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When the Minnesota Frost lifted the Walter Cup just one month ago, players across the league knew things were about to change.
With the dust now settled from the PWHL’s expansion draft, free-agent signing window and entry draft, it’s clear that there’s been a massive, league-wide roster reset.
Seattle and Vancouver accumulated a wealth of talent through the expansion draft, and GMs of the existing six teams have been working to fill the gaps.
With further expansion on the horizon, and lots of big contracts across the league expiring after next season, it feels like teams have to prioritize the immediate future. Long-term planning is next to impossible.
“I think if you ask most of the general managers in this league, this league has transitioned a little bit now,” Ottawa Charge GM Mike Hirshfeld, who prioritized draft-eligible players with previous pro experience, said on draft night.
“It’s really focused on winning now and players who can step in right away.”
All of that led to an action-packed draft day in Ottawa, where three blockbuster trades were announced.
WATCH | Biggest takeaways from the PWHL Draft on Hockey North:
CBC Sports host Anastasia Bucsis and PWHL insider Karissa Donkin reflect on the biggest storylines coming out of the PWHL draft in Ottawa, including which team came out on top.
Defender Ella Shelton is a massive addition to Toronto’s defensive core, and gives the Sceptres two of the best defenders in the world.
Abby Roque, meanwhile, will make Montreal harder to play against, as the Victoire look to translate regular-season success to a Walter Cup.
The PWHL’s signing window is now closed until July 8 at 9 a.m. With the off-season in full swing, here are four storylines to watch as we look ahead to the PWHL’s third season next fall.
Talent on paper
There’s no question that Seattle and Vancouver look like two of the strongest teams in the league. Both stockpiled young talent. Vancouver has the deepest blue line in the league, and two reliable goaltenders. Seattle, meanwhile, has a top six with skill and size in spades.
But how will that translate on the ice?
It’s a problem Seattle GM Meghan Turner knows well, having been the assistant GM in Boston before heading west.
“You can look at something on paper and then as soon as you put it on the ice, you’re like, oh, we kind of need to change something,” Turner said. “A lot of what I take away from my time in Boston is not everything goes as planned all the time. Injuries happen, things go differently in the season than how you might have planned.”
In the first season of the PWHL, it took every team time to adjust to a brand new league with a physical playing style.
There are plenty of veterans on Seattle and Vancouver, but it could still take some time for everything to gel.
How will Ottawa fill out its team?
Ottawa lost a lot of talent in free agency and the expansion draft. Tereza Vanišová and Shiann Darkangelo, in particular, were important adds by Hirshfeld at the 2024 trade deadline, and helped the team clinch its first playoff berth.
But despite the Charge’s run to the PWHL Finals, both left. Vanišová signed with Vancouver and Darkangelo picked Montreal.
Hirshfeld said the Charge made “compelling” offers to both players. Ultimately Vanišová wanted a new opportunity in Vancouver and Darkangelo was attracted to the idea of getting to play and compete each day with Marie-Philip Poulin in Montreal.
“People want to play in Ottawa,” Hirshfeld said. “People believe in this city. They love the fans in this marketplace. Again, it just came down to personal situations and personal decisions. Again, unfortunately for us, we were second a couple different times in free agency.”
Asked if that could be contagious, that players pick other markets over Ottawa, Hirshfeld admitted it’s prompted “a lot of looking in the mirror” about what team could have done differently.
“We’ve talked to agents,” he said. “We’ve talked to other players around the league. We’ve talked to players on our team. There’s some tweaks we’re going to make internally to help us enhance our reputation among players around the league.”
Ottawa has only 12 of 23 players signed heading into the off-season break, and how he fills out the rest of the roster will be something to watch heading into next season.
Hirshfeld also drafted two players out of Russia, which hasn’t competed on the international stage since 2022 due to the invasion of Ukraine. Nonetheless, Anna Shokhina and Fanuza Kadirova came highly recommended by women’s hockey legend Mel Davidson, who recently joined the Charge as a consultant.
Will Sarah Fillier sign long term in New York?
The New York Sirens look dramatically different from the team that 2024 first-overall pick, Sarah Fillier, signed a one-year contract with last year.
The Sirens lost top-six forwards Alex Carpenter and Jessie Eldridge to expansion, as well as starting goaltender, Corinne Schroeder. Then, Daoust flipped Shelton to Toronto on draft night.
This team is clearly built around Fillier now. But as of this writing, she doesn’t have a contract for next season.
Teams hold draft picks’ rights for two seasons, which means Fillier can’t sign with another team unless New York trades her rights.
Given all the moves during the last month, there should be plenty of cap space to make a big offer to Fillier.
Daoust also did a good job of rebuilding his forward group at the draft. Thanks to the Shelton trade, he was able to draft the top two forwards available: sharp-shooting Kristýna Kaltounková and Casey O’Brien, who had one of the best offensive seasons of all time at Wisconsin.
WATCH | Sirens select Kaltounková with 1st pick in the 2025 Draft:
Czech Republic born forward Kristýna Kaltounková selected first overall in the PWHL draft in Ottawa by the New York Sirens.
“Definitely when you get these players joining Sarah Fillier, we feel that we’re going to have some great players on the power play, but also to create more at five-on-five,” Daoust said.
Whether it will be enough to convince Fillier to stay in New York long term remains to be seen.
Just as GMs are thinking short term, players are doing the same. A lot of big contracts around the league are set to expire after next season, and more expansion could be on the horizon.
Several players who signed with Seattle and Vancouver opted for shorter contracts, just not knowing what the future holds.
An Olympic year
For the first time, the PWHL will have to navigate an Olympic break in the middle of the season.
The best players in the world will head to Italy to compete for Olympic gold, and it’s going to be unlike no other Olympic tournament for women’s hockey.
Instead, Canadian GM Gina Kingsbury and head coach Troy Ryan will be relying more on PWHL performance as they select the team looking to defend Canada’s gold medal from 2022.
With many likely returnees from 2022, that may not affect team chemistry as much this time around. But it could be a game changer in the future.
Another factor: So many big-name players switched teams this off-season. How will that impact their ability to make an Olympic team? Will some players get more opportunity to shine? Could others get left behind?
Already, you can see how an Olympic break, combined with the additional travel that comes with having teams on the west coast, is affecting roster decisions.
Several teams are leaning toward having a goaltending tandem instead of relying on one goaltender to play big minutes during a busy year.
Vancouver, where Team Canada goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer is the starter, is one example. The team acquired Kristen Campbell from Toronto in a trade on draft night.
“We know that [Maschmeyer] would love a good partner that can take some minutes, especially during an Olympic year,” Vancouver GM Cara Gardner Morey said. “It’s a long season, so we want someone that’s tested and ready, and Kristen Campbell is certainly that goalie.”
The thinking was similar in Seattle, where the team drafted goaltender Hannah Murphy in the second round to team up with Schroeder.
“Having two really solid goaltenders is very important in this league,” Turner said. “I think we’ve seen it throughout the last two years that it’s important to have goalies that can really step in and jump into the game.”