This is Part 5 in a multi-part series on Port Moody’s PWHL draft prospect Sophia Gaskell. Feel free to go back and read Part 1 (Expansion Teams Create Movements), Part 2 (The Growth of Girls Hockey), Part 3 (Port Moody Is a City of Pros), and Part 4 (The Thunderbird Takes Flight).
In 2024, 167 eligible players declared for the first PWHL Entry Draft taking place after the league’s inaugural season.
In 2025, that number shot up to 199.
Now, in 2026, 236 eligible players have declared for the upcoming entry draft. With four new teams slated to join the PWHL for the 2026–27 season, there will be a plethora of spots open to be taken by this year’s draft class. Six draft rounds and 12 teams means that there are 72 open draft spots.
Sophia Gaskell, a five-year UBC Thunderbirds defender and Port Moody local, is gunning to hear her name called on draft day. Having a PWHL team, the Vancouver Goldeneyes, in her home province helps with her case — but the 24-year-old insists that this only served as extra motivation for an outcome she’d been targeting prior to expansion.
“Once the league was officially announced, I knew it was something I wanted to pursue,” she explained to NewsLight. “The continued expansion, including Vancouver, has only reinforced that decision because it shows how quickly the game is growing and how many more opportunities are being created.”
The draft process itself differs from how things work in leagues like the NHL. Since the PWHL is a very new league, there isn’t a particular requirement for players’ ages when they do declare, whereas the NHL has a hard cap of 20 years old. That’s why Goldeneyes forward Michelle Karvinen, who was 35 at the time, was eligible for last year’s entry draft, as well as why three-time Canadian gold medalist Meghan Agosta, 39, is part of this year’s list of eligible players.
Eligible players do, however, end up being a little older than those that you may see in the NHL. This is because the majority of women’s hockey players opt to play in the NCAA, USports, or other leagues before officially declaring for the draft. Last year, the youngest player to be drafted to the PWHL was 21-year-old Vanessa Upson.
The most important part of declaring for the PWHL Entry Draft is the actual declaration element. From March to May of that particular draft year, players interested in joining the league are required to declare for the draft. This year’s declaration window shut on May 8.
“It starts with understanding your eligibility and officially declaring for the draft,” Gaskell said of the draft preparation process. “From there, it becomes a waiting and preparation period where you continue training, playing, and trying to put yourself in the best possible position to be noticed. A big part of the process is staying consistent in your day-to-day development.”
While being drafted is a big move, there are still other ways for players to make the PWHL. Training camps take place a couple of weeks before the regular season begins, with teams reaching out to invite players that were not drafted as early as after the draft. In the case of someone like Goldeneyes forward Katie Chan, players can make a great impression during camps and play their way into a full-time role.
“After the draft, they reached out pretty quickly to see if I wanted to get a camp invite,” Chan explained. “After discussions with my agent about which camp to go to, we landed on Vancouver’s. I was super excited to be able to come home.”
The 2026 PWHL Entry Draft will take place on June 17 in Detroit, but for Gaskell, the journey to the PWHL began much earlier than that. Through playing with boys’ teams in Port Moody alongside Seattle Torrent forward Jenna Buglioni, to soaring with the Thunderbirds out at UBC, her career in professional hockey has been long in the making.
While there may not have been a fixed solution during her youth hockey days, she — as well as many, many other women’s hockey players — saw what could become the future of professional women’s hockey when the PWHL emerged.
“I always knew that once the PWHL started, I wanted to declare for the draft and be part of building that next stage of professional women’s hockey.”