Is Daryl Watts the Bobby Hull of women's hockey?

By signing a $150,000 deal, Watts has shattered the glass ceiling when it comes to player salaries and could pave the way for more women players to cash in

Daryl Watts comes to the PHF off a spectacular U.S. college career

When Daryl Watts was cut from Canada’s national women’s team in the summer of 2021 and ruled out for centralization for the 2022 Olympics, she made what she thought would be a life-altering decision. She committed to return to the University of Wisconsin for a fifth year that was afforded her because of the COVID pandemic and study toward a Masters of Business Administration focusing on commercial real estate.

Watts played what she thought would be her last competitive game last March, then interned over the summer at a commercial real estate firm in Toronto. But the week before she was to return to Wisconsin to complete her MBA, Watts had a change of heart. And it had nothing to do with hockey. In fact, she had already lost a lot of the hockey muscle she had accumulated in the years that she was one of the most talented players in college hockey. At the age of 23, Watts basically wanted to see what else might be out there for her.