Seven Depth Players to Watch in PWHL Free Agency

If there’s an adage that will just never go away: you win with your depth, especially in the playoffs. In a league this close in skill and where the star players all showed up (for the most part) the only separator is what do the players down the line-up do.

This was the story of the playoffs.

In the first round sweep against Montréal, Amanda Pelkey scored an overtime winner, and the tying goal in game three that sent that game into over where Boston finished the sweep.

How about PWHL Minnesota forward Liz Schepers who had three primary assists against Toronto in games three and four when facing elimination? Or her scoring the game-winning goal in game five of the Walter Cup Final against Boston? She’d go on to finish third in playoff scoring for the record.

Throw in PWHL Boston forward Taylor Wenczkowski scoring an overtime goal in game two vs Montréal. One goal doesn’t matter in the playoffs until it’s a playoffs where 3.38 goals were scored PER game. That means generally games were ending 2-1 so one goal means an awful lot when it’s 33% of the goals scored in a game. So naturally general manager’s are going to want to find at least one depth player who can contribute at the right moment. Let’s go through the list of players that GM’s are going to be looking to keep on their teams and the other GM’s are hoping are going to shake loose.

Quick note before we get into it. The parameters I followed to figure out what constitutes a depth player is setting the bar at 14.5 minutes of Average Time on Ice. 

Rebecca Leslie

If you’re looking for a prototypical bottom six player, look no further than the former Boston University and current Toronto forward Rebecca Leslie. Before Troy Ryan and co. realized just how good Hannah Miller was, Leslie and Miller made a deadly duo in the Toronto bottom six.

Now some general managers will hold some concern about what their aging curve analytics say about her, but what they will love about Leslie is her ability and willingness to drive straight through to the net. She’s not a player that’s going to create a lot of offence through fancy stickhandling or making impossible passes look easy. She’s going to cause chaos right at the net. This shows up in her assist column of her stat sheet. Leslie finished in the ~74^th Percentile in primary assists among forwards, and, even more impressive, in the ~89^th Percentile in even strength primary assists too.

Doesn’t take much to look at Leslie’s goal scoring history and figure out that while she’s not bad at it, she’s not the scoring threat that can just whip a shot on goal and expect one to happen. When Leslie is putting pucks on net it’s in-close and causing a rebound. So her 5.6 SH% you’re not expecting to get much better or worse. There’s always the possibility that Leslie has a career year but when building a team you’re looking at the most likely scenario which is not a lot of goals.

What are you looking at is one of the better shot generating forwards in the league at the ~78^th percentile among PWHL forwards and third on Toronto in shots/60. She’s another forward that was getting top end minutes no matter where she was until recently. It’s hard to go into a depth role and accept you’ll be on the ice less. She’s done it though and is excelling. If a team is lacking that sort of drive-to-the-net forward, Leslie will be high on their free agent list.

Mikyla Grant-Mentis

The past two seasons have been a lesson in adversity for the former PHF MVP. Mikyla Grant-Mentis went from being on a powerhouse Toronto Six team, to a struggling Buffalo Beauts, and had to move from Ottawa to Montréal after her contract had been cut from the Ottawa roster. Despite all of that the soon-to-be 26 year old should be high on the list of depth forward options for teams.

In the same way that Rebecca Leslie is the ideal bottom six forward because of her physicality, Grant-Mentis is the ideal bottom six forward because of her defensive play. Being cut from Ottawa then coming back to be a trust forward on Montréal plays in her favour. She might have been handed some of the biggest learning lessons this season in the PWHL and if you believe she has the drive to learn from them she’ll be a valuable forward again next season.

Now what’ll also play in her favour is she was still productive on the offensive side of the game. Before being cut from Ottawa, she had a 9.249 shots/60 which finished as the fifth highest on the team. She also had two primary points and a primary points/60 of 1.541 to finish fourth on Ottawa.

Her numbers dipped a bit on Montréal but she still finished the season strong in the ~74^th percentile for primary points/60, ~70^th percentile in goals/60, and 67^th percentile in shots/60. Add in her reasonable 9.5 SH% and teams should be confident in the quality of player they’re going to get next season. In a league that saw two good power plays and a lot of not so good ones, Grant-Mentis finished with three power play points in 13 games. Doesn’t sound like a lot but that’s in the 83^rd percentile for PWHL forwards. She’s a versatile forward with an underrated playmaking ability, good shot, good speed and good defensive stick. If Montréal can’t bring her back other teams should be very interested.

Jillian Dempsey

To say this season was a season of adjustment for the 33 year old forward Jillian Dempsey would be an understatement. She was born in Massachusetts and if you looked at her Elite Prospects page she never left the state except to play away games. Every home team she’s played has essentially been in her home state. That is until this year when she had to make the move to Montréal.

In Montréal, she had to make another adjustment, go from a top six forward which she’s been her entire pro career to being a fourth liner. You’re not playing the same role and you’re not playing around the friends and family you’ve been around your entire career. That’s a pretty big deal.

