Murphy, No. 2 pick in 2026 PWHL Draft, among 3 women invited to Oilers development camp

EDMONTON -- Less than two weeks ago, Abbey Murphy was selected by the Seattle Torrent with the No. 2 pick in the 2026 PWHL Draft.

But before she takes the ice with Seattle for the 2026-27 season, the 24-year-old forward will skate in a different jersey this summer, that of the Edmonton Oilers.

On Monday, Oilers general manager Stan Bowman announced that Murphy, who won the gold medal with the United States at the 2026 Milan Olympics, along with Chloe Primerano and Caitlin Kraemer would be attending the team's development camp.

It’s the first time Edmonton has invited women's hockey players to skate with its NHL prospects at the camp.

“Yeah, it’s pretty neat,” Bowman said. “I’ve known Abbey Murphy for about eight years. Growing up in Chicago (Murphy is from Evergreen Park, Illinois), everybody’s heard about her.”

Murphy, a rising star in women’s hockey, recently completed her graduate year at the University of Minnesota, where she had 66 points (40 goals, 26 assists) in 31 games. She was named the WCHA Forward of the Year, was a CCM/AHCA First Team All-American, and was a top-three finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award, which is presented annually to the top player in NCAA Division I women’s ice hockey.

Murphy also had seven points (two goals, five assists) in seven games for the United States at the 2026 Olympics, which the Americans won with a 2-1 overtime victory against rival Canada in the gold-medal game. Murphy previously won the silver medal with the United States at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

“I met her and I’ve known and kind of followed her career and have been impressed,” Bowman said. “Also, my daughter plays hockey and got introduced to Abbey and trains with her.

“I was over at the Olympics this year watching up close the Olympic performance from the women’s games while I was there with the U.S. men’s team, and I was so impressed with the play of women’s hockey. These players are incredibly talented, and it was really something that I got to meet some of the people with the U.S. team ... and I walked away so impressed with just how great women’s hockey was.”

In fact, it was while in Milan that Bowman got the idea to invite some women's hockey players to Edmonton’s annual development camp, which starts on Tuesday and concludes with a 3-on-3 tournament on Thursday.

The invite came as a surprise to the three players, according to Bowman.

“It was unexpected. They were surprised but honored,” Bowman said. “They’re here to try to learn a few things and see what an NHL camp is like. I know Abbey is going to be a professional player in Seattle next year.

“I’ve followed her progress, watched her be drafted No. 2 overall (on June 17), so she’s going to be in a professional camp herself in a few months. So, I thought it would also give them some new experiences so they could take something away from it hopefully and better themselves.”

Murphy will be joined at the camp by a familiar face in Primerano, who just completed her sophomore year at the University of Minnesota, where the 19-year-old defender had 30 points (10 goals, 20 assists) in 34 games.

In 2022, Primerano made history by becoming the first woman skater to be taken in the CHL Prospects Draft after the Vancouver Giants selected her in the 13th round (No. 268).

Rounding out the trio will be Kraemer, a 20-year-old forward who had 30 points (15 goals, 15 assists) in 36 games as a sophomore for the University of Minnesota Duluth this season.

Kraemer is the all-time leading scorer for the Canada National Women's U18 Team, having put up 53 points, including 37 goals, in 32 games.

“We were actually talking among the GMs -- when I was part of that group with Bill Guerin and Tom Fitzgerald, Bill Zito, and Chris Drury -- and we were remarking how impressive and how talented these girls were, and that’s when I got the idea where it would be great to try and bring some of them here and be part of our group at development camp,” Bowman said. “Obviously, Abbey is turning professional herself, the other two are still in college, much like some of the other players we’ve invited here. They are trying to learn about how to get better.

“It’s a development camp for Oilers prospects, and we thought that they could learn some things and take it back to whatever team they go back to and be better for it being a few days at an NHL camp.”

The three women will be joined by 24 other players at the development camp, including all five of Edmonton's selections in the 2026 NHL Draft this past weekend.

While Bowman believes the experience will be beneficial to Murphy, Primerano and Kraemer, he also hopes the Oilers' prospects can take something away from being on the ice with an Olympic gold medalist and two highly-touted NCAA players.

“At the end of the day, everyone is a hockey player,” Bowman said. “My daughter plays and she plays games with boys sometimes. I think hockey players are hockey players. They’re talented. They all try to do the same thing. They all try to score goals, make moves, make plays. They train hard. They’re no different than the men. They’re committed to it. It’s impressive to see, and I’m excited to have them be part of it. It’s fun for them, but it’s also fun for our prospects at the same time.”