Pro women’s hockey player to earn record $100K in growing league
Emily Clark is charging a path for women in pro hockey, securing a salary of $100k for the Ottawa Charge, the largest for a woman in hockey. The post Pro women’s hockey player to earn record $100K in growing league appeared first on Outsports.
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Ottawa Charge fans are celebrating as their PWHL top scorer, Emily Clark, will remain on the team through 2027-2028 in a record-setting signing.
Earlier this month the Charge announced that star forward Clark signed a two-year extension that will make Clark’s 2025/2026 season earnings over $100,000 — the most ever for a PWHL player. Clark has been on the Charge since the league’s 2022 inception, and is the only Charge player to have taken the ice in every Charge game to date.
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While the Charge has not released details of the new contract, the Associated Press reported that Clark’s recent restructuring will result in her six-figure salary next season.
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The AP also reported that Clark is one of nine PWHL players making $100,000 or more next season. The league’s current Collective Bargaining Agreement ensures a minimum player salary of $35,000 with no maximum limit, and teams must have at least six players making at $80,000 or more per season.
Clark has chosen to not disclose the specifics of her contract, citing that she would rather focus on the significance of the women’s game than just herself. She’s got good reason to feel this way, as the world of women’s professional hockey has only recently seen a major boom in growth.
The still-new PWHL is growing from six to eight teams next year, as Vancouver and Seattle unveil new franchises, and the momentum has not slowed since the league’s launch.
Clark is a menace on the ice; the two-time Olympian for Team Canada is known for her ability to be everywhere at once, stepping up when her team needs her most. The forward helped lead her Ottawa Charge to last year’s Walter Cup Finals, scoring three goals (two of which were game-winners) and five points while also shining defensively as they eliminated Montreal in the semi-finals. The Charge are hoping to continue this momentum of their own, as they gear up for another vie at their first Championship.
Off the ice, Clark is dating fellow PHWL and Team Canada player, Jaime Bourbonnais. Bourbonnais has also played in the PWHL since its inception, and also with one team her entire OWHL career, the New York Sirens. Thankfully Ottawa and New York are a short flight away, and the pair frequently posts photos of each other and their sweet love.
While we’re elated for Clark and the new deal, it should be noted that there is still major pay discrepancy for the men’s and women’s hockey players.
To have only nine players making over $100,000 when the NHL’s minimum salary is $775,000 per season… it sure seems that something needs to be done for some kind of pay equality.
No, the leagues are not equal in profitability – one of them started only three years ago – but there needs to be less of a gap than what the current salaries offer.
In the meantime, we hope Clark (and Bourbonnais) can enjoy some of the spoils of Clark’s new salary, and are already counting down the days until PHWL’s fourth season begins.
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The post Pro women’s hockey player to earn record $100K in growing league appeared first on Outsports.
