Happy Wednesday & happy October, all! A lot of PWHL news has been dropping lately and it’s full-steam ahead. We now have an official start date for training camps, preseason and the regular season. Additionally, the league announced a new conference system and playoff format.
With less than two months until puck drop, let’s check in for another mailbag. Readers submitted questions via X. Thanks to all who submitted questions!
Which prospects should fans keep an eye on this year?
This is an interesting question! Because of how the PWHL and women’s hockey is structured, there aren’t “prospects” in the traditional sense. There are no team-specific prospects. No drafted players are skating in minor leagues because, well, there are no minor leagues. That said, with the PWHL’s structure, you could consider pretty much any women’s hockey player out there a league prospect at this point! We really don’t know who will or won’t declare for the draft in any given season.
A few from the NCAA I’d watch this year:
- Alice Sauriol (F, St. Cloud State) – 11 points in four games so far (29 pts last season)
- Hilda Svensson (F, Ohio State) – 8 points in four games so far (52 pts last season)
- Nela Lopuลกanovรก (F, Wisconsin) – 7 points in four games so far (as a freshman!)
- Rhyah Stewart (G, Wisconsin) – 2 shutout victories in as many games
- รve Gascon (G, Minnesota Duluth) – .66 GAA and .971 save percentage in three games
Svensson & Stewart are only sophomores, while Lopuลกanovรก is a freshman, so they’re still a few years away from the PWHL at this point.
Will Pascal get canned if the Sirens miss again?
On one hand, it wouldn’t surprise me. There wasn’t much growth year-over-year for the Sirens from 2024-25 to 2025-26. The team actually finished the PWHL season with fewer points (by one) and one fewer win. That said, the teams have been through a lot in the last few years with expansion, and it’s hard to make a consistent roster under those circumstances. If the roster he’s put together for this season isn’t able to perform at a high-caliber, would that finally be enough? (Especially given the league’s new playoff format!)
That said, I think it’s harder to fire a general manager than it is to fire a coach. Evaluating a coach’s performance is relatively simple on the surface – just look at how the team does. Evaluating a general manager is more abstract. The other big crux here is: with no team owners, it would have to be the league’s decision, and I just don’t see that happening unless there is a very obvious cause and an easy replacement.
On Minnesota & injuries…
I received this question, and I think there’s value in addressing it:
“I know most of the PWHL media has spent the past few years demonizing Minnesota staff and players, but could it still be unfair that games do not get postponed for Minnesota players dealing with illnesses, but they do get postponed for Montrรฉal?”
(For background: this post linked to a news article about the Frost’s third-string goaltender getting the call due to illness and a last-minute injury.)
First off, the goaltending situation in Minnesota was unfortunate but unpredictable. Nicole Hensley literally got hurt during warm-ups. You cannot realistically expect the league to postpone the game less than 20 minutes before puck drop, with the rest of the players on the ice and already warmed up. With fans already filling the seats, and a broadcast set to begin. All because one goalie suffered an injury? No way.
As an aside, you will never see a professional hockey game postponed because one or two players are injured or sick, unless it is a very, very serious situation. PWHL teams are lucky to have three goaltenders on their roster, and it makes sense since there’s no “EBUG” situation like in the NHL. Do these things happen often? No. But do they happen? Yes.
The postponement for the Victoire was a single playoff game, rescheduled due to player safety concerns related to illness. Without exact specifics, it’s impossible (and irresponsible) to compare the two situations. We don’t know how many players were ill, if they were contagious, etc. For all we know, it was just as much for the Frost’s benefit as it was for the Victoire. We’ll never know for sure.
So was it fair that the PWHL postponed the Montreal game? I don’t know, and neither do you. Was it fair that the Frost didn’t have a game postponed because of one sick goalie and another injured at the last minute? Yes, I think so.
(P.S. Please don’t mistake the media holding teams and players accountable for their actions as demonizing that team’s staff and players.)
Which player do you think is going to have a breakout season this year?
Great question! Stay tuned; next week I’ll have a piece on a few I think stand out.
