PWHL New York has won the first overall pick in the 2024 Draft, courtesy of a 4-3 win against Ottawa on Tuesday night.
New York had the best odds at winning the pick after becoming the first team to be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs last week. Under the Gold Plan, which the PWHL adopted in February to determine the draft order, the team with the most “Draft Order Points” after being eliminated will win the first-overall pick.
With Minnesota, Ottawa and Boston still competing to clinch the third and fourth playoff spots, no other teams are currently accumulating “Draft Order Points.” With three points — for a regulation win — on Tuesday night, no team will pass New York in the Draft Order points standings by the end of the regular season.
New York will have the opportunity to select star forward Sarah Fillier in the 2024 PWHL Draft in June. Fillier, 23, is the No. 1 prospect on The Athletic’s PWHL prospect ranking.
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Fillier is already a star on Team Canada — she was the MVP of the 2023 women’s world championship and has two world championship and one Olympic gold medal to her name — and is coming off a career-high 30 goal season as captain of the Princeton women’s hockey team.
Fillier profiles as a top-of-the-lineup PWHL player capable of making an immediate impact. She is a talented and intelligent playmaking center with high-end offensive tools: She’s an elite skater with a great shot and reads the play at an advanced level to get open off of coverage. Fillier also spent time on the wing at Princeton this season and for Canada on the top line with Marie-Philip Poulin at the 2024 women’s world championship, so she brings some positional versatility as well.
In New York, Fillier could drive her own line up the middle, or play top-line wing beside Alex Carpenter, the current 1C who is tied for the PWHL lead in scoring (23 points) this season.
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While Fillier is as close as we can get to the consensus first-overall pick, other names who could be in the mix include American forward Hannah Bilka — who won a national championship at Ohio State this season — or forward Danielle Serdachny, who scored the game-winning goal for Canada at the 2024 women’s world championship.
The 2024 PWHL Draft will be a transitional format — versus the snake format used in 2023 — meaning New York will have the first pick in all seven rounds of the draft, which will be hosted in Minnesota. The exact date of the draft remains to be seen.
The second team to be eliminated from the playoffs will pick second-overall in the draft. While playoff teams will select three through six based on the inverse order of the regular season standings, according to the league. In other words, the first-place team will pick sixth, the second-place team will pick fifth, the third-place team will pick fourth and the fourth-place team will pick third overall.
The PWHL’s inaugural regular season ends on May 5.
(Photo: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
