A megastar of their own: When will the PWHL find its cultural icon?

As the world's preeminent women's hockey league, the PWHL has attracted most of today's top hockey talent. But it has yet to find a superstar who transcends into the culture at large.

While high-profile players such as Marie-Philip Poulin, Hilary Knight, Kendall Coyne Schofield, and Sarah Nurse have all contributed to growing the game both on and off the ice, the league still doesn't have a household name.

If women's basketball's experience applies, that transcendent star - whether it's a personality people love or hate - is an important aspect of engaging a broader fan base. As depth across women's hockey improves, some think it's only a matter of time before women's hockey sees its own version.

"I call it the CC 22 effect," Minnesota Frost forward Taylor Heise said, referencing the way basketball star Caitlin Clark not only changed the landscape of women's sports but engaged basketball fans at a new level.

"All these (WNBA athletes) who I love to watch, they have put in so much time and effort, but sometimes you just need a young stud to get people's attention back to where it needs to be - back on the sport that you love," she said. Heise, who holds the historic distinction of being the No. 1 pick in the league's first draft, grew up following basketball and has paid close attention to what Clark has accomplished - both as a fan and as a professional athlete.

"I know a lot of my friends and hockey teammates can't quite understand how much she has done for women's basketball as well as women's sports in general," Heise said. "She not only got private flights, charter flights … for the entire league in a matter of weeks, but she just sells out any arena that she's in. I think she's a spectacular athlete."

When trying to describe what Clark brings to the basketball side, Heise called it "that oomph." "She's like Stephen Curry good in the sense, her deep threes. It's hard to fully put into words how much she deserves to be respected."

It's not just Clark's skill on the hardwood that Heise admires. "She is a character and shows that in the media. She does such a good job of engaging the youth, and engaging not only youth, but just anyone that comes to her game."

Athletes are increasingly trying to become engaging these days, especially with success like Clark's to model their aspirations after. But many are conscious a star like Clark isn't born out of nowhere. Rather, her success is built on the foundation of decades of basketball stars who contributed to growing the game's profile.

"I think that you look at what's happening with like Caitlin Clark, A'ja Wilson, Kia Nurse - subtle drop - and all those stars who are coming out of the WNBA, you see they have been able to rise on a pretty incredible foundation that the players before them and the WNBA have left," said Nurse, the Toronto Sceptres star who is a cousin of the Los Angeles Sparks' Kia. "I know that I look ahead five, 10, 20 years from now and think that we are going to have a Caitlin Clark of women's hockey, and it's going to be pretty special."

That star might already be in the making. Ask any PWHL player which college athletes they're most excited about and one name is bound to be near the top of the list: University of Minnesota freshman Chloe Primerano. The 17-year-old defender from the Vancouver area made her international debut at the 2024 U18 worlds by leading the tournament in scoring and earning the MVP title.

"Chloe Primerano, she's a superstar and she's going to be an unbelievable player when she gets to this league," Sceptres veteran Blayre Turnbull said.

Primerano again dazzled on the world stage this fall: In her Team Canada debut at the Canada/USA Rivalry Series, her shootout winner lifted Canada to a 5-4 win over the U.S.

"She continues to get better and continues to kind of develop her complete game," said University of Minnesota coach Brad Frost. "I think she has the ability to be one of the best to play the game, but she's … still got a lot of growth to make that happen."

When Frost considers what makes Primerano stand out, the first thing that comes to his mind is how much she loves hockey. "She's incredibly passionate about it. She's always on the ice before practice, doing skills after practice, doing breakaways. Every time she is in a drill or doing something on the ice, it's full speed. She plays at a very, very high level, and then add the fact that she's extremely skilled as a defender, somebody who's got some great offensive ability, sees it really well, can really shoot it. She's got all the tools."

Fellow athletes see it in her too. "She's been on a lot of people's radars because of her nasty shootout move at the rivalry series," Heise said, even though she admits it's too early to tell if Primerano will continue to develop into someone who can compete consistently at the game's highest level. "There's so many girls who I'm able to see on the USA and Hockey Canada rosters growing up ... it's too early to judge whether or not they're going to be heads and tails above everyone else, but I do think that they're really good players, and they're going to be good players in our league, and I would be excited for any of them to be my teammates."

In Frost's eyes, what makes Primerano particularly compelling isn't just her dedication or skill, it's the era of women's hockey she's coming into.

"There have always been special players ever since I started at Minnesota 25 years ago," Frost said. "Those best players would probably still be some of the best players today. But the rest of the group got significantly better. So now there's players who are on our third lines who are on their national teams. The development of these hockey players and student athletes has just continued to grow."

As women's hockey matures, the increasing depth and attention on the sport can create the right climate for a transcendent superstar. That's why today's current stars like Nurse consider themselves the forerunners to the next phase of women's hockey, one that builds on their contributions.

"I'm on the bottom of the foundation," Nurse said. "This is the basement and we're building up."

Jolene Latimer is a feature writer at theScore