PWHL Rumblings: Team Names, National Team News, Unsigned Picks

Buckle up, with the calendar flipping from August to September, we’re about to hit a wave of news. We can expect to soon be hearing about team names and logos, schedules, venues, and much more. The clock is going to start to move very quickly toward puck drop as many players from around the league are already back into international competition.

Here’s what we’re hearing and seeing around the league this week.

Czechia To Get A Major Boost?

Czechia has shown they can compete with Canada, USA, and Finland at recent international competition, but they’ve struggled to produce offense. The Czech’s have a strong PWHL core now in Tereza Vanisova, Denisa Krizova, Dominika Laskova, Katerina Mrazova, Klara Hymlarova, and Noemi Neubauerova, along with netminder Klara Peslarova. At the last World Championship, the absence of Mrazova and Laskova were significant hits to their roster, but Czechia also saw NCAA standout Natalie Mlynkova step up as their best forward. She’s in contention for first overall at the 2025 PWHL Draft, but Czechia might soon be getting another big boost up front. While she didn’t play for Czechia at this week’s Women’s Euro Hockey Tour, it’s believed NCAA scoring star Kristyna Kaltounkova might be joining Czechia for the December stop of the Euro Hockey Tour in Finland. It would pave the way for Kaltounkova, an elite scorer, to join Czechia’s national team in time for the 2025 World Championships scheduled to be held in Czechia. The Colgate star has 79 goals and 167 points in 113 games across her past three seasons in the NCAA. She’s a physical presence who will be a crucial piece in Czechia challenging the world’s top teams. Under a new coaching staff guided by Carla MacLeod, it appears the wait is about to end for fans of Czechia to see Kaltounkova in the red, white, and blue.

Team Names Are Coming

In a lot of ways, it feels like we’ve travelled back in time to the months leading up to the PWHL’s inaugural season. Fans are waiting to learn about venues, schedules, and of course, team names and logos. Watching the action within the United States Patent and Trademark Office, updates continue to be made on the filings of the PWHL on all six previously applied for names – Toronto Torch, Minnesota Superior, Ottawa Alert, Montreal Echo, New York Sound, and Boston Wicked. The filings and correspondence has continued on several occasions this summer, as recently as August 27 on all six applications. This application looked to change the current attorney listed on the filing, David J. Steele, of Cleveland, Ohio, to Carrie Webb Olson of Boston. The application was signed by PWHL senior vice president of business operations Royce Cohen. Nothing has occurred to suggest alternative team names to those already known as coming, and considering action continues on the six applications, the evidence continues to point toward these names. With some filings being denied in August, it’s unseen if further delay in team name and logo announcements will come, or if the league will hit their mid-September timeline.

Fillier and Savolainen Biggest Names Remaining

With the offseason heading toward preseason, and international competition already underway, only two high picks remain unsigned in first overall pick Sarah Fillier (New York), and second round pick Ronja Savolainen (Ottawa). It’s a mix of term and finances has held up both deals, with term being the biggest factor. Term is a factor with everyone eyeing two year deals in order to be unrestricted free agents following the 2025-2026 season when the original three-year guaranteed contracts expire, which will free up significant money for each team to renegotiate with. There’s also speculation that if the PWHL plans to expand, following this third season would be the most logical allowing for player movement to occur to build the new rosters. This would also further expand the finances around the league significantly. There’s work to do on both deals. Savolainen is certainly closer than Fillier to a deal.

Still No GM In Minnesota?

From Hockey Hall of Famers to agents, and coaches, the tires have been kicked around the PWHL Minnesota job. There’s even some who have believed Ken Klee might step into the role, and Minnesota would instead hire for a new coach. The delay in a public announcement of the hiring will likely come among the other headline grabbing announcements in September.

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