I’m not in the Montréal front office but I think the front office and fans would say her production was a bit disappointing even considering the role she was in. Finished in the ~46^th Percentile in primary points/60 and on a team that struggled to generate SOG she struggled the second most out of the forwards with 4.27 SOG/60. What will attract teams the most are three things: her veteran presence, her history indicates there’s bounce back potential, and her face-off ability. Dempsey finished behind only Marie-Philip Poulin in face-off % on Montréal and finished fourth in the PWHL among players who had taken over 50 face-offs.

Liz Schepers

In every sport, in every pro league in the world there are feeder programs who know how to get their players ready for the next big step in their careers. NHL teams have favourite CHL, SHL, Liiga, etc. teams they like drafting players from because of the set up of those organizations makes for an easier transition to the pro game.

As we’re quickly seeing in the PWHL teams are going to have favourite organizations to draft players from and one of them is the Ohio State University. The program that Nadine Muzerall helped build at OSU is going to produce important PWHL players and already produced a playoff performer in Liz Schepers. She’s been to three championships and come out the winner of two of them, with the PWHL Walter Cup winning goal on her resume to boot.

She’s not a shabby regular season performer either. In her PHF rookie season, Schepers finished fourth in team scoring with 14 points in 22 games then followed it up with three points in three playoff games where she literally had a point in every playoff game. She was a model of consistency.

Production wise in her first PWHL season, it was a struggle for Schepers who finished in the ~23^rd percentile in primary points/60. Yet her SOG/60 was in the 67^th percentile which indicates another goalless season is very unlikely. Of course what’s going to attract attention to Schepers is if you’re looking for production from the bottom of the line-up, Schepers has a history of playoff production as laid out in the opening paragraph. Finished third in playoff scoring while getting primary assists in two elimination games vs Toronto and the Cup winning goal!

Gabrielle David

The soon-to-be 25 year old center Gabrielle David is going to be an intriguing target on the free agent market barring an immediate contract signing. She’s coming from two highly touted organizations. The first being Clarkson University who is always a Frozen Four contender where David had very productive seasons. The second of course being PWHL Montréal who probably played some of the most cohesive team hockey in the PWHL this season. If you have trouble adapting players to the PWHL get them from a team that’s done most of the work. Obviously just having played for two very good organizations doesn’t mean much. What does matter is the work Montréal put in to turning her into a 3C and the success she had there.

Offensively David’s production doesn’t jump off the page but it isn’t bad. She finished in the ~49^th Percentile for primary points/60. As I said in Dempsey’s portion, Montréal isn’t a shot driving team but even on Montréal, David finished dead last among Montréal forwards with a 3.85 SOG/60 and in the ~9^th percentile for PWHL forwards. What makes David effective is how she distributes the puck from the middle of the ice and how willing she is to play in the middle of the ice. Where David shines through numbers wise is in her ~80^th percentile even-strength primary assists and her 55.7% face-off win%.

Élizabeth Giguère

This might be more appropriate as a player due for a big bounce back season but she did play bottom six minutes so we’re fitting her in this article. Most fans know who Élizabeth Giguère is. The big, skilled forward was a monster in the NCAA winning a NCAA championship in her rookie year, three time Patty Kaz finalist and a Patty Kaz winner.

Then she made the jump into pro hockey last year to play for the Boston Pride and put up 22 points in 18 games while also getting time with the Canadian senior team. She was expected to a big part of PWHL New York and it just never happened. Sometimes down years happen and when you’re looking for any edge when it comes to the regular season or playoffs, betting on a bounce back from one of the most skilled players to play in the NCAA isn’t a bad bet.

As mentioned above the production wasn’t there for Giguère as she finished in the ~40^th percentile among PWHL forwards for primary points/60. What she did very well though was getting shots towards the net as Giguère finished in the ~76^th percentile for SOG/60. What’s additionally promising is it looks like New York’s playoff chances being on the line ignited something in her as she scored her four points in the last nine games of the season. Going back to her bounce back potential, despite her playmaking skill she only ended up with one assist on the season. That’s going to change next season. She’s too good and the added skill in the league is going to give teams options when it comes to her linemates.

Lexie Adzija

The great thing about hockey is star players can come out of nowhere. I don’t think anyone expected the Quinnipiac graduate whose career high in points in a season was 29 points in 34 games. The 2023 PWHL Draft 11^th round pick made a name for herself almost right away. Her four goals in the first seven games of the season got fans excited. Her ability to play right in front of the net excited general managers. She’s a large and strong player that is tough to move with enough puck skill to make her dangerous in front of the net.

Her trade from Ottawa to Boston surprised everyone. She was beloved in Ottawa but the production had dried up and they were looking shake up the roster going in the last stretch of the playoff race. Boston definitely benefitted from the trade as Adzija added three points in seven games and brought her physical game to get Boston in to the playoffs.

Players like Adzija are catnip for general managers. A big, strong, forward that lives in front of the net especially on the power play? What teams are also going to be happy about is seeing Adzija’s ~68^th percentile in primary points/60. Where the concern is going to be brought up in is her 20% SH% being potentially unsustainable and her ~28^th percentile SOG/60. With how she plays though her numbers might just be like that for the rest of her career.

What teams are going to be buying when it comes to Adzija on the ice is she has a lot of the physical skills necessary to be an impact player and she’s young so the hope is she continues improving on her game to become more consistent to avoid regression in her numbers.