Where are PWHL teams now and what are the next steps?

The dust has finally settled on the Inaugural PWHL Draft and 90 players now have new teams. These newly selected players will be going out with friends and family with a very eventful, as well as stressful, day over knowing they’ve at the very least been guaranteed a spot at training camp. For all the PWHL fans, media, and team staff’s it was a furious couple of weeks of draft preparation that finally came to a head in a momentous event. Now it’s time for rest and reflection on what has transpired over the past few weeks. When that’s finally done it’s time for the next steps of preparing for training camp and figuring out which draftees should be signed right away. While they do that privately let’s work through what those next steps might be together. What we’ll do is go through all six teams to see where they stand today and what’s left on their to-do list. We do know that training camp invited have gone out and apparently some undrafted free agents have signed so if this looks out of date at any time then it’s because all that is being announced. For the extra forward and defender spots I didn’t generally aim to figure out what extra’s teams should be carrying as I’m just focused on the actual line-up openings. With that all out of the way let’s get going on this. NOTE: All roster line-ups are merely potential combinations to give a general idea as to what holes teams need to fill. If you’re going to send me messages about how wrong X player in Y position is I will find your goalie takes and rip them to shreds.

Where they are: Their free agency was one of the best among all PWHL teams. They grabbed a Tier 2 goalie in Aerin Frankel who should be a top goalie for Boston for years just like she was at Northeastern University. Megan Keller is an absolute offensive machine from the back end and while her defensive game can struggle she can outscore those issues not to mention with Frankel in net you’re not too worried. Lastly there’s HHOF winger Hilary Knight. Her name is obviously extremely well known as well as her generational skill set. She’s 34yo though and a winger so the question is how long can she avoid the worst parts of the aging curve. In the draft Boston went hard on forwards and their top 9 shows it. You could make a very compelling argument for their top 9 being the best projected top 9 in the PWHL. That top 9 is backed up by a potential top pairing that will provide more offence than other teams whole defence. With the other talent drafted they’ll also be able to put together a good left side on defence that can provide offence and two-way play. The cherry on top of their draft is taking another young, high potential goalie in Emma Soderberg. In a 24-game season it’s a bit of a curious selection as both should be getting ~60% of the starts available this season. Maybe Soderberg will be a trade chip or Boston just really believes in high quality goalie depth.

What’s next: The most effort the Boston front office should be putting into their roster discussions and finding a way to round out the defence. They only have right-handed defender in Sophie Jaques. The other five all shoot left. Luckily for Boston there’s still some talented right-handed defenders left to either bring to camp to figure out the best fit or sign as free agents. Of course there’s a cap to consider and we don’t know what their internal ideal distribution looks like. If they can still spend on defence than Emily Curlett should be high on their list. If they’re looking to more budget options that can elevate their games to a 2nd pair level if they’re with the right partner then Kaleigh Fratkin or Dominque Kremer should be options with Abby Cook being a sneaky potentially good pick up too. With two goalies on the roster and both being young what you’d be looking for in terms of goalie depth are goalies who understand their role on the team. The chances of Frankel/Soderberg losing their roles due to play are very low so what Boston will be looking for is injury insurance. Depending on where Alex Cavallini puts her feet up she should be considered. She hasn’t played competitively since the 2022 Olympics and could use some time to reacclimate herself to show she’s an option for a bigger role in the 24/25 season. Another option might be Kassidy Sauvé who was planning on playing in Boston this season anyways and is coming off a season ending injury. As for the reserve list/no. 4 goalie spot on the depth chart you’re looking to invite essentially anyone who lives in the area. Last but not least are the open forward spots. As you can see the line-up projection shows two 4th line spots but come the end of training camp there’s no guarantee the line-up will look anything like that. The #1 forward on their list to fill one of those spots feels like Allie Thunstrom would be a great player for a bottom 6 role. She has speed for days and being 35yo it might not be the worst idea to have Thunstrom lower in the line up so her speed doesn’t waver much through the game. I think another name to keep in mind for the bottom six would be Alena Mills. She’s not the dominant player she once was but she offers up a physicality not many teams are going to be able to deal with not to mention she has all the veteran leadership you could ask for. Other options of course would be former Boston Pride players who are presumably still in the area like McKenna Brand and Taylor Wenczkowski.

