Trio of Canadian Olympians 1st players to sign with Professional Women's Hockey League

Three Canadian Olympians became the first players to sign free-agent contracts with the new Professional Women's Hockey League.

Forwards Emily Clark, Brianne Jenner and goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer each signed three-year deals with the new Ottawa team, the league announced Tuesday.

Terms of the salaries were not disclosed, as per the PWHL Players' Association.

"We are thrilled with the three players we players for the Ottawa franchise," said Mike Hirshfeld, Ottawa's general manager.

"We truly believe that we have signed three incredible hockey players. As important to us, we are focused on making Ottawa a best-in-class organization in the PWHL, a place where players want to come and play. Building a culture is important to us and we believe these three players are incredibly well-respected and will help us to lay the foundation of the type of organization we aspire to be."

WATCH | Jayna Hefford sits down with CBC Sports' Devin Heroux:

Jayna Hefford on what will make the PWHL different than previous pro women’s leagues

1 year ago

Duration 6:23

CBC Sports’ Devin Heroux sits down with the PWHL’s SVP of Hockey Operations Jayna Hefford after their announcement of the founding six franchises.

The trio have been staples with the Canadian national team that won two of the last three world championships and are the reigning Olympic champions.

Jenner, 32, was named MVP at the 2022 Beijing Games where she tied the Olympic record for goals scored in a single tournament with nine.

Clark, 27, played in the now-defunct Professional Women's Hockey Players Association from 2019-21 and during the 2022-23 season where she finished second in scoring with 23 points in 20 games. The 28-year-old Maschmeyer also played with the PWHPA.

The PWHL will open its inaugural season in January with teams in Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Boston, Minneapolis-St. Paul and the New York City area.