The NHL may have just had its trade deadline, but now it’s time for the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PHWL) as well. It was rescheduled to allow for games that had been postponed. It was supposed to happen yesterday at 11:59 p.m. ET, but it’ll happen today, March 18, at 4 p.m. ET. The move to that date means the roster freeze will be tomorrow, Tuesday, March 19, starting at 12 p.m. ET.
What does all this mean? Players who are let go from their team right before or on the deadline have a chance to go to another team. The NHL has a holiday roster freeze that lasts about 10 days and doesn’t allow teams to trade or waive players during that time. So, the two leagues have similar rules when it comes to the roster freeze, but they take place at different times.
Once the roster freeze is in place, teams are only allotted 23 players under regular contracts, plus they’re allowed three reserve players for emergency/injury issues that can arise. Any players on long-term injured reserve will not count towards either number. PWHL Minnesota just activated one of their long-term injured players, Sydney Brodt, and she played that same day and registered an assist.
There haven’t been many moves made, and there haven’t been many rumors. Looking through X, many accounts have noticed the silence, and it’s odd since rumors fly months in advance in the NHL. However, this is a brand new league with only six teams, so players aren’t moving much until things get fully settled. Still, it would be interesting to see some last-minute moves happen to shake things up.
PWHL Minnesota will likely keep its roster the same since it’s been doing so well. It already made a trade earlier this season that sent Susanna Tapani and Abby Cook to PWHL Boston and brought Sophie Jacques to PWHL Minnesota. The team has won the last four games in a row and has great chemistry especially the top line of Kendall Coyne Schofield, Taylor Heise, and Michela Cava.
This trade deadline and roster freeze are just another way the PWHL is taking the NHL’s rules and putting its own unique spin on them. It’ll be fun to see if any exciting moves come in right at the deadline and how the league handles them. Once the league grows bigger, there will be more moves with more players to shuffle around. I can’t wait to see how the league handles this and future deadlines.
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