When the losses started piling up during the PWHL’s expansion process shortly after the Montreal Victoire were still celebrating their Walter Cup championship, it started to feel like an end of an era. Add in the fact that on Thursday, Marie-Philip Poulin and the team announced that she will be out after requiring surgery on her injured knee, and there were reasons to be down on the defending champs.
In a way, due to several players with the team for three seasons leaving the organization, it is the end of an era. What it wasn’t, however, due to some shrewd drafting and free agent pick ups is the end of their competitive window.
Here’s a look at the off-season so far, and what we can expect from some of the changes.
Phase 1/2 of Expansion
- Protected F Laura Stacey, F Marie-Philip Poulin, G Ann-Renée Desbiens
- Lost D Nicole Gosling (Hamilton)
- Lost D Erin Ambrose (Las Vegas)
- Lost F Hayley Scamurra (Las Vegas)
The elephant in the room is the hit on defence that the Victoire took in this first phase. Gosling was always going to be taken in expansion, so that wasn’t a big surprise but doesn’t make it any easier on fans who saw her develop into one of the league’s best defenders. Ambrose was a free agent, and could choose her destination. After close to eight years in Montreal with the Canadiennes and Victoire, ending that time with a championship was a fitting end to that chapter and provided some closure.
Scamurra was always going to be unlikely to stay in expansion after a coming out party in 2026 that included strong play with the Victoire and with Team USA at the Olympics. She plays her role reliably and well and it is not surprising that she was an expansion target.
Phase 3/4 of Expansion
- Protected D Maggie Flaherty (re-signed), D Kati Tabin, F Lina Ljungblom
- Lost F Maureen Murphy (Las Vegas)
- Lost F Shiann Darkangelo (Detroit)
- Lost F Natálie Mlýnková (San Jose)
After losing Gosling and Ambrose, Montreal clearly had to make sure they had some semblance of a defence left. Being able to re-sign Flaherty, who emerged as a big part of the defence, was key especially with a lack of options to replace her available and the competition for defence fierce. Tabin, who was already under contract, was an easy protection slot. The final slot was likely between Ljungblom and Mlýnková. The good news was that the team could protect one. The bad news that the other was a likely player to be grabbed in the process.
Murphy really made Montreal her home since being a third-round pick in the inaugural PWHL Draft. She signed a three-year contract after being selected and made a point to be involved in the community. She likely would have seen a reduced role if she was offered a contract back with Montreal.
Darkangelo was a very solid depth forward for the Victoire this past season, and the Michigan native will have the chance to play at home for the expansion team in Detroit.
Mlýnková had an up and down rookie season, and while it would have been nice to keep her, her getting picked up meant the team would be able to keep Jessica DiGirolamo, Catherine Dubois, and Skylar Irving as the team lost the maximum number of players with rights being held for next season (4).
2026 PWHL Draft
- 1st round, 12th overall: F Petra Nieminen
- 2nd round, 24th overall: F Avi Adam
- 3rd round, 36th overall: D Zoe Uens
- 4th round, 48th overall: G Hailey MacLeod
- 5th round, 60th overall: D Erica Rieder
- 6th round, 72nd overall: F Émilie Lavoie
This is where the off-season really started to ramp up for the Victoire. Draft Day started with the team announcing the re-signing of Abby Roque, which was a big domino to fall and set the tone.
When they drafted at the end of the first round, they chose Nieminen, who has been one of (if not the) best forward playing outside of North America for a few years. She has led the SDHL (Sweden) in scoring the last two seasons, and has starred for Finland at the international level. The 27-year-old is more experienced than Lina Ljungblom when she came over, which should help her adjust to the PWHL. She should slot into the team’s top-six without any issue.
Avi Adam is a player who will also be expected to slot into the team’s top-six. She had back-to-back 29 point seasons at Cornell and provides more depth and size to the team’s forward group.
Zoe Uens is coming off of a season where she had 10 goals after scoring four in her previous three years combined. She strikes me as a very Victoire-coded defender. She blocks shots, and has an underlying offensive potential that could make her into a very good PWHL defender. She should slot right into the team’s lineup to start the season. She is a reliable defender and has offensive instincts that will translate.
