Whereas hockey had been her life’s work, it was by no means her intention to make it a profession. Positive, she liked the sport, however might she earn a dwelling enjoying it? Each time Watts envisioned the approach to life she needed to guide and household she hoped to have, she’d been keenly conscious that enjoying skilled hockey was not going to assist make it a actuality.

“I’ve all the time needed to have a extremely nice profession. I’m actually aggressive with hockey, so [I wanted] to form of use that drive, channel that into a brand new profession and see how profitable I could possibly be,” she says. “However final yr, on the time, I didn’t assume that pursuing skilled girls’s hockey might set me down the trail of, you recognize, reaching a extremely comfy way of life and likewise creating wealth for my youngsters.”

She’d lengthy understood that whereas her male friends might anticipate profitable contracts at varied ranges {of professional} hockey, her potential earnings have been restricted, her goals fueled by her ardour for the sport. Whereas the Premier Hockey Federation had made some vital monetary strides and the Skilled Girls’s Hockey Gamers Affiliation’s ongoing marketing campaign for a sustainable stage for among the sport’s high gamers was rumoured to be ever nearer to an answer, Watts didn’t view both path as the fitting one for her.

So, upon the conclusion of her faculty profession, the Division-I standout stepped away from the sport. A profession in industrial actual property was, she felt, the extra financially viable choice.

The Toronto native couldn’t know that lower than a yr later, she’d be stepping onto the ice at York’s Canlan Sports activities Area, donning No. 4 as the most recent member of the PHF’s Toronto Six. Her contract, a two-year pact made official on Jan. 19, carries a median annual worth of $88,500 and pays Watts a report $150,000 for 2023-24 — the best wage ever introduced for an expert girls’s hockey participant in North America, surpassing the groundbreaking $80,000 deal signed by Buffalo Beauts ahead Mikyla Grant-Mentis in September. It’s additionally the primary signal of what participant compensation might appear like within the wake of the PHF’s December announcement that its $750,000 wage cap for 2022-23 will double to $1.5 million beginning subsequent season.

Watts thought she was completed with hockey — she thought she needed to be. “However the doubling of the wage cap in December form of modified my perspective,” she says.

That she’s again within the sport she loves and constructing in the direction of the longer term she desires marks a brand new chapter, not only for Watts however for elite feminine hockey gamers all over the place. She believes her record-setting contract is only the start, and that many extra of her friends will ink unprecedented offers this summer season in what’s poised to be the league’s most profitable low season but.

However first, she’s acquired a championship to play for. And whereas cash talks, she’s hoping her play will communicate for itself.

Quickly, it was clear that Watts didn’t must fake to be a star, she was one. On the market on the ice at rinks throughout the GTA — whereas enjoying on her brother’s minor league group, whereas rising by means of the AA system with the Toronto Aeros and Mississauga Chiefs of the Provincial Girls’s Hockey League — she was Daryl Watts, member of Workforce Canada’s U-18 group and future faculty hockey standout.

“I believe after I was actually younger, I needed to play within the NHL,” she says. “However then as I acquired a bit older, I used to be like, ‘I’m a lady — I can’t play within the NHL, so I’m simply going to play as a result of I really like hockey.’ After which it was in all probability, ‘Oh, I wish to be an Olympian and go to an NCAA D-I faculty.’”

Her dad, Michael, acknowledged his daughter’s expertise and love for the sport early on and began bringing in abilities coaches for her and her brother.

“I’d say he’s fairly intense, and my greatest fan,” Watts says of her dad, a company lawyer in Toronto. She jokes that he’s felt like her agent from Day One, advocating for his daughter and in search of out each useful resource obtainable to assist her thrive. Mother, Barbara, has additionally all the time been supportive of each endeavour, “however I’d say my dad’s extra intense.

“From actually early on, he was placing me in further ability classes — like, actually from the time I used to be 5 years outdated. On that yard rink he constructed, he would have skating coaches come out for my brother and I, to shoot on the web and all that stuff,” she says.

Watts remembers the primary second her Division-I dream felt inside attain. At a summer season event throughout her time enjoying for the Toronto Aeros of the Provincial Girls’s Hockey League, an Ivy-League head coach approached her and Michael post-game.

“She talked to my dad within the car parking zone and was like, ‘You realize, your daughter’s actually good … there’s alternatives for her to go to D-I colleges.’” Watts says. “That was form of like a ‘woah’ second for us, as a result of it was like, ‘Oh my gosh, one of the best college on the planet, they need me to return to their faculty?’

“That was eye-opening.”

“That basically stung,” she says. She pauses, like that first faculty playoff loss remains to be recent, after which describes a scene that’s fueled her ever since. She’d flown to Minnesota for the Kazmaier Award ceremony, held on the Saturday of championship weekend, and after accepting was on a flight again to Boston.

