The promise of possibility: PWHL could transform landscape of international hockey

Dominika Lásková was still in shock a few minutes after she was drafted to play for Montreal in the new Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL).

As she made her way to the stage to meet general manager Danièle Sauvageau, her Czech national teammates snapped photos of her, beaming with pride.

Selected in the fourth round of Monday's inaugural draft, Lásková was the first of five Czech players to hear their names called. Players from eight different countries were selected.

"Being from Europe and being from Czech, I think it's great for the little girls back home to see that there is a possibility for them to play [alongside] the best players in the world," said Lásková, a right-handed defender who can also play forward.

Lásková won a championship last season with the Toronto Six of the Premier Hockey Federation, a now-defunct league that had players from at least 10 countries competing in 2022-23, per Elite Prospects.

But there's never been a women's professional hockey league with all the best players in the world, and that's what the PWHL has set out to accomplish.

American forward Hilary Knight was one of the players who negotiated a landmark collective bargaining agreement with the new league's owners, securing benefits like a housing stipend and an average salary of $55,000 US.

They were things that didn't exist when she first started playing professional hockey in 2012 and things that drove her to become a founding board member of the Professional Women's Hockey Players' Association (PWHPA). One of the association's goals was to make it possible for the best from across the world to play in a league together.

"I'm giddy about it just from a fan's perspective as you've never seen the hockey minds meet from