San Jose
This might be the most interesting group of goalies with the most interesting coach this season. With Troy Ryan and Corinne Schroeder, it’s a season of either redemption or proving the doubters wrong. Maybe a combination of both. Many an article and opinion has been given on the now former Team Canada head coach. He’ll go down as one of the most decorated head coaches in Team Canada history. His PWHL coaching career and last few years coaching Team Canada have left doubts about his abilities to win anymore as a head coach. Finishing last in even strength goals for the past two PWHL seasons certainly isn’t a glowing part of his resume.
For Schroeder, it’s not so much that she’s been playing poorly recently. It’s more that it looked like she was on a path to being the number three for Team Canada. Schroeder’s last season in the NCAA with Quinnipiac sees her post a 0.951 SV%. That season ended in a 4-3 double overtime loss to Ohio State University. OSU outshot Quinnipiac 77-22 in that game. Schroeder then made the jump to the Premier Hockey Federation.
Coming into the PHF, Schroeder made an immediate impact. She had three straight shutouts to start the season, one loss in the regular season, PHF Goalie of the Year, and finished with a 0.955 SV%. She’s making herself an option for Team Canada. Schroeder didn’t slow down in the PWHL. She posts some of the best numbers and is a PWHL Goalie of the Year finalist. Unfortunately for Schroeder’s Team Canada hopes, Kristen Campbell was named Goalie of the Year. Fortunately for Schroeder, Campbell experienced a sharp decline in her numbers, thereby losing her Team Canada spot.
Unfortunately for Schroeder, her own numbers saw a downfall. She went from Goalie of the Year finalist to posting average number one stats to this past season posting below average numbers. Now, that’s not to say this decline is a sign of doom for Schroeder and that San Jose is in trouble. In the three seasons that Schroeder has played in the PWHL, she’s been on three of the top five teams in most Shots Against/60. It’s also something to consider that as much of a hit Schroeder’s numbers took on Seattle this season, her goalie partner Hannah Murphy had it worse.
In Schroeder’s pro career so far she’s shown to play a notch above what expectations are. As bad as New York and Seattle have been defensive, Schroeder comes out looking better than she should considering the defensive environments. In the right situation she can contend for a Goalie of the Year spot. There’s a top three goalie ceiling in her game. She’s just not the elite goalie that Ann-Renée Desbiens, Aerin Frankel, and Gwyneth Philips are. The good news is that if San Jose just plays average defensively, Schroeder is capable of delivering above average goaltending. If San Jose plays above average defensively, Schroeder can deliver elite numbers.
An interesting factor into the San Jose goalie room is the addition of 2026 PWHL Entry Draft third round pick Tia Chan. The former Chinese Olympian and University of Connecticut goalie is coming off a great final season in the NCAA. She won her second Hockey East Championship and finished with a 0.951 SV% this season. You can’t ignore Chan’s NCAA accolades either. She made the 25/26 First All-American team, was the 24/25 HE Goalie of the Year, 25/26 HE Goalie of the Year, and 25/26 NCAA Goalie of the Year. For the third year in a row, Schroeder is going to be paired up with a rookie goalie with the resume of a potential number one goalie.
While Chan has the resume of someone who could eventually be a number one goalie in the PWHL, it’s unlikely that will happen. Goalies coming out of the NCAA into the PWHL have struggled to grab a hold of the number one job. In 24/25 Kayle Osborne and Raygan Kirk had opportunities to take the number one job but couldn’t. Philips was able to, though. The caveat there is that the Charge were in peak form, helping to take the pressure off her. Then, of course, this season we saw Hannah Murphy struggle mightily after a hot start.
Adjust expectations appropriately this season for Chan. She’s talented enough that should Chan need to take the number one role there’s a chance she can take over for Schroeder. San Jose needs to make it easy on her, though. A silver lining for Chan and Schroeder is they have one of the friendliest goalies in the room with them, Abbey Levy. She’s a three-year PWHL veteran seeing a bit of action every year in mostly number three type roles.
For Levy it looks like another season in the number three role. While I’m sure it’s not easy to continue getting about three starts a season, someone has to be the number three goalie. For San Jose that appears to be Levy. She’s joining a trio where she’s seen action against Schroeder and Chan in Hockey East action. A good goalie room needs balance between fighting for games and helping each other out. Levy might not steal some starts but she’s going to be a major morale help in the goalie room. This is going to be a whirlwind season for the San Jose goalies. Some off-ice help could be a bigger factor than you’d expect.
