Why the Oilers brought women’s hockey players to their development camp this week

Three women’s hockey players — Chloe Primerano, Abbey Murphy and Caitlin Kraemer — are participating in the Edmonton Oilers’ development camp this week.

In recent years, women such as Marie-Philip Poulin and Kendall Coyne Schofield have been on the ice during NHL teams’ development camps as guest coaches — Poulin with the Montreal Canadiens, Coyne Schofield with the Chicago Blackhawks. But in this case, this trio of players will be full participants.

Oilers general manager Stan Bowman had the idea to invite elite women’s hockey players to camp after watching the Milan Olympic women’s hockey tournament as an assistant general manager with the U.S. men’s team.

“They were putting on a show for everybody,” Bowman told The Athletic. “It was really high-level hockey on display and I was so impressed by it, that’s when it came to me — we should take some of these players and try to bring them to camp.”

Bowman contacted Murphy, Primerano and Kraemer in May asking if they’d like to attend the week-long camp, which began on Monday. Kraemer told reporters in Edmonton on Tuesday she thought the text from Bowman was spam. Primerano also had difficulty believing the invitation.

“It took me a couple of times to read it over to realize what was going on,” Primerano said in an interview with The Athletic. “(I’m) just super excited he did that, and it’s awesome that the Oilers brought out a couple of girls. It’s been really fun.”

Bowman already knew Murphy, a standout forward for the University of Minnesota who won Olympic gold in Milan and was drafted second overall by the PWHL’s Seattle Torrent last month. She’s been a mentor and role model for Bowman’s 14-year-old daughter Graycen, who plays for Murphy’s youth program, the Chicago Mission. Murphy is also one of the most purely skilled forwards in women’s hockey and had some of the best highlights of the college hockey season.

“She has become a big sister to my daughter,” said Bowman. “She has high hopes to play in the Olympics one day and follow in Abbey’s footsteps.”

Primerano, one of the most promising prospects in women’s hockey, was also an easy choice. She became the first female skater ever selected in a Canadian Hockey League draft when she was drafted by the WHL’s Vancouver Giants (268th overall) in 2022. Primerano was also the first female skater at CAA Sports’ annual camp in 2023, and began playing at the University of Minnesota at just 17 years old. A defender, Primerano is an elite skater and puckhandler with a really high IQ.

Bowman said he wanted to bring a Canadian forward to complement Murphy and Primerano and asked his executive assistant Tania Kenny, who worked for Hockey Canada for four years, for a few suggestions. That’s how Kraemer ended up rounding out the group.

The 20-year-old is one of Canada’s up-and-coming forwards. She won the 2025 NCAA national rookie of the year in her debut season at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and set a Canadian record for goals in a single tournament with Canada’s U18 team, doing so twice in 2023 and 2024. She was among the final cuts from Canada’s Olympic roster and should become a big piece of Canada’s new-look roster at the 2026 Women’s World Championships, along with Primerano.

“She’s awesome,” said Primerano, who played with Kraemer at U18s in 2024. “She’s fast, battles hard, competes, scores so much. She’s a great person too. It’s just so much fun to have (Kraemer and Murphy) here and to hang out with them through this week.”

Setting up Camp 🏕️ #LetsGoOilerspic.twitter.com/rAbjFVJ0Tz

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) June 29, 2026

According to Bowman, they had five women’s hockey players lined up to join development camp, but two couldn’t make it work because of their schedules. Canadian national team defender Erin Ambrose, who will play for the PWHL’s expansion team in Las Vegas next season after winning a Walter Cup with the Montreal Victoire, also returned to development camp as a guest coach for a second straight year.

The motivation behind the invites, Bowman said, was twofold. First, to give the female players a new experience and all the resources that come from being at an NHL camp, so they can return to their pro or college teams with some new tools or knowledge. Second, to give his own prospects, including all five of Edmonton’s selections in the 2026 NHL Draft, the opportunity to share the ice with elite women’s hockey players.

“I think the biggest thing is recognition for how much work (the women) put into it. They’re no different than the boys,” said Bowman. “They work just as hard, they’re just as talented. And when you see it on the biggest stage, you notice that the level of hockey is impressive, and you’re hoping that you give everyone a better appreciation for it.

“It’s hopefully going to be a positive experience for everyone to just elevate the profile of women’s hockey.”

On Monday, Primerano, Murphy and Kraemer participated in all the team’s off-ice activities, including fitness testing and sit-down sessions about mental performance and analytics. On-ice sessions began Tuesday with mostly skill-based work, where the three female athletes were full participants. The Oilers prospects, Primerano said, were supportive during fitness testing and have treated the trio “just like anyone else that’s at camp.”

The camp will wrap up with a three-on-three tournament on Thursday. Until then, Primerano’s goal is to soak in the NHL experience before returning to the University of Minnesota in the fall. She and Kramer are expected to be top picks in the 2028 PWHL Draft.

“Seeing how the professionals are treated here, it’s amazing to be able to experience that for a little bit,” she said. “All the staff are amazing here and so supportive, they want to help everyone get better and reach their goals. So I think just learning from them, being around our peers, and making friends, and getting out of our comfort zones a little bit is just what we want to do with this camp.”

Murphy, Primerano and Kraemer might not be the first to attend a camp like this — Canadian star and Hockey Hall of Fame forward Hayley Wickenheiser attended the Philadelphia Flyers’ rookie camps in 1998 and 1999 — but it’s still rare to see women participate in these kinds of events. It’s also something Bowman hopes can be a “continual thing” for the organization.

“I think it should happen more,” Bowman said. “I hope the recognition will be great for (the players), and people will realize it’s a good thing. … It’s all about trying to look forward and do things that can help the sport of hockey.”

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Edmonton Oilers, Seattle Torrent, NHL, Culture, Women’s Hockey

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