PWHL Players Association discloses salaries for the first time

Sport admin May 26, 2026 0 Comments

PWHL Players Association discloses salaries for the first time

In an effort to promote transparency, the PWHL Players Association disclosed players’ salaries to the public for the first time.

A “Player Salary Guide” went live on the union’s website on Tuesday, offering a glimpse into players’ compensation across the league.

The decision to fully disclose salaries — potentially creating a more competitive market and driving up pay league-wide — makes the PWHL unique among women’s sports leagues, including the WNBA and NWSL, which keep salary information largely under wraps.

Players recently voted to approve the public disclosure of salaries, according to The Athletic’s Hailey Salvian, who cited a statement from PWHLPA executive director Malaika Underwood.

“This decision reflects our belief that greater salary transparency gives players clearer information and stronger context in individual negotiations, while also supporting a more transparent and credible marketplace for the league overall,” the statement read.

Before the guide went public, salary details in the PWHL were scant, available only in a framework available through the collective bargaining agreement that was signed in July 2023, just before the league’s inaugural season.

According to the CBA, the league-minimum salary for the 2025-26 season was $37,131.50, which was up from $35,000 in 2024. Each year of the current CBA, which runs through 2031, the minimum base salary will increase by 3 percent, meaning next season’s minimum will be $38,245.45.

There are no maximum salaries outlined in the current CBA, and there is no traditional salary cap. Instead, each team’s average salary needs to reach a certain mark, which this season was $58,349.50.

Seventeen players across the league, including Boston reserves Mia Biotti and Loren Gabel, earned the league minimum in 2025-26, according to the guide. Forty-five players earned less than $40,000.

Defender Megan Keller was the highest-paid member of the Fleet and the eighth-highest earner in the league, with $105,000 in base salary this past season.

According to the guide, the three highest-paid Boston players this season were Keller, forward Alina Müller ($95,000), and goaltender Aerin Frankel ($92,500) — all of whom signed three-year contract extensions prior to the 2025-26 season.

The figures included in the PWHLPA’s guide are strictly the players’ base salaries and don’t include bonuses, incentives, or other forms of compensation such as benefits and housing stipends.

PWHL player salaries were previously available only to players and their agents — until March, when The Hockey News published player salaries from the 2024-25 season, sparking a debate over whether that information should be public.

“I think that was a bit of a shock for us and not something that we necessarily wanted or the way we wanted it to come out,” Laura Stacey, a Montreal Victoire forward and president of the players’ union, said at the time. “But with that being said, ultimately, at the end of the day, we want the players to be able to push for more and ask for more based on what other people are doing around them.”

The league will soon expand by four teams — Las Vegas, Detroit, San Jose, and Hamilton, Ontario — bringing its total to 12. With expansion will come a shifting of rosters across the league. There will be no traditional expansion draft, but rather multiple signing windows aimed at giving players more choice in the process.

Boston has eight players under contract through next season: forwards Müller, Liz Schepers, Ella Huber, and Shay Maloney; defenders Keller, Haley Winn, and Daniela Pejsova; and goaltender Frankel.