PWHL Ottawa made it official that they have released Mikyla Grant-Mentis from the contract and, in turn, have signed Rosalie Demers to a contract off the reserve list for the rest of the season.
The PWHL released the following statement: “Ottawa has signed forward Rosalie Demers to a Standard Player Agreement. The 23-year-old from Blainville, QC, was originally on a Reserve Player contract. In a corresponding roster move, Ottawa has released forward Mikyla Grant-Mentis from her SPA.”
Grant-Mentis Released From PWHL Ottawa
Grant-Mentis started the season with Ottawa, gathering three assists in the first six games. Since then, she has been a healthy scratch and now has ultimately been released by the team. There was a lot of excitement for Grant-Mentis headed into the season after a strong career in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) and some great seasons in the NCAA. She was a strong point-producing forward, but despite that, Ottawa decided to let her go.
Grant-Mentis was a free agent signing for training camp and started the season as part of the main roster. After the first six games of the season, Grant-Mentis was a healthy scratch for each following game. This decision was puzzling to many, especially with the struggles the team had as of late.
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This is an official release of her contract, and she is now an unrestricted free agent and available to sign by any other team.
PWHL Ottawa Sign Rosalie Demers
With the announcement of a roster spot opening up, Ottawa announced Demers would be joining the squad. After spending four seasons with Colgate University in the NCAA and last season with Team Harvey’s in the Professional Women Hockey Players Association, Demers was eager to get a shot in the PWHL. Demers is a strong player in the defensive zone, which was certainly enticing to Ottawa, who struggles in that area.
Throughout her entire NCAA career, she only had one season with a plus-minus rating lower than +2. The hope is that she can round out the bottom six and add some better defensive coverage to the team.
Because Demers was on Ottawa’s reserve list, she has been able to practice with the team and has spent time skating as an extra skater. She is familiar with the team and should not take long to get up to game speed.
