Olympic hockey stock watch: Risers and fallers from Women's World Championship

New York Times

22-04-2025

The 2025 Women's World Championship is now complete, with Team USA dethroning Canada in dramatic fashion to win gold on Sunday night.
The trophy ceremony comes just ten months away from the 2026 Olympics, where the constant tug of war for women's hockey supremacy will continue in Milano-Cortina.
Will Team USA use its success in Czechia to win Olympic gold for the first time since 2018? Or will Canada use its silver-medal finish as inspiration to win a second straight Olympic title?
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There's still a long way to go to answer those questions. But after two weeks in České Budějovice, we can at least take a good look at how the 2026 Olympic rosters might be taking shape.
So, let's take a look at how the results at women's worlds might affect the Canada and U.S. rosters.
Gardiner had an excellent worlds debut, scoring 10 points in seven games, which ranked second tournament-wide behind only Marie-Philip Poulin. Nobody had more than Gardiner's six goals.
She started the tournament on a line with Poulin and Laura Stacey – her frequent linemates in the PWHL – and scored three goals and five points in four games. When head coach Troy Ryan switched things up, Gardiner wound up on the fourth line with Emma Maltais and Kristin O'Neill and added two more goals to her stat sheet in a 9-1 trouncing of Japan in the quarterfinals.
'That gave me a lot of confidence in who she is as a player,' said Ryan. 'She (doesn't) have to play with Pou. She can go somewhere else and still have an impact.'
In the gold medal game, back on Poulin's line, Gardiner scored a critical game-tying goal in the second period. She looks like a staple for Canada, either as a complementary piece with its captain or driving her own line.
Watts also did well in her worlds debut, scoring four goals in seven games and adding a lot of skill to the top six, where she stuck for the entire tournament – either on the top line with Poulin or as a second-line duo with Sarah Fillier. Watts looked particularly dangerous on the power play throughout the tournament, where she scored two of her goals.
In Sunday's gold medal game, she played almost 20 minutes and fired six shots on goal, which tied Poulin for the most in the game. After years of waiting to see Watts on Team Canada, it's now hard to imagine her not on this roster for the foreseeable future.
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There was a time where it felt like Jaques would never get a look on the national team, but she's been so good in the PWHL that she forced their hand. She mostly played on the third pair or as the seventh defender, but Jaques looked the part on Canada's blue line. Until the gold medal game, that is.
She had one shift in particular in the first period where Kendall Coyne Schofield picked the puck off her with ease, then when Jaques got it back, her attempt to clear the zone went right onto a U.S. stick.
It's unfair to judge a player based on one game, but it was the most important game of the tournament. And ultimately, Jaques played around three minutes on Sunday, and barely at all after the first period.
When Jaques plays with confidence in the PWHL, she's one of Canada's best. You'd hope management would give her a few more looks next year in camp and in the Rivalry Series to find that part of her game with the national team.
Spooner started the tournament on the fourth line, got a look on the second line, then wound up a healthy scratch in the semifinals and championship game.
'We told (the players) right from Day 1, we're just going to find ways to put the best roster on the ice that we can, and no one's excluded from that,' said Ryan.
She finds herself in the middle – not with her stock down – because while Spooner is healthy, she's not 100 percent back up to game speed yet. She missed nine months with an ACL injury after putting together an MVP season in the PWHL last year.
A full return to form is going to take some time. She has five points in 11 games back for the Toronto Sceptres, and only scored one goal and two points in the four games she played at worlds. It'll be a big offseason for Spooner to find her game again, but she's a pretty safe bet to get there in time for Milan.
'She's doing her best and everything in her power to get her game back to where it needs to be,' Ryan said. 'And I have no doubt she'll get there.'
She didn't initially make Canada's 25-player roster, but was added in March after the IIHF deemed Hannah Miller ineligible due to her previous contract to play overseas and for the Chinese national team.
