for the next six months to pay all the bills that I have.”

For Grant-Mentis, this shift to a new league brings another obstacle to be hurdled in a career that’s been full of them. Underestimated and overlooked for much of her time in the game, the 24-year-old toiled to establish herself as one of the PHF’s marquee players. The work paid off. Grant-Mentis finished as the league’s scoring champion and MVP in her rookie season, and last year became the highest-paid player in the league when she inked a one-year, $80,000 USD deal with the Buffalo Beauts. (A mark later eclipsed by Daryl Watts with the Toronto Six.)

Now, she’ll join a pool of former PWHPA and PHF players vying for spots in the new league, and will have to negotiate for what’s likely to be a lesser contract. According to reporting on the recently agreed-upon CBA from The Athletic’s and Sportsnet 960’s Hailey Salvian, salaries in the new league will range from $35,000 to $80,000, and potentially higher. The agreement reportedly stipulates that at least six players on each roster must be signed to deals worth at least $80,000 per year, while nine players or fewer on each roster can be signed to the league minimum of $35,000.

Which means, for Grant-Mentis, the best-case scenario is likely getting what she was already owed. More likely, she’ll have to take a step backwards.

“I was signed to go to Buffalo, making close to $100,000 USD,” she says. Earning a similar deal in the new league would mean landing among one of the teams’ top six signings — 36 roster spots that will also be sought by the rest of the marquee stars from the PHF, and the cadre of Olympic veterans from the PWHPA.

Not to mention, it’s unknown at this time if anyone in the new league will be signed for more than $80,000, as the CBA reportedly permits, or if teams will prefer to stick to that threshold in Year 1.

“If I'm able to even make that much, it will be the same that I made the year previously, which is definitely a livable wage, and definitely something that I hope many people can make in the league next year. Losing out on $20,000 is kind of a big hit but, you know, it's just — that's how it is,” Grant-Mentis says. “I don't really have any input, because no one really asked us what we think about it. So, we kind of just have to go with what's going on. And hopefully in a couple of years, we'll be back up to making $100,000 and everyone being able to survive off the money that they'll be paid.”

While Grant-Mentis’s own situation won’t be what she envisioned when the off-season began, it’s not her future she’s worried about as the North American pro game transitions to its new reality. Instead, it’s the friends and teammates who aren’t as likely to make the new league she’s worried about, the ones who have difficult decisions to make as they navigate the impact of such a sharp left turn.

“I really do think people are kind of missing the whole story. Yes, this will put the best players in women's hockey in one league, and definitely promote it, definitely get better over the years. But it kind of did ruin a lot of people's lives in a very quick, 10-minute Zoom call,” she says. “I think people should really see the other side of it. You know, all the people in the PHF that signed contracts were relying on this money, relying on the job for next year. And now there's a very big [sense of] uncertainty.

“With the limited amount of teams [in the new league], that means not everyone's going to get a spot. Someone that's at the bottom of the PHF probably could have made $50,000, and is now thinking, ‘I have to go get a full-time job because my likelihood of making this league is not very high.’ So, you know, I feel for a lot of people that are now trying to think, ‘Do I want to continue playing hockey, or should I just start my life and figure out if I need to go back to school, get a full-time job?’

“It sucks. Because a lot of people did put their whole life on pause thinking that we would survive for another five, six years playing hockey, and then start their lives. But that kind of came a little bit quicker than many of us were thinking.”

Those leading the transition to the unified league have set up a number of resources to help PHF players navigate these next few months of uncertainty. Per Salvian, players who were signed to PHF contracts for the 2023-24 campaign will receive severance and continued health benefits for another couple of months. Additionally, there will be some funds available for players who had their contracts voided, and for PHF players who don’t end up earning spots in the new league.

“You know, the money that they're going to give us will help us for a couple of months. I'm not sure how well it will work for some [PHF players] that made bigger investments for next year — you know, bought new cars, bought houses,” Grant-Mentis says. “I'm not sure how much it's going to help people, but it will definitely get us through the next couple of months.