“So I used to be at residence, a Patty Kaz winner … And I simply bear in mind [thinking], ‘What does it even imply to be a Patty Kaz in the event you’re not on the championship weekend along with your teammates competing for the title?’

“Like, I’d moderately have the championship than this title. I used to be completely satisfied … however I needed extra,” she says. “I simply had this second, and I can bear in mind it being like, ‘That is nice, however like, I’m not as completely satisfied as I must be as a result of I needed our group to be enjoying that weekend.”

Her sophomore yr led to related trend with one other early post-season exit for the Eagles. It additionally introduced Watts with a sequence of particular person setbacks proper from the beginning. The return of a handful of U.S. Olympians post-PyeongChang centralization noticed her separated from Lonergan, stripped of her power-play function, and spending half the season on the fourth line with a steep drop in enjoying time. Nonetheless, she led the squad in factors. However it was a wrestle.

“I wasn’t excited to go to the rink,” says Watts of her sophomore yr. “I simply form of fell out of affection with hockey.”

She knew she wanted to make a change. So, when Lonergan made the choice to enter the switch portal — a uncommon transfer amongst girls’s gamers, and even rarer among the many sport’s notable stars — Watts determined she would do the identical. Three (nervous) days after declaring her intention to switch, she heard from the college she’d hoped would come calling: Wisconsin, powerhouse program and reigning nationwide champs.

Like she had at Boston School, Watts wasted no time acquainting herself together with her new environment upon becoming a member of the Badgers, producing offence early and infrequently and main the group in assists (49) and factors (74) whereas averaging 2.06 factors a sport and touchdown herself again within the Patty Kazmaier dialog as a top-10 finalist. When the 2020 NCAA event was cancelled on account of COVID-19, it meant ready for an additional crack at her final purpose, however she acquired there the next spring when, after a condensed common season, she helped lead Wisconsin to a nationwide championship, topping it off with the additional time game-winner within the closing.

“I don’t even know how one can describe it,” she says, beaming. “We did what we got down to do, what we’d been working in the direction of for the previous two years. It was simply unimaginable.”

By the tip of her third yr at Wisconsin and fifth faculty season total, Watts had put collectively one of many best resumes within the sport, main her group in factors all 5 years and ending as a Patty Kazmaier finalist 4 occasions (together with one other top-three nod in 2020-21). However on that post-loss bus trip to the airport, surrounded by her fellow Badgers, ignored by Canada’s nationwide girls’s group and unable to see a future by which she might make a viable dwelling as a professional, she did what far too many elite feminine hockey gamers do earlier than they also have a probability to enter their prime: She made it official and hung up her skates, intent on turning the web page.

She’d been accepted right into a Grasp’s program at Wisconsin to pursue industrial actual property, however acquired chilly ft only a few days earlier than she was to start out, the choice not fairly sitting proper together with her. As an alternative, she spent that fall at residence in Toronto, eager to see what else is perhaps on the market and looking out up packages extra intently associated to her passions in tv and movie manufacturing.

After which, in December, she noticed the information that may change her complete outlook on her future, reopening a door she thought had been locked for good.

“I do know that her preliminary reasoning was as a result of she felt that she couldn’t make a dwelling. Plenty of these ladies popping out of fairly prestigious colleges with nice educations, you recognize, are you gonna play hockey full-time and make $30,000, $40,000, $50,000, $70,000, the place they will work full-time [outside of hockey], make $100,000, $150,000 and, you recognize, begin their careers?” James says. “Even this yr, that was, I believe, a little bit of a balancing act for even a few of our present gamers, although they have been making a half-decent wage. However, you recognize, to surrender their careers to play full-time — as a result of the expectations now, on full-time, I don’t assume lots of people perceive the grind, what it takes to play skilled … You’re anticipated to be there, whether or not you’re injured, sick or lacking a limb.”

After a optimistic first cellphone name in early January, Watts and James spoke once more — this time, with Michael taking over the function of agent to speak numbers. Watts had additionally reached out to different groups — it was initially a four-horse race between Boston, Buffalo, Connecticut and Toronto — however in her thoughts, Toronto was the one which stood out from the beginning.

“Proper from the start, Toronto was my primary alternative,” says Watts. Whereas she additionally appeared into the PWHPA — she’d heard the experiences over the previous yr of the affiliation’s plan to launch a league with the assistance of buyers — she by no means had any talks with the group, selecting to focus her efforts on the PHF.

“Simply the expansion of the league impressed me probably the most, I’d say. What different professional league in your entire world sees progress like this?” she says. “There’s one thing to imagine in there.”

James doesn’t take with no consideration the actual fact she’s in a position to be the one not simply rewarding among the sport’s most gifted gamers however bringing them again to the rink total.

“I simply thought it was simply completely phenomenal, even final yr after I simply began within the place … the truth that I used to be in a position to hand out salaries that I handed out final yr for the women to play hockey,” says James. “We by no means had an expert league after I was rising up, so the truth that I’m in a position to nonetheless be part of this journey with the PHF and what they’re doing and the ownerships and the sponsorships and everyone who’s actually seeing this league take off.”