Overall I like the combination of coach and goalies for San Jose. For as bad as offences have been under Troy Ryan — and they’ve been bad — his teams always deliver, at worst, average defensive play. When your goalie room consists of Schroeder and a rookie in Chan, that’s a big positive. Seattle was hailed as a defensively strong team until it hit the ice. In the case of San Jose though there’s been a very clear emphasis on defensive players. We should see San Jose finish the year with average to above average goaltending numbers.
Seattle Torrent
When it came to constructing the Seattle Torrent’s goaltending room, general manager Meghan Turner showed a belief in building from the net out. She made Corinne Schroeder one of their first five signings at the start of the 2025 expansion process. Turner followed that up with drafting Colgate University goaltender Hannah Murphy in the second round of the 2025 PWHL Entry Draft. To top it all off, Turner added CJ Jackson to round out the goalie room with one of the best personalities available.
At the end of the 2025/26 PWHL season, Seattle finished third last in PWHL history when it came to team SV% (0.910). Schroeder, Murphy, and Jackson combined for a -11.621 Goals Saved Above Average as well as a 0.433 Quality Starts%. The goalie trio containing the 2024 PWHL Goalie of the Year finalist and first goalie taken in the 2025 PWHL Entry Draft did not deliver on the expectations Turner had set.
I wouldn’t put that directly on the goaltenders, though. Seattle wasn’t a good team this past season. They couldn’t defend and they struggled to score. Seattle finished with the worst Shots Against/60 this season (30.72) and finished second worst in PWHL history in SA/60. It was just not a good time for most in Seattle on the ice. It arguably showed most when it came to the goaltending statistics.
While in 2025 Seattle was able to benefit from expansion to take a goalie, this year they were going to lose one. As bad as the stats were for Schroeder and Murphy, you don’t give up on their potential or ceilings. Schroeder has had a good pro career so far. If you were to ignore this past season you can make an argument she’s been great post-NCAA.
Murphy wasn’t drafted in the second round because Turner felt like picking a random goalie. Turner selected Murphy because Murphy was coming out of Colgate having a great NCAA career. All four years in the NCAA Murphy posted a +0.930 SV%. Her last season with Colgate had a 0.939 SV%. Won three ECAC championships with Colgate to boot while tandeming with Kayle Osborne.
This left Seattle with a decision. They had to protect a goalie, but which one? They protected Murphy over Schroeder. It’s not really surprising that’s the decision Turner made. Seattle used a second round pick on Murphy and started her in 12 games. Murphy will also be only 23-years-old by the time the season starts. While PWHL contracts are capped at three-years max length, if you’re a big believer in Murphy’s ceiling, you will want to keep the goalie who is further away from being 30-years-old.
For those who just looked up Schroeder’s age and are about to throw something at me, hold on a minute! I understand Schroeder heading into the season being 27 doesn’t make her close to retirement. Just looking at the reasons why Turner would protect Murphy over Schroeder, because it’s a risk to keep Murphy. Is it a big risk? If Seattle plays well, I believe most goalies in the league would find success. The risk is that Schroeder has proven herself to be a goalie who can play a step above the defensive situation in three straight seasons of PWHL hockey. Murphy hasn’t proven much of anything yet.
This is fine when you have Schroeder. It’s a problem when the two goalies behind Murphy present even more of a risk. As much as Jackson is a beloved PWHL personality, they’ve not proven much more than being a solid number three goalie. Maybe it’s a question of Jackson just not getting enough PWHL regular season games to get into a rhythm. While there is a chance Jackson can carve out a role as a number two goalie, success for them is going to be heavily reliant on the team in front. Between the Premier Hockey Federation and PWHL games they’ve played in, if the team is great, Jackson won’t lose you a game. If the team is bad, Jackson isn’t saving you. That’s not a slight on them — that’s just typical for a goalie in their situation.
Fighting with Jackson for games will be Italian Olympian and former University of Calgary goaltender Gabriella Durante. The 5’ 11” goalie from Calgary spent the last two seasons in Italy to be eligible to play for Team Italy at the Olympics. Having played three full seasons in USports, specifically Canada West, isn’t anything to ignore. Shows there’s potential. Coming from Team Italy and the Italian women’s hockey league, it’s not as though the numbers suggest she was just way too good for Italian hockey or IIHF Division 1A World Championships.
Based on the goalies Turner has assembled and the resumes of those goalies, it should be assumed that Hannah Murphy is going to be given a long chance to prove she’s the number one goalie. All signs point to Seattle having complete trust in Murphy to carry the team or at least a notable majority of starts. Behind Murphy are two unknowns as to how high their ceilings are. Odds are Jackson and Durante can do spot duty as the number two goalie. If either has to be the number one goalie and Seattle isn’t one of the best teams in the league, it’s going to be a struggle. This is Hannah Murphy’s team. For Jackson and Durante, it’s about proving they can be number two goalies moving forward.
