Temper your expectations ahead of the PWHL trade deadline.
The March 30 marker is unlikely to motivate a flurry of moves across the league. If anything, we’ll see more signings ahead of the March 31 roster freeze.
PWHL teams find themselves in unique circumstances when it comes to loading up for a late-season push because picks cannot be traded during the season, only on draft day itself. This limits their ability to become typical buyers or sellers at the deadline because they are missing that future capital.
Looming expansion rumours may also have a chilling effect at the deadline. No team wants to make a huge move for a player they may not be capable of retaining come June.
The surest way for teams to make changes at this time of year is by signing players from overseas who have recently finished their professional seasons, like those from the Swedish Women’s Hockey League (SDHL) — the next best professional women’s circuit — or through reserve player signings from other PWHL teams.
With those limiting factors in mind, here’s a look at each team’s needs as they approach this year’s trade deadline.
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Minnesota Frost
Biggest need: Penalty kill help
Having climbed to a tie with Boston at the top of the standings, the back-to-back champs don’t need much to stay up there.
Minnesota players top the league in several individual stats: Kelly Panek and Britta Curl-Salemme are tied for the league lead in points at 22, Pannek has a league-leading 12 goals, and Taylor Heise tops the assists category with 15. There’s not much they can do to raise their offensive production any further.
But one key gap remains: Minnesota struggles on the penalty kill. The Frost have the worst PK percentage in the league at 79.1. To improve, Seattle defender Emily Brown would be a strong trade target given her ability to get in front of shots and make a difference on the blue line. Plus, the Torrent may be more willing to trade a difference-maker given they’re well out of playoff contention.
Boston Fleet
Biggest need: Forward depth
The Fleet are one of the most well-rounded teams in the league. They have a strong mix of dependable veterans and rising young talent, with an impenetrable wall in Aerin Frankel to backstop the whole production.
Boston is unlikely to get lucky with their wishlist because what they need won’t be worth what they’ll need to give up. But, if they could find a way, the Fleet would benefit from adding some depth players, with Olivia Mobley, Zoe Boyd and Jill Saulnier all currently out with injury.
Montreal Victoire
Biggest need: Forward depth
The Victoire took off with a season-altering stretch in the new year, moving from last place on Jan 4. into what is now a close battle for first.
As they gun for their first Walter Cup, the Victoire could use some help. The team announced on Tuesday that captain Marie-Philip Poulin has been placed on long-term injury reserve retroactive to March 15 with a lower-body injury. The soonest their leading scorer can return is April 5. The Victoire’s top defender, Erin Ambrose, has also been on LTIR since Feb. 19 and it doesn’t look like she’ll return to the ice any time soon.
Montreal signed top SDHL defender Nadia Mattivi on Tuesday to help bolster the blue line, but if Poulin’s issue is serious, the cup contenders may continue with a search for forward help.
Toronto Sceptres
Biggest need: Someone who can score
The Sceptres are on their best stretch of the season, having won four of their six games since the Olympic break and earned points in each contest.
Generating depth scoring and clutch goals remains their main challenge down the stretch. Daryl Watts and Blayre Turnbull are always good for a game-winner, but they cannot create all the offensive production on their own. To make a solid run to the playoffs the Sceptres need to improve with a player who can put the puck in the net — especially in OT — and improve their power play, which is operating at 8.3 per cent (good for second last in the league and 13.6 per cent below the league-leading Ottawa Charge).
Ottawa Charge
Biggest need: Backup goaltender
Gwyneth Philips has carried almost all of the load for Ottawa between the pipes this season, and for good reason. Despite losing in the Walter Cup Final last year, the rookie goaltender was awarded Playoff MVP and has continued her dominance as Ottawa’s starter through 20 of their 22 games this season.
Backup netminder Sanni Ahola was sidelined from Dec. 18 to Jan. 9 with an undisclosed illness and has only played in two games. She was also left at home for “rest and maintenance” ahead of the team’s current road trip. Former U Sports goaltender Kaitlyn Ross was signed to a 10-day player agreement in her place. The Mount Royal netminder went undrafted in 2025 but was invited to the Fleet’s camp before this season.
Of course, Philips will remain the go-to goalie for the Charge down the stretch (and into the playoffs, should they make it), but they will need a dependable second option to help manage her workload in the second half. Ottawa could look to sign a reliable overseas netminder before the roster freeze or look to the Vancouver Goldeneyes and their wealth of available crease talent to make a deal.
New York Sirens
Biggest need: Forward depth
The Sirens recently tried to solve their forward depth problem with one of the funkiest player moves in PWHL history.
With Taylor Girard out for the season with a lower-body injury, New York needed another forward to take her place in their push for a franchise-first playoff appearance. Hunting a capable replacement, they came across an option on the Toronto Sceptres’ reserve list.
Each team is allowed three reserve players in addition to a 23-player roster, but each team is also able to sign a player from another team’s reserve list if they offer them a standard player agreement contract. The Sirens were interested in signing Kristin Della Rovere and offered her a contract, but the Sceptres chose to match that offer and hang onto her. The move added Della Rovere to Toronto’s roster, meaning the Sceptres had to release another player. They chose to let Clair DeGeorge go… and the Sirens scooped her up.
DeGeorge moved from the Sceptres’ reserve list to the Sirens’ roster in a non-trade release and signing. She has three career assists, but hasn’t managed to add to her points total in 17 games this season. She is unlikely to be a sufficient solution to the Sirens forward depth issues, so expect them to shop around for other offensive options while they still can.
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Vancouver Goldeneyes
Biggest need: Chemistry
A trade deadline acquisition is unlikely to fix the issues in Vancouver. As fans have noted since the signing period last summer, the Goldeneyes look like a dominant force on paper. In reality, though, they’re stumbling around in the league’s basement.
The Goldeneyes have two first-string goalies in Emerance Maschmeyer and Kristen Campbell; top scoring talent in Sarah Nurse, Jenn Gardiner, and Tereza Vanišová; and excellent blue-line power in Claire Thompson and Sophie Jaques — and yet, they can’t seem to put it all together.
Given the current rules around trading draft picks, Vancouver cannot enter a “typical rebuild” and it doesn’t seem like moving their powerhouse players would even be the best solution. However, something has to change out west and given the market for goalies at this deadline, maybe moving Campbell or Maschmeyer in hopes of gaining a chemistry-altering player is the best option.
Seattle Torrent
Biggest need: Patience
Like the Goldeneyes, the Torrent have also fallen short of their first-season expectations.
Sitting last place in the league there’s not much they can do to improve to a playoff spot at this point in the season. Likewise, the draft pick trading rules also prohibit them from selling away players with an eye to future gain.
The Torrent were part of a small bit of action in a depth-forward exchange with the Fleet last week that saw them swap Jessie Eldridge for Theresa Schafzahl. They were on the losing end of that move, but it will most likely be an inconsequential trade for them in light of how rosters will change if the league expands again.
