PWHL playoff race is back on: Top 5 storylines to watch down the stretch

Yahoo

25-04-2025

After a break for the IIHF Women's World Championship in Czechia, the Professional Women's Hockey League is back.
There are nine games left in the league's schedule, which starts up again on Saturday afternoon, and three games remaining for each team. Only the Montreal Victoire have clinched a playoff spot — Toronto could be the second on Saturday afternoon — and no teams have been eliminated from playoff contention.
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Even when a team is eliminated, there are still points that need to be won thanks to the league's adoption of the Gold Plan. Meanwhile, only two points separate Boston, Ottawa and Minnesota for the third and fourth spots in the Walter Cup Playoffs.
A lot can change between now and May 3, the final day of the season. But if the inaugural year was any indication, with the playoff picture only finalized after the very last game, the 2024-25 stretch run should be filled with drama and intrigue.
Before the puck drops again, let's dive into the top storylines to watch from the playoff race to expansion news and more.
The MVP race
This time last year, Natalie Spooner had pretty much locked up every major trophy (MVP, Forward of the Year and both scoring titles). This year, however, the race still feels pretty tight.
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Montreal captain Marie-Philip Poulin is likely the front-runner for MVP. Her league-leading 17 goals represents around 25 percent of Montreal's offense. But nobody in the PWHL has more points than Boston's Hilary Knight (28), whose 15 goals are tied for second in the league.
There's also Toronto defender Renata Fast to seriously consider. She's been the best all-around defender this season, quarterbacks the league's best power play and is tied for the league lead in assists (15). Fast also leads the league in hits (58) and is tied for third in blocked shots (48).
The Sceptres have a ton of depth at forward and Kristen Campbell has rounded out her game in the latter half of the season, but one could argue that without Fast anchoring the blue line, Toronto wouldn't be anywhere close to second place.
Will someone pull away in their final three games? Could other players make a strong case down the stretch? It'll be more interesting to see than last year without Spooner completely dominating the league.
Can Ottawa clinch its first-ever playoff berth?
The Charge went into the international break as the fourth (and final) playoff team. Now they'll have three games to hold onto that spot.
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Last season, Ottawa squandered multiple chances to clinch a playoff spot down the stretch. A 5-2 loss against Toronto on the final day of the season ended Ottawa's playoff hopes and allowed the Minnesota Frost to back their way into the playoffs on a five-game losing streak.
As it stands now, the Charge only have a 54 percent chance of making the playoffs, behind fifth-place Minnesota and third-place Boston, according to Dom Luszczyszyn's playoff projections. The model favors Minnesota over both Boston and Ottawa partly because they're the reigning champions and they have a positive goal differential.
The Frost are only one point behind Ottawa in fifth place, and the two teams will face off next week in a game that should have massive playoff implications for both sides. The Charge are leading the season series 3-2, with some lopsided wins (an 8-3 victory in February), but also losses (5-0 last month).
There's reason for fans to be optimistic about Ottawa. Goalie Gwyneth Philips was excellent at women's worlds, only allowing one goal against, which came in the gold medal game against Canada in relief of Aerin Frankel. With Emerance Maschmeyer injured, Philips has proven to be more than able to take the reins.
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But there are also areas of concern. Ottawa's offense has been inconsistent. The team's 66 goals on the season are tied for last in the league with New York. Forward Kateřina Mrázová was activated from long-term injured reserve, but also revealed she played through two broken bones and a torn ligament in her wrist at women's worlds. Will she play down the stretch, or need to rest until they hopefully make the playoffs?
At the end of the day, Ottawa is in the middle of a playoff race and sandwiched in the standings between the two teams that made the Walter Cup Final last season.
Whether or not the team can hold onto fourth — or move further up the standings — is going to be a massive story over the final two weeks of the season. And if they fail to make the playoffs two years in a row, what changes (if any) could they make?
Frankel's return from women's worlds
The last time we saw Frankel on the ice, she was being helped to the bench after a scary collision with Canadian forward Laura Stacey during the gold medal game at women's worlds.
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On the play, Frankel left her crease to play a puck while the U.S. was on the power play. Stacey, one of Canada's top penalty killers, was chasing the puck down and collided with Frankel, who stayed on the ice for several very quiet moments.
Frankel did not return to the game, but had already locked in the goalie of the tournament award with her 1.05 goals against average and .945 save percentage.
There has been no official update on Frankel's status since returning from worlds. But considering the Fleet are still very much in a fight for the playoffs, it's fair to wonder if Frankel will be available to play, let alone 100 percent down the stretch. That said, Frankel, Knight and Megan Keller did throw the first pitch at a Red Sox game at Fenway Park Wednesday night, so perhaps she's doing OK. That would be a huge relief for the Fleet.
Last season, Frankel was reason Boston ran the table after returning from worlds and made the playoffs at all. Then she largely carried the team all the way to Game 5 of the Walter Cup Final.
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Should Frankel need some time post-tournament, Emma Söderberg or Klára Peslarová would be tested on Saturday against No. 2 Toronto. Söderberg had a solid tournament, albeit in the less competitive Group B. Peslarová made 160 saves for Czechia, the third-most tournament-wide, including a 43-save performance against Team USA in the semis.
Something to monitor for Boston, too, is top-line forward Alina Müller. She left Switzerland's final game at worlds with an injury in the final five minutes.
Who gets the first overall pick?
The New York Sirens could be the first team officially eliminated from playoff contention on Saturday if Boston beats Toronto in regulation and Ottawa beats Montreal in regulation.
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If that doesn't come to pass, the Sirens will have a big game of their own against Minnesota on Sunday afternoon. If they win, there's a chance they'll stay alive and throw a wrench in Minnesota's attempts to get back into the playoffs. But hoping for New York to run the table like Boston did last year seems like a stretch. According to Dom's model, New York has a zero percent chance of making the playoffs.
Once they are ultimately eliminated, any standings points earned will go toward the Gold Plan, which determines the league's draft order by how many points a team earns after being eliminated from the playoffs. It's likely New York wins the pick, simply because every other team is still in the midst of a playoff race.
But there's also the league's newest franchise to consider. Will PWHL Vancouver get the first overall pick? Will there be a lottery between the Gold Plan winner and the new team(s) for the top pick? Or will the pick just go to the Gold Plan winner?
In the WNBA, the expansion Golden State Valkyries drafted No. 5 on April 15, with the Dallas Wings (the lottery winners) drafting No. 1. How the PWHL handles this is still to be determined.
(More) expansion news
On Wednesday, the PWHL officially announced that its first expansion franchise will be in Vancouver, with the team set to debut in time for the 2025-26 season.
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The announcement is only the start of a major storyline in the league, with several loose ends that will need to be wrapped up in the coming weeks. Beyond how the team might be integrated into the 2025 draft, the league still needs to reveal how a PWHL expansion draft might work, the Vancouver team's name and logo, and whether there will be a second team joining the league next season.
Executive vice president of business operations Amy Scheer said the league is 'hopeful' there will be a second team, but added it would be premature to say anything else. It stands to reason that a second team could be geographically close to Vancouver.
A PWHL website gaffe on Monday might have revealed Seattle as the league's second destination, with a link to 'Shop Seattle' (and a similar one for Vancouver) visible before being taken down.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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