PWHL Draft
The Canucks have competition next winter. The Vancouver entry to the Professional Women’s Hockey League is gearing up for its inaugural run.
The Vancouver club, to be named, joined the new Seattle team, to be named, along with the six existing PWHL organizations in the 2025 PWHL draft on Tuesday.
Here’s a quickie look at the six players, one Dane, a German, 3 Canadians and a Yank, that the PWHL Vancouver franchise selected.
1) No messing around. A legendary player in Europe, Danish born, Finnish national team forward Michelle Karvinen has won three Olympic medals and six world championship medals. The 35-year-old is a three-time champion in the Swedish Women’s Hockey League. Karvinen played her college hockey at the University of North Dakota.
2) Vancouver traded its 2nd round pick to Toronto for goalie Kristen Campbell and also swapped 3rd-round positions with the Sceptres. Campbell, from Brandon, Manitoba, is a former member of Canada’s world championship (silver, 2015) and Olympic team (Gold as 3rd goalie, 2022) and an NCAA champion at Wisconsin in 2019. In winning the women’s college tournament, Campbell pitched a shut-out in all three playoff games.
3) Born in England to German parents, defence player Nina Jobst-Smith grew up in North Vancouver. She just wrapped up her career at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. The team captain was a great leader and an all-academic performer who posted 18 points from the blueline in 37 games last season.
4) Brianna Brooks played at Penn State University with Seattle’s inaugural 5th-round pick Lyndie Lobdell after transferring from the University of New Hampshire. The Ontario native was an alternate captain her final season and tallied 24 points up front over a 38 games schedule.
5) Connecticut born Madison Samoskevich played defence at Quinnipiac University for four years after skating for the elite Shattuck-St. Mary’s high school program in Minnesota. She had 19 assists, finished a plus-18, and blocked 38 shots her senior season.
6) Forward Chanreet Bassi grew up in Lake Country, BC, north of Kelowna, and just finished up five years playing at UBC. Her 14 goals and 33 assists last season included a hat trick against the University of Manitoba on November 30th.
The Vancouver club possesses some high end talent.
The PWHL has not yet set it’s schedule for next season.
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— Canucks HHOF Voters; 3 Locks And A “Should Be”