Where they are: The first three signings of the Minnesota franchise by General Manager Natalie Darwitz didn’t really indicate where the franchise was going. They added one of the best defenders in the defensive zone in Lee Stecklein, the very productive and speedy winger in Kendall Coyne Schofield, and Team USA member Kelly Pannek. While the signings didn’t really point to a specific team direction it did point to a specific draft selection at 1st overall as there was a giant hole at the no. 1 center spot. The Stecklein signing opened up the opportunity for Minnesota to go out and grab a very offensive top pairing defender to try to recreate the chemistry Stecklein had with Laura Fortino that lead to one of Stecklein’s best offensive seasons. In the draft that no. 1 center hole was filled immediately and GM Darwitz goal of finding a franchise player looks like it’s definitely been achieved. You can argue that Minnesota was too impatient in drafting a goalie but the goalie tandem they’ve ended up with might be the easiest to play in front of as there’s not a talent drop between the probable no. 1 goalie in Nicole Hensley and no. 2 Amanda Leveille. At forward Minnesota is swinging for home run picks. Zumwinkle was a pitch right over the middle of the plate so that’s an easy one to swing on. The rest though have all shown they have the ability to reach high peaks of offensive production though they haven’t been consistent about it recently. On defence it looks like Darwitz and co. have gone with a more traditional defensive set up with a stay at home defender and one more prone to join the play. With Sidney Morin and Minnamari Tuominen they’ve also given themselves options to fill in the Fortino role beside Stecklein.

What’s next: On forward there’s really only one spot left open assuming of course every player drafted is a priority to sign. Down the middle of the ice Minnesota is looking pretty good and versatile. Either Michela Cava or Susanna Tapani will take the 2C spot though with how the middle six looks both the 2nd and 3rd lines can be interchangeable depending on who is hot at the time and who the opponent is. If you’re looking for a weak spot up front it’s hard to find one other than a bottom 9 winger aka non-top line winger. Left wing or right wing doesn’t really matter as the left has more options to try while the right wing has Kelly Pannek but beyond her it’s a question mark. If you want to go the right wing route bringing in former Minnesota Whitecap Jonna Albers looks like both the smart and easy play here for Minnesota. Another option would be Haley Skarupa who hasn’t played since 2022 but her resume is just consistently putting up high numbers. A sneaky, cost efficient decision might be going with Alyssa Wohlfeiler who has had a consistently good PHF career up to this point and while she is 34yo at the very least provides the potential for a good offensive producer in any role. On the backend the biggest question is who is going to carry the puck on each pairing? It’s not as though there’s any puck skill devoid defenders on the roster but naturally with the amount of talent in the league any weak spots are going to be focused on. The top pairing looks pretty good with Stecklein/Morin and if that doesn’t work they have another right handed defender in Tuominen to try at the spot. Probably the biggest concern is finding someone who can move the puck well for the 3rd pairing to ensure that Buchbinder it’s forced to handle the puck often. Unfortunately the draft saw a lot of left handed defenders get picked up. Luckier for Minnesota there’s still good options available and both played with each other last year with the Montreal Force in Christine Deaudelin & Brigitte Laganière. Deaudelin has a bit more of track record though so she might be the better target. When it comes to the goaltending position what is there left to do? They managed to grab two Tier 3 goalies which will ensure their tandem will be one of the more talented ones. One could argue that there’s no need to add another goalie to the roster and let the extra goalies be on the reserve list. For one I’m a big proponent of having goalie depth so I’d want a no. 3 goalie on the roster. Especially for when Amanda Leveille takes her multiple week injury you don’t want to risk Hensley too by overworking her. Personally I like the option of the no. 3 goalie being Sydney Scobee. A young, talented goalie who is used to playing lower on the depth chart but deserves a chance to step up and make a push for a no. 2 spot next year.

Where they are: Is there a team who had an easier time of deciding their 1st three free agent signings? You have the best forward and player in the game wanting to play for you as well as the best available goalie in the world. Oh and you also managed to grab one of the best forechecking, north/south forwards in the game as well. To say Montreal was set up for success right from the start is an understatement. It’s hard to imagine three signings declaring a team a favourite for the championship but that’s what the Montreal signings were. Just elite talent you didn’t have to bother looking for and something you can build a team around. With those three signings in place all that was really left to do in the draft was build around them and build around them Montreal did. They arguably had one of the best drafts and their forward depth is very strong. They managed to set themselves up for a recreation of the best line in the PWHPA last season only instead of Clark/Eldridge with MPP it’s Stacey/O’Neill. Kennedy Marchment should easily be a no. 1 center in the league but now she’s going to feast on 2nd line minutes creating a match-up nightmare for other coaches. The more you look at the defence that was drafted the scarier it gets knowing who they’re going to be passing the puck too. Erin Ambrose has shown to have a lot of chemistry with MPP and knows how to run a PP. Apart from Ambrose it’s a young blueline but one full of modern defenders that can move the puck at the very least good enough with most moving it very good. Lastly they really solidified their goalie tandem by grabbing Elaine Chuli who should be an excellent no. 2 goalie and while there is a talent gap the play style gap is small enough that Montreal won’t have to change much defensively no matter who is in net.

