Last year’s Gold Plan winners won’t have to start from scratch as they make a push for the Walter Cup in their second season in the league. After retaining the most players through expansion and drafting first overall, the Vancouver Goldeneyes are already well set up heading into the off-season.
Without a season start date, it’s a long summer, but the Goldeneyes don’t have too many loose ends to tie up before training camp.
The Roster
At the time of writing, the Vancouver Goldeneyes have 15 players under contract and on their roster heading into pre-season in the fall. Ten of these players are forwards, all of whom are returning players. Three defenders are under contract, including newcomer Dominika Lรกskovรก, and the Goldeneyes are bringing back their goaltending duo from last season with Emerance Maschmeyer and Kristen Campbell.
Current roster as of July 3
Forwards: Izzy Daniel, Katie Chan, Jenn Gardiner, Tereza Vaniลกovรก, Gabby Rosenthal, Mannon McMahon, Sarah Nurse, Abby Boreen, Hannah Miller, Anna Segedi
Defenders: Sophie Jaques, Ashton Bell, Dominika Lรกskovรก
Goaltenders: Emerance Maschmeyer, Kristen Campbell
The Goldeneyes also extended a qualifying offer to Madison Samoskevich, keeping her rights, but she hasn’t officially re-signed with the team yet. Samoskevich is an extremely versatile player and could fill a forward or defender role.
Going into training camp, the team can only have 19 players under contract, which means that even players who may want to re-sign with the team won’t officially do so until after camp.
The Outliers
The Vancouver Goldeneyes currently have six players on expiring contracts. These are players who were on the roster last year and didn’t leave during expansion, but don’t have a contract with the team for next season.
Putting aside the biggest question marks of Claire Thompson and Michelle Karvinen, both of whom have decisions to make on their futures before re-signing, the team is likely having, or has had, conversations with Anna Shokina, Sini Karjalainen, Kimberly Newell, and Malia Schneider.
Anna Meixner, who was on the list of unsigned players, chose to return to Sweden to play for Brynรคs. Despite not having the best season last year, Meixner did have four points in 17 games.
Karjalainen and Schneider only got a couple of games last season. With the defenders coming in next season, I wouldn’t be surprised if Karjalainen doesn’t get re-signed. If she does, it may be as a reserve player. Schneider could be a good fit for the Goldeneyes, but their top six is pretty solid, so she’d have to find a slot in the bottom six. She could choose to look elsewhere for more playing time.
Shokina didn’t get a lot of playing time after coming over mid-season from Ottawa, averaging about seven minutes a game and finishing with just one point.
Lastly, Kimberly Newell’s future with the team is uncertain. Barring a change in Maschmeyer’s or Campbell’s availability next season, the team would need to choose between 2026 Draft Pick Katie DeSa and re-signing Newell. Having a goaltender under the age of 25 would be smart for the team to hold onto, knowing that Maschmeyer and Campbell won’t be around forever. At 30 years old, Newell’s last pro game was in the 2021-22 season with the Vanke Rays.
The Question Marks
Before the team can really figure out what slots they need to fill, they’ll need to get answers from Claire Thompson and Michelle Karvinen.
Thompson, who has been delaying medical school to play in the PWHL, has said she will take the summer to make her decision. In her last update to the media, Cara Gardner Morey said Thompson is still deciding.
Karvinen, who played her first season in the PWHL last year but had an illustrious career in Europe, wasn’t sure about her playing status next season. When I spoke to her at exit day last season, she said that her decision would be more about whether she would retire or not, rather than whether she wanted to return to Vancouver. As one of the oldest players in the league, it certainly wouldn’t be surprising if Karvinen wanted to hang up her skates, but it would also be nice to see what she could do once she was used to the pace of the league.
Her leaving would also be disappointing from a prospect management perspective. Losing Karvinen would mean that the Goldeneyes only retained Madison Samoskevich from their inaugural draft.
The Draft Picks
Coming out of the 2026 Entry Draft, the Goldeneyes could have five new players joining the roster. After trading their 13th and 49th overall picks to get Abby Boreen back from Las Vegas, the team was left with picks in all but the fifth round.
I would expect at least the first three picks, Caroline Harvey, Thea Johnasson, and Jules Constantinople, to make the team this season. Harvey and Constantinople will add some strength to the defensive roster. Johansson is also likely ready to hit the ground running, adding to the forward roster. She was a point-per-game player last Olympics and the second-highest producer on the Minnesota-Duluth roster last season. We could see a contract for Harvey before training camp, but the other draft picks may have to wait until after training camp.
As for DeSa and Messier, the fourth and sixth round picks, respectively, things are a little less clear. DeSa will be aiming to take that third spot on the roster, which could hinge on what happens with Kimberly Newell. Messier could fill out a bottom-pairing role on defense. However, Vancouver’s sixth-round pick last season, Chanreet Bassi, did not make the team out of training camp. It’ll be up to her to prove she deserves a spot on the roster.
If the Goldeneyes do sign all of their picks, they’ll have 11 forwards, six defenders, and three goaltenders under contract for next season. That would leave three spots for training camp entrants or off-season free agent signings to get to a maximum of 23 active players.
Over the off-season on the IX Sports Podcast, I’ll be breaking down where each team stands heading into training camp with some familiar guests. Check out the Vancouver Goldeneyes episode from this past week.
