TIG Roundtable: Ottawa-Toronto Blockbuster Trade

Stay plugged in with women’s sports
Get smart, reliable coverage delivered straight to your inbox — with the context that makes every game matter.

• Daily Updates Our headlines across every sport, delivered at 8:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday.
• Weekly Recap What matters most, curated by our editors, delivered every Sunday.
• Basketball Insider In-depth reporting and analysis about women’s basketball, delivered weekly by Howard Megdal.

Sign up free!

On December 30th, 2024 late at night with a game under 24 hours away, the Toronto Sceptres and Ottawa Charge made what many consider to be the largest trade in PWHL history. The Ottawa Charge traded forward Hayley Scamurra and blueliner Savannah Harmon to the Toronto Sceptres in exchange for blueliner Jocelyne Larocque as well as forward Victoria Bach.

In your opinion just how impactful of a trade is this for both teams? 

J Gray: This is an extremely impactful trade. The Sceptres and the Charge swapped top pairing defenders, players who regularly skated upwards of 22 minutes a night. Larocque and Harmon will have to adjust to new systems, and all the players on the ice with them will have to get used to playing with someone new. There will be a period of integration that could be very meaningful in the 30-game PWHL season. As for the forwards, both Scamurra and Bach played on their respective team’s second line in their first game. That may change, but the coaching staff of each team is treating them like they have the potential to be difference-makers, and that belief can shape reality– for better or worse.

Melissa: This is a really impactful trade for both teams. In my opinion, any trade that involves more than one rostered player is big. As J said, these teams swapped two of their top defenders. That isn’t something that happens every day, and splitting up Renata Fast & Jocelyne Larocque alone is a pretty big deal. It’s also early enough in the season that the players will have time to acclimate and really buy into their new teams.

Maya: These are some pretty big names moving teams, so it’s going to be an impactful trade. From Toronto’s side, it marks the end of the Team Canada dream that Troy Ryan and Gina Kingsbury seemed to be running there. Both Larocque and Bach are Team Canada players and losing them might be the first piece to fall for a Toronto team built around the National team roster. As for Ottawa, I think both Harmon and Scamurra were impactful players that weren’t really utilized well. To me, Harmon is really underrated. I don’t think either player really found their footing in Ottawa, so I think with the right team, they could be incredibly impactful. 

Lydia Murray: Like everyone else said, this is a really impactful trade for both teams. Ottawa theoretically helped their offense by trading Scamurra for a player with more offensive upside, while Larocque brings a wealth of experience. If she can rebound from a tough start to this season, she’ll be a steady presence on a blueline that needs one. As for Toronto, Savannah Harmon is more dynamic and seven years younger than Larocque, so she’s a long-term upgrade. Scamurra is also a reliable two-way forward who should mesh well with some of Toronto’s more dangerous offensive players, which will bring out more offense of her own. As long as both teams use these players properly, the trade should have a big impact on both rosters, although I think Toronto comes out on top.

Geremy: It’s impactful in that you have two struggling teams swapping blueliners who have been playing top pair minutes along with forwards of which one is getting top six minutes and the other has been struggling to find her place in the line-up. That’s three players who have been playing big minutes for their teams. I don’t know if anyone has noticed though but neither Savannah Harmon nor Hayley Scamurra have yet to record a point this season. That won’t continue and I expect both to contribute shortly but they haven’t been a positive impactful this season. Neither has Larocque while Bach has been fine considering her circumstances. For as big as the names are I don’t think this trade moves the needle a whole lot for either team and if it does it’s because Harmon is putting up points again while Bach is finding her scoring touch. 

The online discourse has this trade favouring Toronto. Is there a way for Ottawa to come out of this looking better in the short/long term?

JG: It’s a small sample size, but Ottawa only played Jocelyne Larocque 19 minutes in her first game. She regularly played 26 minutes or more last season in Toronto. The Charge have a second pairing in Aneta Tejralová and Ronja Savolainen that they can feel very comfortable with. If a more balanced workload can boost Larocque’s performance, that could work out very well for Ottawa’s blue line. And if Victoria Bach can be part of activating Danielle Serdachny’s potential, or simply getting more out of Ottawa’s second line, this could easily become a win for the Charge.

MB: I’ll be honest, at first, I really felt like the trade favored Toronto, too. A lot of the online discourse surrounded Larocque’s age – she is the oldest player in the league – but she is still an incredibly serviceable defender who can play big minutes and be one of your best blueliners. Plus, it never hurts to bring in that sort of experience! I also think putting Bach alongside a potential superstar like Serdachny can help both players flourish, so honestly, this trade might be great for all four players involved. It’s a change of scenery and a way to shake things up.

Maya: I’m a pretty big proponent of this being a mistake from Ottawa, namely because I am a huge fan of Harmon and I think Larocque is overrated. While I think that Bach could help on offense, and Larocque is a steady defender who could bolster the top defensive line, I really don’t think either of these pieces are what Ottawa needs to become a contender. For me, Bach doesn’t really fit the high-scoring, fast forward that they need, and Larocque is likely towards the end of her career. For a team that already has a few older players, I think youth and speed is what they are missing. 

