Ottawa Charge’s Emily Clark was the highest-paid player in the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) for the 2025- 26 season, making an annual salary of $126,090 USD.
The salaries show the huge pay gap between the National Hockey League (NHL) and the PWHL.
The minimum salary in the NHL was $775,000 USD this season. and the average NHL salary for the 2024-25 season was $3.82 million USD. The average in the PWHL that season was $56,650 USD.
The Professional Women’s Hockey League Players Association released the official player salaries Tuesday (May 12), which are accurate as of April 12, 2026. The list includes all players under contract at the time of publishing and is “intended to promote transparency regarding player compensation across the league,” said the association.
All the salary amounts are in US dollars and do not include bonuses, incentives, or other forms of compensation.
Other bonuses include $63,250 per team for the Walter Cup champions. Teams that made it to the playoffs also received bonuses. The top forward, defenceman, and goaltender of the league will each receive $4,000. The Most Valuable Player will get $5,000.
For the Vancouver Goldeneyes, Tereza Vanišová and Emerance Maschmeyer had the highest salaries on the team at $90,000 each. The captain, Ashton Bell, made $84,872, Sophie Jaques and Sarah Nurse made $85,000, as Surrey’s Jenn Gardiner made $50,000. Kimberly Newell and Katie Chan made the least: $37,131.50, which is the minimum base salary.
After Clark, New York Sirens, Sarah Fillier was the second highest paid player, making $125,000, followed by Charge Captain, Brianne Jenner, making $122,003, then Montreal’s Abby Roque made $116,699, followed by Montreal captain, Marie-Philip Poulin, made $110,216, Toronto’s Renata Rast made $106,090, Seattle’s captain, Hilary Knight, made $106,090, Ottawa’s Gabirelle Huges made $105,000, Boston’s Megan Keller made $105,000 while Minessotas Kendall Coyne Schofield made $100,785.50.
According to the collective bargaining agreement between the league and the players’ association, the minimum annual base salary for the 2025-26 season was $37,131.50. This increases by three per cent every season.
This does include reserve players, who receive a stipend for the season of “no less than $15,000,” although they can be signed to a short-term contract and will be paid a “pro rata amount” based on that season’s minimum salary.
To see the full list of PWHL player salaries, visit pwhlpa.com/salary-guide.
The PWHL returns next season, with four expansion teams joining the league alongside the original six (Toronto Sceptres, Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Minnesota Frost, Boston Fleet, and New York Sirens), plus the two 2025-2026 expansion teams (Vancouver Goldeneyes and Seattle Torrent).
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