Winning the Walter Cup was an iconic moment for the State of Hockey and the 26 women on the Minnesota Frost roster who have now permanently etched their names and memories into both PWHL and Professional Women’s Hockey history. Normally, as I did in my 2023 offseason recap for the Vegas Golden Knights, after a team wins a championship, my narrative is about the cost of immortality, and how the Hockey Gods, either via the salary cap or aging roster means, demand a sacrifice. In the case of the PWHL, neither the salary cap nor the need to get younger were the external pressures that ensnared a wrench in all future planning. For reasons that may never be revealed to the masses, only a handful of days after winning the Walter Cup, Minnesota elected to part ways with beloved general manager Natalie Darwitz. Ian Kennedy summarized the situation, and PWHL SVP Jayna Hefford’s official statement earlier this offseason. In the interim, head coach Ken Klee, who as of July 12^th was/is being investigated for a series of alleged transgressions, was appointed as the team’s acting general manager.

               As free agency opened Minnesota was quiet in the new player acquisition market, which was the case for the league except for Toronto and Ottawa, with their focus mainly being on resigning players like Michela Cava and Liz Schepers. Most of Klee’s additions came via the draft. Despite not all of them currently being under contract, I’m still going to dive into the value of some of their later round selections in addition to their big name early round selections. With the 3^rd overall pick in the draft, Minnesota opted to select former Princeton standout, and highly touted former Canadian national team standout Claire Thompson. Based on her career scoring output and reliable defensive game, Thompson should have a similar impact to New York’s (and fellow Canadian National Team LHD) Micah Zandee-Hart for Minnesota. Objectively, this was a bizarre selection at the time for Minnesota due to them already having multiple strong stay-at-home LHDs on their roster in Lee Stecklein, Maggie Flaherty, Emma Greco, and Melissa Channell. Minnesota eventually opted to let Greco sign with Boston later in free agency, and decided not to extend Channell, but adding more defensive-oriented help will not take the pressure off Sophie Jacques who scored 30% of all of Minnesota’s points by a defender, despite only playing in 15 games. Thompson is an excellent defender, but Cayla Barnes (who went 2 pick later to Montréal) seemed like a more logical fit based on her offensive potential and handedness.

               Moving to the 3^rd round, Minnesota used the 15th pick to select St. Cloud State’s Klára Hymlárová. Hymlárová recorded 24 points in 36 games in her draft eligible season in the NCAA, while also recording 3 points in 7 games for Czechia in the World Championship. Like my Thompson pick criticism, Hymlárová will be an exceptional addition to Minnesota’s bottom-six due to her strong stick skills and defensive capabilities, but there were still players available at this point in the draft who could have been prominent scorers for the team that finished 5^th in goals for last season. University of Minnesota superstar, and proven PWHL commodity, Abby Boreen and Cornell’s dynamic Izzy Daniel were both still available at this point in the draft, and it’s almost sickening that neither of them will be wearing purple jerseys at the Xcel Energy Center this season. In the 4^th and 5^th rounds Minnesota selected Brooke McQuigge and Dominique Petrie, both from Clarkson. Petrie reflected well in our pre-draft model as a player who could be a top-six forward (more likely middle-six) in the PWHL based on her scoring potential after recording 35 points in 40 games this past season. We identified Mcquigge as a fringe top-six, high probability middle-six forward based on her 33 points in 40 games as well; however, she will be honing her skills with MoDo of the SDHL this season per Eliteprospects. The last forward drafted by Minnesota was Katy Knoll from Northeastern. Based on her 28 points in 39 games, we flagged Knoll as a bottom-six impact forward for Minnesota with some offensive upside, but she has the defensive toolkit to be valuable, and possibly develop into a shutdown defensive forward. Which brings us to Mae Batherson of St. Lawrence University. Batherson posted a blistering 37 points in 39 games from the blueline in her draft eligible season, making her the potential support that I alluded to Jacques needing earlier.

               At the onset of September, Minnesota confirmed the hiring of Melissa Caruso as their new general manager. Caruso has a litany of experience in an executive role in the AHL (The world’s 2^nd most prestigious professional hockey league) with more details in a league article. A title defense will be difficult for this group who didn’t clinch a playoff spot until the last day of the regular season in 2024 with the additions they made relative to the rest of the league. It’s clear and obvious that Ken Klee will be betting on himself and his core of Heise, Zumwinkle, Coyne-Schofield, Jacques, Stecklein, Hensley, and Rooney to produce another batch of miracles on a nightly basis to return to the promised land. We’re due for an incredibly interesting season in St. Paul.