“But I'd much rather have everything all settled, know what I'm going to be paid next year, so that I can get a quick part-time job that I can keep until the season starts.”

Exacerbating the issue for the PHF players is the fact they’ve largely been watching everything unfold from the outside over the past week. While players who earn a spot in the new league will be able to enjoy the benefits of the new CBA, PHF players were not included in the agreement’s negotiations — nor any other negotiations regarding the path forward.

“I feel like we don't really have a voice. Because we were all terminated, basically. You know, the PHF is scratched,” Grant-Mentis says.

On Sunday, one step was made to address that, as a group of PHF veterans announced the formation of a player leadership committee — reportedly after being contacted by league leadership. The committee is comprised of 11 players representing each of the seven former PHF franchises. “I hope this group that was put together is able to benefit us and make waves, so the PHF players are not just left in the dust, so that we are taken care of in this new league. I'm hoping they'll be able to do something for us in the long run. But, you know, it's all up in the air. We don't really know what's going on.”

That said, though the last six days have been rocky, Grant-Mentis says the new CBA does seem promising. “Honestly, from what I've seen, it is a step forward,” she says. “Although the salary is lower than what the PHF had last year, I think with all the bonuses and all the moving expenses and living expenses that they will be giving on top of their salary, it could bring you back up to what you were making last year, for some players. So there are definitely some very positive things in the CBA.

“And I believe it's around until 2031, so we know that we are pretty much protected until then — which is good, considering what just happened to us.”

Down the line, when the hockey world looks back at this moment, it will be remembered as a historic step for the women’s game — and in all likelihood a positive one. Grant-Mentis says she appreciates that side of it, too, that there is big-picture hope for what this shift could mean for the growth of the sport.

“It's going to work out, definitely. With all the work everyone's going to put into it, I'm sure it will be the best league for women's hockey,” she says. “But, you know, right now, it's hard to see the positives when there’s lots of negatives coming at you. … Many of my friends that I've played with for three or four years now, they're the ones having to really decide if they want to continue playing hockey or not. So it is difficult.

“But I definitely do see the positive in it. You know, putting all the best players in one league is definitely a huge positive. Doing this is definitely going to grow women's hockey. We'll definitely be able to get TV deals, bigger deals, bigger investment into the league. So there's definitely a huge positive side to it. But it's hard to look at that when I know many people won't be able to continue playing hockey next year.

“I think once everything gets settled, everything is put out there, we know where we're going to play, how we're going to be picked and all that stuff — I think once all that's out, we'll be more confident and more positive around the situation. But it's still a little bit of a blindside. You know, no one really knows what to do at the moment. There are a lot of unknowns.”

On the ice, at least, Grant-Mentis is looking forward to the path ahead, with the new league granting her the chance to face-off against a segment of the hockey world she’s rarely competed against — the Marie Philip-Poulins, the Sarah Nurses, the Hilary Knights. “I haven't really played against many players in the PWHPA. It'll definitely be new competition for me — I'm pretty excited about that,” she says, “because it will only grow my game even more.”

But before the page can be turned, before that new chapter can begin, Grant-Mentis and her fellow PHF alums must process the loss of the league that gave them a chance to play over these last few years.

And, most importantly, the relationships built with all those who were out in the stands, cheering them on.

“You know, I would like to thank all the fans. They're the ones that have gotten us this far,” Grant-Mentis says. “Starting from my first year in Toronto — when it wasn't even a season, it was just a small, little COVID thing — from there all the way to Buffalo. They were very supportive every single year, not only for me but for the teams I played for.

“And I just really hope that even though it's not the PHF anymore, and it won't be their Buffalo Beauts or their Toronto Six, that they will still come and support everybody in the new league. And hopefully find a new team that they can rally behind. And, you know, just continue growing women's sports.”