What’s next: The most obvious holes in the Montreal forward line up is in the bottom six. How they want to go about it will decide what the best options are for the team. As it’s currently configured the Montreal bottom six has a good mix of skill, defensive ability and veterans. Lina Ljungblom who was the last pick of the PWHL draft is not on the roster because she’ll be spending the season in the SDHL which is really for the best as she’ll get top line minutes there and a spot will open up next for her in the top 6. I think no matter how you configure the Montreal bottom six there’s an emphasis on skill and two-way play. If Montreal sticks with their one veteran and one young player ratio they have going on we could see some combination of Jess Jones/Amanda Pelkey as the veterans with Justine Reyes/Akane Shiga as the young options. Do wonder if another veteran option is Alena Mills considering Montreal has not been shy about adding Czech talent. There’s two questions right now about the Montreal defensive blueline. The first is can Madison Bizal or Kati Tabin succeed in a 2nd pairing role alongside Dominika Laskova? Whoever it is will need to be on their best defensive game and I lean towards Bizal in this instance. The second question is if Kati Tabin is going to be on the 3rd pair who are you putting with her? Up until last year Tabin has not been much of an offensive threat. That changed this past season making her look like a potential 2nd pairing player but should do very well in a 3rd pairing role. If they view Tabin as the defender she showed last season then putting her with a more defensive responsible player like Taylor Woods. If Montreal wanted to cover all their bases then Dominique Kremer would be a good option there too. Lucky for Montreal there’s still a good handful of right handed defense options after the draft. Is there really anything more that can be said of goaltending? They have the best goalie in the world (apart from Klara Peslarova) and then they shored up their goaltending with Elaine Chuli. Kori Cheverie is probably going to be the least stressed coach in the league when it comes to Montreal’s goaltending. As someone though that very much believes in goalie depth Montreal should still be looking to bring in a no. 3 goalie for the roster at the very least. A good youthful option who has proven herself to be able to handle the no. 3 role would be Marlène Boissonnault who played behind Ann-Renee Desbiens last season on Team Harvey’s. Another option is bringing back La Force de Montreal no. 1 goalie Tricia Deguire to go into the no. 3 role. She got really comfortable at the end of last season and was looking at home on one of the best defensive teams. Bring both to training camp and the better goalie gets the no. 3 job.

Where are they now: New York City has always come with the reputation of being bold and the PWHL New York team is taking a be bold approach to their team roster construction. With the first three signings they grabbed a no. 1 center, the extremely skilled Alex Carpenter and the only team to sign someone who doesn’t live in their home country in Canadian Micah Zandee-Hart. The message these three signings sent was New York is going to overwhelm you with skill, physicality and speed. You don’t want to be on the opposing side of a forecheck featuring Carpenter and Roque. You don’t want to try to have to get through Zandee-Hart to get to the net. Both Carpenter and Roque had a bit of a down year last season statistically but with New York’s emphasis on offence they’re prime for big years. New York’s philosophy in their free agent signings was turned up to the max level when it came to the inaugural PWHL draft. They only have one player over the age of 30 on the roster including their free agent signings in national team veteran player Jill Saulnier. They currently have the youngest roster by average age in the PWHL. Every single defender they drafted has the ability to keep the offence going and even contribute in elite ways. They don’t even have a 3rd pairing right handed defender yet and arguably have the best right side defence in the entire league. Their left side defence is going to ensure the right side is not going to have to carry the load on breakouts or in the offensive zone. On forward it’s going to be wave after wave of offence just crashing down upon opposing teams. This isn’t a roster built in mind to play chess-like defensive performances. The cherry on top is they’ll have a goalie used to her team favouring offence in Corinne Schroeder who excelled in the firewagon hockey style that was the 22/23 Boston Pride with a real wild card in Abbey Levy.