Mike: This could break in Ottawa’s favor if they find a way to get more out Victoria Bach than Toronto has. She has a higher offensive upside than Scamurra, in my opinion, but has just three goals and three assists in 22 career PWHL regular season games. That doesn’t align with the 1.37 Pts/GP she averaged during her decorated NCAA career. If Ottawa can tap back into the magic that once made her a superstar at the collegiate level, the Charge will have added an offensive weapon that they sorely need.

LM: While like the rest of my colleagues, I think this trade was a mistake on Ottawa’s part, there is a way for it to look better in the short term. For starters, I agree with Mike that if Ottawa can get more out of Bach, this trade will look better. It’ll also look better if Larocque bounces back from a tough start to the season. However, Ottawa gave up two players in their prime and it’s undeniable that Larocque is near the end of her career, so long-term, I’m not sure how they can win this unless Bach really explodes.

Geremy: Ottawa winning this trade requires either Larocque or Bach to have an impact so great it dwarfs the combined impact of Harmon and Scamurra. I think Harmon reaches or gets close to 0.5 PTS/GP level as the scoring picks back up around her while Scamurra is going to either get to the same or be a bit below. Unless both of them have a completely terrible season that’d require Bach to have a 0.75 PTS/GP or even more down the stretch. Bach has to be a great sidekick to Serdachny for Ottawa to come out of this trade looking like the winner. Now what about Larocque? I don’t think the physical skills are there anymore to make her the impact player she once was and playing on a team that likes to move fast I don’t know how she’s going to find a lot of success. Especially since she was on a defensively friendly team in Toronto and is moving to an unfriendly defensive team in Ottawa. 

What is your biggest hot take when it comes to this trade? 

Maya: I have two hot takes. My first is that this could be huge for Larocque. We saw with Sophie Jacques that the change of scenery in Minnesota was huge for her. She had a great season last year after her trade, and I think we could see the same with Larocque. The difference, of course, is that Jacques is very young, and Larocque is not (in hockey terms, at least). 

My second is that we could see more of a departure from the Team Canada lineup that Toronto has been running. As I mentioned before, it’s a big deal for Toronto to trade two National team players, especially when the coach and GM run the National team. We already saw them moving away from Campbell after a couple of strong games from Kirk (although, after the last game, that might change), so will we see more of that in 2025? Possibly. 

LM: This isn’t a super hot take, but I think Larocque bounces back in Ottawa. She’s still not the player she was, but I don’t think she’s lost as much of a step as it appeared early this season. This trade might spark something in her, especially if Ottawa gives her fewer and/or slightly easier minutes.

Geremy: I alluded to it up above but my biggest hot take about this trade is that it’s not going to move the needle positively for either team in a noticeable direction. Toronto is already filled with Hayley Scamurra’s: strong two-way player who shoots a lot but doesn’t have much finishing ability in their game. Harmon is definitely going to get the puck moving up more than usual but Toronto doesn’t really base their offence on creating it from the backend. Not to mention she’s paired with Renata Fast who is the primary puck carrier on that pairing. Larocque is moving to a team where she’s going to be in more manageable minutes but at this stage in her career she needs some capable of covering for her which Fast did but Jincy Roese will not be doing that. Bach has three goals in 23 PWHL games. She has skill but we’re waiting to see it come out in a meaningful way. By this point it’s starting to look like unless there’s a noticeable turn around she is who she is at this point, a depth forward. These are two struggling teams trading four struggling players, let’s not expect too much. 

Do you think we see a trade on this level (however you want to define that) this season or in the off-season? 

JG: This trade involved two first-round picks from the inaugural draft and six Olympic medals. No, I don’t think we’ll see something of this magnitude for a while.

MB: No, I don’t think so – unless we start to see a team really fall down the standings fast.

Maya: I’d say no, but I’m not sure Mike Hirshfeld is done making questionable trades. 

MM: This one was absolutely a blockbuster. I think we may see some trades in the offseason as teams re-examine their salaries and prepare a potential expansion in 2025-26. Just to add some spice, I’ll say that we will see another blockbuster or two before the end of the 2025 offseason.

LM: I highly doubt it. Blockbusters are blockbusters for a reason: they don’t come around every day. I agree with Melissa that if we see a team plummet fast, maybe they’ll do something dramatic, but it doesn’t feel likely.

Geremy: We had Tapani/Jaques last season and now this four-player swap this season. The problem that we’ve run into now is two out of the three struggling teams has made a big roster, shake-up trade and they aren’t going to be quick to make another before having these new players settling in. That leaves Boston needing one of the best teams in the league to throw them a bone which I find to be unlikely so the next trade like this we’re waiting until next season. 

What trade, big or small, do you think we see next?

JG: The Ottawa front office really seems to like making trades, so I’ll bet conservatively and say the next move will involve them as well.

Maya: We’ve been seeing a lot of injuries this season. I think the next one will be someone needing something they can’t fill with a reserve player. 

LM: I think we see either Ottawa or Boston make a move next, and perhaps it’ll be between those two. Neither has been shy about making moves in the past and while we’re here because of a trade Ottawa just made, another shakeup probably wouldn’t hurt. As for Boston, they desperately need to unlock more offense, and it might take a trade to do that.

Geremy: Mike Hirschfeld loves making trades and I don’t think he’s done. Especially with the team on the edge of playoffs and still relying a lot on Maschmeyer to get them through games. I think we see either Ottawa aim to address their defensive depth or do a forward swap to find someone to help spark the offence more.