With the first pick of the 2026 PWHL Entry Draft, the Vancouver Goldeneyes selected Caroline Harvey. A favourite to go first-overall, there are very few things Harvey hasn’t done in her career.
In just the 2025-26 season, Caroline Harvey won an Olympic gold medal with Team USA as a college senior, took home Olympic Defender of the Year and Player of the Year, won IIHF Player of the Year with 77.3% of the vote, won the NCAA national championship for the third time in her NCAA career, and won the Patty Kazmaier Award for top NCAA player. All of this and she’s just 23 years old.
“I’m feeling super grateful and blessed in this moment. It’s a surreal moment,” Harvey said in the post-draft media availability, “We dreamed of this since we were little girls, of having a sustainable professional league… and to step into that next year, it’s quite the honour. I’m super excited to get started with the Goldeneyes.”
The Vancouver Goldeneyes finished the PWHL regular season in sixth place and earned the first overall draft pick by winning the Gold Plan through a tie breaker. After getting eliminated from the playoffs, they won both of their games, one in regulation and one in overtime.
“You could see within their games leading up to the end of their season, I feel like they were finding their groove and it was so cool to see” Harvey said, “They have such great players there and I’m just so excited to join the squad.”
Although the team isn’t short on offensive defenders—Claire Thompson and Sophie Jaques being two of the best in the world—drafting another one does make sense with the type of hockey that the team plays. Goldeneyes defense made up 42% of the offense that the team generated this last season. Adding the highest scoring NCAA defender last season will only grow that number. Coming from Wisconsin where they consistently had the best special teams numbers in the league, she’ll also be a key member of the Goldeneyes powerplay and penalty kill groups.
Even though she’s only 23, Harvey’s experience isn’t limited to the college stage, and has experience playing internationally against the top players in the PWHL. She’s medalled in all five international tournaments she’s attended, and plays with a skill and maturity beyond her years.
At media exit day in April, Sophie Jaques said she would be excited to “welcome a player like [Harvey] onto our team, if we were to go that route. I think it would be a lot of fun to play beside her.”
Harvey also mentioned the hope of playing with her in the post-draft availability saying, “She’s such a great player, so composed, her IQ is off the charts and it would honestly be an honour to play with her. I’m hoping I get the opportunity to be her D partner at some point.”
The Goldeneyes will finish out the 2026 PHWL Entry Draft picking 17th, 25th, 37th, and 61st.