What’s next: As with all these rosters this part is going to be some nitpicking and finding the smallest flaws that might just be the difference in a few games which will probably be the case this year in the PWHL. The top six forward configuration is pretty set and forget expect for the 2LW position. If you’re getting CWHL Jill Saulnier then you’re happy as a clam. If not you’re going to have to experiment with some options and New York has a good one in Jade Downie-Landry. She was projected to be a top line player in the PHF and she delivered despite USports having a reputation similar to that of NCAA III. Neither one might actually be the season long 2LW as each player can give that line a different look if need be. Trying to figure out the 4th line is a bit trickier as the composition projects to be more defensive though still possessing that speed. Do wonder if former Metro Riveter Kennedy Ganser would be a suitable option there especially with her face-off prowess. I think the sneaky good play though would be going for Alex Poznikoff who just won the championship with Team Harvey’s. As I’ve said above I am in love with New York’s defence and you wouldn’t be wrong in guessing I find it to be perfect and see only one hole left to be filled. You’d be close but no cigar. If there’s an immediate downside to New York’s blueline is there’s only one right handed shot on the team. If Shelton or Zandee-Hart can play the right side with no issues then this isn’t much of a concern. If they can’t convert one of their top four defenders to play right it’s going to be some tough sledding though thankfully there’s still options. A budget option would be Amy Cook who showed offence in the NCAA though it hasn’t translated very much outside of the NCAA. The potential is there and she’d still be fine in a 3rd pairing role. If you don’t mind spending some money and you want someone with the ability to play in a top four role if need be there’s always Emily Curlett, Dominque Kremer and Kaleigh Fratkin. This might be the most controversial part of this whole piece though if you’d read my piece on goalie tiers you’d have seen this coming. Corinne Schroeder should do very well behind a team that’s so focused on playing at a high pace as long as there’s puck pressure and good rebound retrieval happening in front of her. The biggest question on this roster is can Abbey Levy be a steady no. 2 goalie behind Schroeder. I think the big brain move here is bring Noora Raty or Meeri Raisanen to training camp to push Levy. Schroeder is going to need more rest than she got last season so whoever the no. 2 is going to need to play well enough to give Schroeder that rest. With how she plays I think Raty would be a great fit in New York and at the very least Levy learns this season with the inside track to the no. 2 position next season.

Where are they now: Ottawa sent a clear message with their three signings that they intent to compete for the championship right away. Now you could say every team in the PWHL is aiming to compete for a championship and you’d be right. The way Ottawa went about it with their three signings has been different essentially going for two players and a goalie who appear to be at their peaks compared to other teams who are still grabbing great players but those players are more in their prime than at their peak. Brianne Jenner was the Olympic MVP a bit more than a year ago. Emily Clark just had her best year as 1/3 of the best line in the PWHPA. Emerance Maschmeyer is Team Canada’s no. 2 and lead her PWHPA team to a 2nd place finish. If they can provide one more year of near peak play at least then Ottawa is going to look great with these three signings. At the draft Ottawa went in with a relatively similar strategy as New York, build a team built for offence and getting the puck up the ice. What Ottawa also did was aim for underrated players that have more potential then they’ve already shown. Darryl Watts had a fine season in the PHF though was well below expectations however she did come in halfway through the season and has massive potential. Audrey-Ann Veillette’s offensive numbers in USports show a high level of potential as well and if she gets even close she’ll be a good top 6 forward for Ottawa. With the defence Ottawa drafted it’s going to be feel like a swarm of forwards in the offensive zone and has the potential to be one of the most dangerous offensives in the league. They even got McLeod a version of Blanka Skodova in Sandra Abstreiter. This is going to be far from a boring team.

What’s next: Apart from Brianne Jenner the right side of the Ottawa forwards is pretty young and unproven with only Caitrin Lonergan having pro experience with it just being one year. Despite the unproven talent on the right side there’s enough options there that the middle six RW should always be strong. One of the biggest questions on the roster is the middle six center spots. Lexie Adzija has never been an offensive powerhouse as her game is more focused on the defensive side of the puck and being a good two-way player. Ottawa has Darryl Watts as an option and she should be the answer though her stint with the Toronto Six did have her fall to the sixth round. If Ottawa is indeed looking to shore up the center depth while giving them versatility in the bottom six there are two great options available: Mikyla Grant-Mentis & Sarah Bujold. Grant-Mentis would add a strong defensive element while also being a scoring threat while Bujold would make it clear that the Ottawa bottom 6 is aiming for even more skill. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t in love with the blueline Ottawa has created. Every part of their blueline looks like a carefully crafted puzzle and trying to find any improvements left to be made is tough. Their top four defenders are set and forget then watch them run. The only moderate yellow flag in their top four defence is can Amanda Boulier keep up her level of play into her 30’s? She probably can but if she can’t or there’s an injury right now there’s no other right handed defender on the roster. The obvious answer is Emily Curlett who could bump down Boulier onto the 3rd pair making the Ottawa defence very dangerous. If it’s not possible they could go the potential route and grab Amy Cook or there’s always the veteran route with Kayleigh Fratkin. Thankfully for Ottawa there’s a good amount of right handed defenders left and realistically only need one more. Based off the roster construction and the fact that the head coach for the team is Carla McLeod you can reasonably guess what would be the best type of goalie to play. Emerance Maschmeyer should be an incredible fit for this team. As mentioned in previous articles she’s in the 2nd tier of goalies so you’re already starting off with someone very talented and then the boost she’s going to get from a roster that fits her strengths is going to remind everyone why Maschmeyer has the no. 2 job behind Ann-Renee Desbiens. The Sandra Abstreiter selection I understand why Ottawa did it. She had a good World Championship’s and is essentially an upgraded version over Blanka Skodova who McLeod was able to win a Bronze Medal with at the WHC’s. I’m not entirely convinced about Abstreiter’s fit on this roster. It could work but I think Ottawa would do well to bring in some combination of Noora Raty, Meeri Raisanen, and Carly Jackson as they would be good fits in this roster.