James sees Watts’ signing as a continuation of the league’s speedy progress.

“You convey within the salaries, you’re going to draw the expertise pool, after which that’s going to raise the sport and that’s going to herald the sponsorships. After which from there, you elevate once more, salaries, you convey in additional expertise, as a result of that is the place individuals are going to wish to play,” she says, including that Watts’ contract additionally marked the primary time James had signed a participant to a two-year deal — one other signal of progress. “We’re the one league in existence proper now that gamers are getting paid to play. I believe that it’s solely going to get bigger. We’re going to undergo phases the place we’re going to take care of, and develop, however we’re solely going to get stronger.

“I’m glad that Daryl discovered the love again. And if it was cash that introduced her again, properly, you recognize, there’s nothing improper with that,” says James. “I’m simply glad she’s again within the sport.”

“It feels good to be rewarded for, I suppose, my hockey resumé, my NCAA profession, my goal statistics,” she says. “And I believe that’s additionally an ideal message to gamers within the NCAA immediately who’re acting at a extremely excessive degree, like, placing up factors: You will be rewarded. Possibly not by the nationwide group, however you’ll be rewarded with a greenback determine on your efficiency in the best way that NHL gamers are — you recognize, the best point-getters within the NHL get one of the best contracts.

“It’s been enjoyable to speak to among the youthful ladies on Wisconsin proper now who’re actually unimaginable gamers as a result of it’s like, ‘Have a look at what’s ready for you in three years,’” she continues. “It’s simply so thrilling for them. I’m actually making an attempt to encourage them to, you recognize, stick with it and get rewarded for it.”

Being the PHF’s highest-salaried participant isn’t a title Watts ever anticipated to carry, and he or she says it’s not one she desires to maintain. She hopes this deal opens the door for even greater contracts to be signed this low season. “It must be a cycle, the bar raised every time. You see that within the NHL,” she says. “My wage ought to simply proceed to push the subsequent offers up and up and up. And we’re not making hundreds of thousands of {dollars}. It’s nonetheless about simply making an attempt to have a superb way of life.”

After an extended layoff — between her closing sport with the Badgers final March and her first observe with the Six in January, Watts hadn’t as soon as laced up her skates — she’s beginning to really feel extra like her outdated self.

“I’m not at 100 per cent proper now, so it’s like, ‘Oh, I’m the highest-paid girls’s hockey participant — properly, you recognize, I higher begin performing prefer it.’ However I’m not making an attempt to be too laborious on myself,” she says.

Watts is viewing this stretch of video games like a runway on which she’s selecting up pace earlier than she actually takes off.

“I wish to assist this group win a championship. Like, what’s higher than serving to your group win the championship? I really feel proper now, like, I’m not — and it hurts me to say this — I’m not serving to my group win video games proper now simply because I’m not on the degree that I wish to be at,” she says. “I wish to be enjoying with all my skills by the point playoffs come.

“I’m simply actually trying ahead to being myself on the ice. It’s been a grind and I’m nonetheless not there but, however hopefully [by the playoffs] I’ll be there.”

James understands Watts will take extra time to “rise up to sport pace.” A significant negotiating level, the truth is, was her insisting Watts be part of the group immediately — not subsequent season, as was Watts’ preliminary intention — so she might make an affect come playoff time this spring.  Watts registered her first profession help in her PHF debut on Jan. 21 and scored her first purpose in sport No. 4 on Feb. 5. Her greatest outing but, a two-assist effort in opposition to the Minnesota Whitecaps in her tenth sport, helped the Six full the sequence sweep and clinch a top-two place within the league standings in addition to home-ice benefit for the primary spherical of the playoffs. Toronto concludes the common season at residence this weekend in opposition to the first-place Boston Delight with the No. 1 seed on the road.

When she’s not on the ice, Watts is working with NHL coach Gary Roberts to construct again the muscle she’d purposely been making an attempt to shed in retirement. She’s excited to see her five-foot-six body bear one other transformation — one which extra intently follows the development we see in immediately’s NHL of lean upper-bodies with all the ability coming from a robust base.

“I don’t want the massive shoulders, the massive traps, that I had at Wisconsin. I’m making an attempt to shed that so I’m mild, so I’ll be sooner,” she says.

As for her competitiveness and want to win all of it? That by no means left her.

“Playoff hockey is one of the best time of the yr. It’s what you’re employed for from the start of the season. I wasn’t there at first of the season, however now I’m right here,” she says. “I simply consider successful the nationwide championship. That was one of the best time of my life. So, successful the Isobel Cup, what could possibly be higher?”

Watts is embracing the hockey profession she earned, however by no means anticipated, and now when she appears forward to her future, she sees that it’s doable to achieve her targets on skates.