The new Professional Women's Hockey League will announce its six general managers and announce the order of the inaugural PWHL Draft on Friday, the league announced Thursday night.
All six general managers will speak to reporters after the announcement.
The league announced earlier this week that Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, New York, Boston and Minnesota will be the initial franchise locations.
Sportsnet's Jeff Marek reported Thursday night on the favoured candidates for five of the six jobs.
Gina Kingsbury, the favoured Toronto candidate, was promoted to vice-president of hockey operations for Hockey Canada earlier this year.
Daniele Sauvageau, Montreal's lead candidate, was head coach of Canada's gold medal-winning team at the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Michael Hirshfeld, Ottawa's top candidate, is the executive director of the NHL Coaches' Association.
Natalie Darwitz, linked to the Minnesota job, was an associate coach for the University of Minnesota women's team the past two years. She played for the United States three times in the Olympics.
Danielle Marmer, the top Boston candidate, works in player development and is a scouting assistant for the Boston Bruins.
The draft order will be announced after a draft lottery.
Free agency is scheduled to open on Friday at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT. During the 10-day window, each franchise can officially sign three players to standard player agreements.
These veteran players will form the foundations of each club, and as a result will not be part of the draft. Players currently in the NCAA or those graduating from U Sports programs are not eligible to sign with a team during this period.
The first-ever PWHL player draft will take place in Toronto on Sept. 18. The draft will run 15 rounds deep. Draft order will be determined by a lottery, and will follow a snake-draft format (the team picking last in Round 1 will select first in Round 2).
