PWHL Las Vegas: What to know as roster, coaching staff takes shape

The Professional Women’s Hockey League is acceptable to go the 2nd nonrecreational hockey squad successful Las Vegas opening aboriginal this year.

The enlargement squad is already taking signifier arsenic it has begun preparing for adjacent week’s PWHL draught and announced its archetypal wide manager.

Unlike galore different large North American sports leagues, the PWHL does not person idiosyncratic oregon section franchise owners. Instead, the full league is tally by a azygous entity: billionaire Mark Walter, caput of the Mark Walter Group.

If that sanction sounds familiar, it mightiness beryllium due to the fact that Walter is besides the proprietor of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Sparks.

While the eventual extremity whitethorn beryllium for idiosyncratic owners to run the antithetic franchises wrong the PWHL, it doesn’t look apt to hap anytime soon, aft Amy Scheer, PWHL enforcement vice president of concern operations, stated that determination was “no timeline for that.”

However, each squad does name a wide manager, and Vegas did truthful past period erstwhile the squad announced that Los Angeles autochthonal Dominque DiDia would service successful that role.

DiDia began her vocation with the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL successful 2012 and implicit the people of 9 years, roseate to go the manager of selling and contented publicity earlier joining CAA Sports successful 2022 arsenic the agency’s selling enforcement successful the hockey department.

“I americium honored to assistance pb the motorboat of PWHL Las Vegas arsenic we statesman a caller section for women’s hockey successful 1 of the astir dynamic sports cities successful the world,” DiDia said successful a statement. “Las Vegas has embraced hockey with a uncommon intensity, and you tin consciousness that the crippled has go portion of this city’s heartbeat.

“I cannot hold to get started, physique a title culture, and found PWHL Las Vegas arsenic a world-class sports franchise.”

DiDia’s archetypal bid of concern was to statesman fielding a squad that tin beryllium competitory close retired of the gate, akin to what the metropolis saw with the Vegas Golden Knights.

However, the signing process successful the PWHL differs importantly from the NHL’s enlargement process.

There is nary “expansion draft,” but existing teams submitted extortion lists to support cardinal players connected their rosters.

The players who were not “protected” tin negociate and scope presumption with caller enlargement teams entering the league. To support a just and competitory equilibrium wrong the league, lone up to 3 players tin beryllium signed from a azygous franchise.

All of this is done done a six-phase process laid retired by the PWHL to support signing deadlines anterior to the June 17 introduction draft.

The archetypal signifier lasted from June 2-3, wherever existing teams were allowed to marque signings portion besides submitting their extortion lists.

The 2nd phase, which took spot from Friday to Monday, was the foundational signing play for each enlargement team, and Las Vegas made respective moves during that period, including signing and trading five-time Olympian Hilary Knight to Detroit successful speech for a first-round draught pick.

The squad besides signed erstwhile Minnesota Frost defenders Mae Batherson and Kendall Cooper, arsenic good arsenic 2 players who led the Montreal Victoire to a 2025 Walter Cup title: defender Erin Ambrose and guardant Hayley Scamurra.

Following the decision of the draft, immoderate unsigned oregon unprotected players volition beryllium allowed to motion with immoderate squad during the unfastened signing play successful the sixth phase.

The Las Vegas PWHL franchise has yet to formally denote its coaching unit oregon an authoritative squad name, but DiDia said Tuesday she planned to prosecute Kim Weiss arsenic caput coach. Weiss successful her 2nd play with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles was promoted to adjunct manager and is 1 of 2 women successful the league to beryllium a full-time assistant.