Hailey MacLeod is a sign that the team is looking to go younger behind Ann-Renée Desbiens. MacLeod led Ohio State to a lot of success, and while the team isn’t looking for a goaltender of the future necessarily, this is a great spot for her to develop her game and provide the team with another option behind Desbiens. She had a 50-10-4 record and 1.44 goals against average in college.
Erica Rieder is a great story. The 29-year-old went to Sweden for three seasons after playing at the University of Manitoba, then stepped away from the game to become a professional track cyclist in an attempt to make Canada’s Olympic team. She returned to the Swedish league, and took her chance in the PWHL draft, and will look to stake a claim to a PWHL roster spot. She should provide a veteran presence due to her extensive professional experience.
Émilie Lavoie is another great story. Drafted as a forward, she moved to defence last season on a Concordia University team that needed more depth at that position. She should provide forward depth, with scoring upside and very reliable defensively.
Phase 5/6 (Free Agency)
- Re-signed F Abby Roque, F Kaitlin Willoughby, F Jade Downie-Landry, F Alexandra Labelle, D Nadia Mattivi, D Tamara Giaquinto, G Megan Warrener
- Signed F Jessie Eldridge, F Emma Maltais
- Lost D Amanda Boulier, F Dara Greig
Even more important that re-signing Roque (even with the injury to Poulin) was Nadia Mattivi extending her stay with the team. She showed a great potential last season after coming over following the SDHL season. After not playing in the semi-final, she was activated for the final and provided a spark. She showed offensive confidence, with her assist on Abby Roque’s goal in Game 1 showed what she could bring to the team. She should be expected to play a major part in the team’s top four and might be an option go quarterback the team’s power play. Bringing back Giaquinto, who stepped in for Ambrose after the Olympics, also adds to their depth on the blue line.
This is a good opportunity to talk about why people want to sign in Montreal. Between Roque, Eldridge, and Maltais, Montreal added three of the top free agents available (if not the top three, once the free agency period opened). Roque came to Montreal and instantly it was a match made in heaven. She helped the team overcome their playoff baggage and was a perfect fit. The fanbase appreciated her and vice versa. When it came time to make the decision to move on or to stay, Roque wanted to stay.
There’s a magnetic pull that Marie-Philip Poulin has, whether she’s in the lineup or not. Back in 2019, when there was no league suitable to play in, Montreal became a hub for women’s hockey. Players like Emily Clark, Jaime Bourbonnais, Jill Saulnier, Emerance Maschmeyer, and Erin Ambrose, among others, were all in the city in part because of the facilities, but also because they wanted to see how they compared to Poulin on a daily basis. When Eldridge graduated from Colgate, she considered to go to Toronto, but ultimately chose Montreal. It became her home. She took in the Walter Cup final and parade. The first opportunity she had to choose her PWHL destination after being drafted by New York, taken by Seattle in the expansion draft and then traded to Boston, she chose Montreal.
That is one factor. Emma Maltais has family in Quebec, the province her father is from. Her boyfriend and his family is also from the area. It meant she always had a cheering section during games in Montreal, and was obviously an influence in her decision to play here. Victoire general manager Danièle Sauvageau doesn’t just use off-ice factors to sway players to the city, she also has a management group that pinpoints the right players to prioritize and acts quickly.
The team likely knew Poulin’s health status was in question entering the off-season. You can either concede it will be a rough season, or you can do something about it. Montreal did something about it. They unfortunately know that they can succeed without Poulin, going into first place despite not having her for much of the post-Olympic stretch of the season. They did that with depth at centre between Roque, Scamurra, and Darkangelo plus Lina Ljungblom and Alexandra Labelle. They brought Roque back, and added Maltais and Nieminen to that centre group to replace the losses. Somehow, they are even stronger than they were last year in that regard.
Any team will struggle without the best player in the world, Montreal is better equipped than any to deal with that loss, as well as their many expansion losses.
Losing the players they did, plus Poulin’s injury, could have been a disaster. Repeating as Walter Cup champions will not be easy, but the dream is still very much alive.
