After Fillier went first overall, the PWHL draft packed lots of surprises

TSN Hockey analyst Cheryl Pounder joins Julia Tocheri to recap the PWHL 2024 draft and the biggest surprises from the night.

[@markd8469]

After she was drafted They asked Megan Carter who her idols were and she said Cheryl Pounder and Becky Keller. Love all around!

[@bradg3650]

Bilka and Curl 🔥

[@markd8469]

Poor Abbey Boreen. She looked like she was getting a life sentence when she was called up by Montreal. Talk about the Rodney Dangerfied of the PWHL. Minny showed her No Respect! Oh well I’m Sure Montreal will love her

[@Too-Odd]

It was obvious last season that Minnesota lacked finishers on offense. Minnesota had one of the weaker of the early three free agent signings. The reality is that Kendall Coyne Schofield and Kelly Pannek both underperformed compared to many of the other teams' original three. Only the early draft with Taylor Heise and Grace Zumwinkle, and getting lucky with Michela Kava as a late pick, gave them a scoring punch. Susanna Tapani played well, but she was traded mid-season. All of the other teams loaded up with offensive talent from the NCAA and Europe in this draft while Minnesota reached for role players. The predraft consensus was that Sarah Fillier, Danielle Serdachny, and Hannah Bilka were the three best prospects in the 2024 PWHL draft, and Minnesota had the third selection, so they would get one of them. Nope. In the third round, Patty Kazmaier Award winner Izzy Daniel was available, as was Abi Boreen - who had played well with Minnesota last season with top line minutes. Instead, Minnesota selected Klára Hymlárová from SCSU. Hymlárová isn't a bad player, but she wasn't expected to go until the 4th or 5th round while Daniel had a top ten rating. If Minnesota really wanted Hymlárová, she likely would still have been on the board for their fourth round selection. In the fourth round, Minnesota selected Brooke McQuigge. Again, McQuigge is a good player, but predraft ratings had her as an eighth or ninth round pick in a seven round draft. It was a major reach. It is highly likely that Minnesota could have selected either Daniel or Boreen in the third round and would still have been able to draft Hymlárová in the fourth and McQuigge in the seventh or even as a free agent. Even if Hymlárová and McQuigge play well, the opportunity cost of selected them when Minnesota did is lost. It is simple draft economics. To add insult to injury, the PWHL draft is zero sum game. Speedy Hannah Bilka slipped to Boston, Izzy Daniel went to offensive powerhouse Toronto, and Abi Boreen went to Montreal. Minnesota did pick up underrated Britta Curl, but she is a controversial player off the ice, and her being drafted with Izzy Daniel would have given Minnesota a better chance at having more than just three players that could put the puck in the net. Minnesota won the Walter Cup, but the team was weaker than it showed in the playoffs. If league MVP Spooner had not gone down, they likely would have been bounced, and Minnesota fans would have been left wondering why. The loss of Susanna Tapani on offense in a trade left a visible hole on offense that no player stepped up to fill. Unfortunately, Minnesota did little to fill its offensive depth early in this draft. Minnesota desperately needed finishers, and they drafted mostly role players.

[@markd8469]

Why was Amanda Kessel picked 2nd from last. Something is fishy here. USA teams avoided her like the plague!

[@Too-Odd]

Yes, there was a lot of strange things in this draft. Minnesota avoided Minnesota born players like they had leprosy.

[@Too-Odd]

The PWHL sabotaged the draft for Minnesota, maybe not with malice, but the results are the same. Not having a GM was a major disadvantage, and Minnesota made major mistakes because of it. Selecting F Klára Hymlárová in the 3rd round instead of Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award F Izzy Daniel was a big mistake. No one before or during the draft would believe that Hymlárová is a better prospect than Daniel. This was a reach to be sure, and Minnesota fans cannot understand it. Hymlárová was likely a 4th or 5th round prospect, so why did Minnesota select her so early? On top of that, Minnesota selected Brooke McQuigge in the 4th round. She wasn't expected to go until the very late rounds or not even at all. Why was she chosen in the 4th round with so many higher rated prospects on the board? Even if she was a sleeper, Minnesota could have added her in the 7th or called her right after the draft to add her as a free agent in camp. If Minnesota had taken Izzy Daniel in the 3rd, as they should have, they could have selected Hymlárová in the 4th and left McQuigge until the 7th. They basically traded a consensus second round prospect in Daniel for a consensus undrafted free agent player in McQuigge. Now Daniel is in regular season best offensive juggernaut Toronto. Minnesota fans are left wondering if Minnesota was told not to take Minnesota players by the league or by select players on the team that sided with coach Klee in his dispute with former Minnesota GM Darwitz. Is that why GM Darwitz was fired so close to the draft? Was it because she wouldn't play ball? Ken Klee wanted to be the Minnesota GM last season, as well as head coach, and he shown tonight that he could not cut it as the GM. Making huge mistakes in the mid rounds in such a small league can be devastating, as one team's loss is another team's gain, and the teams are already very close. If it wasn't for the loss of likely league MVP Spooner in the playoffs for Toronto, Minnesota likely would have been bounced in the first round after limping into the playoffs. It could be argued that Minnesota had a mediocre to poor draft, and that could drop Minnesota out of the playoffs this upcoming season. Wouldn't that be nice for PWHL front office.

[@googleisshit3220]

Umm doesn't the league own all the teams...they sabotaged themselves lol😂

[@Too-Odd]

@ReedJM1972 The Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award isn't given out to the best Minnesota player in the NCAA; it is given out to the best player in the NCAA period. Are you stating here and now that either Klára Hymlárová or Brooke McQuigge are better prospects than Izzy Daniel? Because Daniel is from Minnesota, did that mean she was not to be drafted by Minnesota. Is that your premise? As far as Ken Klee goes, if last season was an example, he has a lot to learn about how to create pressure on the power play.

[@Too-Odd]

@ReedJM1972 That is after Minnesota passed up on speedster Hannah Bilka in the first round. Bilka is from Texas.

[@FirearmofMutiny]

And that doesn't even include the droves of fans that have abandoned the team because they drafted Britta Curl in the 2nd round

[@EPiche09]

Minnesota isn't going anywhere.

[@leecox6241]

Minnesota picks or should I say errors, point to the fact that Klee is not GM material. Opting to pick Bitter Girl was his worst mistake. Her inclusion is likely what Darwitz and Klee did not see eye-to-eye on. My respect for her has grown tenfold. 😊

[@EPiche09]

Canadian Clownshow

[@leecox6241]

What does that mean,exactly?

[@markd8469]

Julia and Pounder are as good as it gets covering the PWHL, I don’t see any American coverage that’s close