Where are they now: Someone should probably check to see if the years of scouting reports gathered by the Team Canada women’s hockey staff weren’t just copy and pasted onto an external hard drive by Gina Kingsbury. Apart from the obvious message of we want to win a championship, Toronto’s message with their three signings of Sarah Nurse, Blayre Turnbull and Renata Fast is this is going to be a team that plays responsible hockey while also being a high character team. When hockey GM’s of any level talk about being responsible and being of high character these would be three type of players they’re looking for. This is Kingsbury/Ryan saying these are the leaders and we’re aiming for a team culture of self accountability. The building of their leadership core and self accountability in the locker room definitely did not stop in the draft as they took 35yo defender and long time Team Canada defender Jocelyne Larocque whose current/former teammates can’t gush enough about her. From there it’s a long list of Canadian and American national team members both current as well as former who will populate the Toronto roster. It’s no surprise that Toronto has the 2nd older roster behind only Minnesota by an average age difference of 0.06. Considering the coach, Troy Ryan, and roster construction it’s looking like we’re going to be seeing a team who wants to suffocate their opponents with puck pressure through all three zones. They’re going to be a pain in the ass to play against especially when once you break through you still have to find a way to score on Kristin Campbell Team Canada’s no. 3 goalie.

What’s next: In terms of the goal of the Toronto roster and what spaces are left open it’s a relatively simple task ahead of Kingsbury & co. to fill in the rest of the roster. When you consider the play style that this roster is best made for does Mikyla Grant-Mentis not seem like the perfect fit? Of course the tough part is where do you slide her in. The great part about MGM is she’s quite versatile in where she plays on the ice and how she plays. Her two-way game would fit like a glove in the Toronto forward line-up. I keep mentioning her name for other teams but I do wonder if Kingsbury will go outside the North American bubble and pick up Alena Mills for a bottom six role. Would fit nearly everything that Toronto is looking for in it’s players. If not Alena Mills but still wanting a similar player to Alena Mills do wonder how much consideration they’d give to Kelly Babstock who would meet those requirements. I don’t know what says responsible two-way play more than the top pairing that looks like Toronto will be running with being Jocelyne Larocque and Renata Fast. The rest of the defence is set up in a pretty traditional way though everyone can move the puck and can skate. It’s a very solid defensive line-up that is built with the overall team play style in mind. The only issue I can really find with it is who on the top pairing is supposed to be producing points? Since leaving the NCAA Larocque has turned herself into a premier two-way defender with an emphasis on defending and it’s been essentially the same path for Fast as well with the same results. Maybe one of them finds their offensive touch again but it looks like whoever will be out with them shouldn’t be counting on either to activate often. It’s tough to think of suggestions considering how purposeful Toronto put the defence together. Brigitte Laganière or Christine Deaudelin could be an option as they provide good offensive results and should be able to keep up with this roster as they’ve already shown they can play on the defensively sound Montreal Force. The goalie philosophy here seemed to be that goalies are valuable but goalie depth not so much as Toronto took Kristin Campbell with their 3rd pick of the draft and then just never came back to address the position unlike every other team who left the draft with two goalies on their rosters. Now Toronto is going to be looking to figure out both the no. 2 and no. 3 spots on the goalie depth chart. For the no. 2 spot I’d be looking to see if Noora Raty would be interested or Lindsay Post whose been great in the SDHL. For the no. 3 spot you’d like to see something like Erica Howe, Rachel McQuigge, and Carly Jackson give a battle for the spot in training camp.