Previous ranking: 14
2026-27 team: PWHL Las Vegas
Last year, Janecke was just outside the top-10 of our ranking. At the time, she was coming off scoring the golden goal at the 2025 Women’s World Championship for Team USA and had had an outstanding season with Penn State.
She reached even greater heights this year. In February, Janecke became an Olympic gold medalist, notching 5 assists in seven games. In March, she was a finalist for the Patty Kazmaier award, then led Penn State to their first-ever Frozen Four. And in June, she was the third-overall pick in the 2026 PWHL Draft. Not too shabby for the 22-year-old forward.
Janecke, originally from Illinois, has been one of the best centers in the NCAA since her freshman year in 2022-23. In her final NCAA season, across 617 faceoffs, Janecke won 406, a winning percentage of 65.8%. In multiple games this season, she was practically unbeatable — she won over 75% of her draws in nine different games.
All told, Janecke is one of the greatest players to come out of the AHA, let alone Penn State. In 2025-26, she registered 48 points (26 goals, 22 assists) in 31 games. She is one of two players to ever win AHA Player of the Year and Forward of the Year three times. At the conclusion of her NCAA career, she was the highest-scoring player in the history of Penn State hockey. Not Penn State women’s hockey. Penn State hockey. No player — of any gender — has scored more for the Nittany Lions than Janecke.
In June, she was drafted third overall by PWHL Las Vegas; she signed a two-year SPA on July 14. Vegas general manager Dominique DiDia had plenty of praise for Janecke.
“Her talent speaks for itself, but what stands out most about her is her character, compete level, and passion for the game,” DiDia said. “We believe she’ll play a significant role in establishing the identity of PWHL [Las] Vegas — not only through her performance on the ice, but through the relationships she’ll build with our fans and the lasting impact she’ll have in the Las Vegas community.”
If Janecke is not the top-line center for Vegas by the end of the season, I will be pretty surprised. Fellow USA national team member Hayley Scamurra is another option in that role, at least to start.
However, based on Janecke’s success in the position, especially in the faceoff circle, it seems like a no-brainer for her to jump into the top spot. With her national team success, I doubt her transition to professional hockey will be that difficult, especially if she’s on a line with fellow first-round pick Lacey Eden.
Based on the names above her in this ranking, I think Janecke is as high as she could be this year. Sixth seems like a perfect spot for her, especially considering she wasn’t even on this list two years ago. At 22 years old, she still has plenty of time to climb even higher in our ranking.
Undoubtedly, she’ll be a part of Team USA at the Women’s World Championship in November. And while plenty of talented rookies are hitting the PWHL this season, I’d be shocked if Janecke wasn’t in the Rookie of the Year conversation. She’s an incredibly talented player, and I can’t wait to watch her shine in the pros this season.