Gosling was the 14th forward for most of the tournament and only played in two of four group stage games. But as the tournament went on, Gosling played more, even taking Spooner's place at the bottom of the lineup, and got some looks in the bumper spot on the power play.
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She remains in this category because she wasn't originally in Canada's plans, and nobody played fewer minutes per game (6:06) than Gosling.
It would probably take a big developmental step in the 2025-26 season for Gosling to beat out someone like Danielle Serdachny, Emma Maltais, Kristin O'Neil or even Spooner for an Olympic roster spot. Or Canada deciding to move on from some veteran players after the loss to the U.S. in favor of youth versus experience.
Zandee-Hart made her way back onto the national team after dealing with an injury in the 2023-24 season, beating out Ashton Bell and Jaime Bourbonnais for one of the eight D slots in Czechia. But throughout the tournament, she was the seventh defender, or a scratch with Chloe Primerano and Jaques getting more games and more minutes.
Perhaps Ryan and general manager Gina Kingsbury were trying to give the younger defenders more looks, considering Zandee-Hart has been in the program longer. But it's also fair to wonder if the kids are pushing for those final two D spots for Milan.
While Larocque's stock might be down in the eyes of fans who watched in shock as she sent a puck right onto Taylor Heise's stick in overtime on Sunday night, it would be hard to replace Larocque.
The golden goal by Tessa Janecke! 🔥🇺🇸🥇 #WomensWorlds #IIHF @usahockey pic.twitter.com/13UmWr3yGX
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) April 20, 2025
She just played in her 200th game for Team Canada, becoming the first defender to ever hit that milestone. She's incredibly valuable to the locker room, especially now with some young defenders on the team. Unless someone pushes Larocque out, it's going to take more than a bad change and overtime mistake – as egregious as it was – to truly shake up the blue line.
For the first time since her debut in 2012, Jenner failed to score a single goal at women's worlds. Her two points were the lowest since that tournament more than a decade ago, too. I've long assumed that Jenner would have a place on the national team as long as she wants one. And without a young player like Gosling or even a college star like Caitlin Kraemer pushing her for a spot, that will probably be true.
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But in doing this exercise, we probably need to acknowledge that Jenner is struggling offensively even in the PWHL, with just five goals in 25 games this season.
Stock up
Typically, Pannek is asked to play a more defensive-minded checking role for Team USA. But this year, coach John Wroblewski decided to put Pannek on a line that could drive more offense; she mostly slotted in with Abbey Murphy and Kendall Coyne Schofield.
By tournament's end, no American had more goals than Pannek, and only Hilary Knight had more points.
It feels weird to say Pannek's stock is up when she's been a lineup staple for almost a decade, but at the very least, she showed she could be a critical piece to a secondary scoring trio.
Eden's place on the team felt fairly safe before the tournament began, but like Pannek, she showed her range and ability to scale the lineup for the U.S. As a bottom-six forward, Eden can win puck battles and will be the first player into the dirty areas of the ice. She can also score with a quick release in the slot, like she did in the quarterfinals when playing on the second line with Heise.
Lacey Eden adds another with her first goal of the #WomensWorlds 🚨💪 #IIHF @usahockey pic.twitter.com/EcpCFG8uFT
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) April 17, 2025
Philips started her first women's worlds game on April 11 against Czechia, posting a 10-save shutout. She got one more start (another clean sheet) and was thrown into the championship game cold after Aerin Frankel was forced to leave the game five minutes into the third period. She made 17 saves on 18 shots, including 10 in three-on-three overtime.
'We don't get where we are without Gwyn,' said Knight after the game.
So there's really no question now that Philips is the No. 2 goalie for Team USA. Meanwhile, McNaughton looked fine enough in her 28 minutes (three saves on three shots) and given her age (20) and potential 'Goalie of the Future' status, it probably makes sense to take her to Milan over Nicole Hensley.
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OK, hear me out on this one. Bilka didn't play in the tournament, but I'd say her stock is up because you could feel her absence on this U.S. roster, particularly on the second line next to Heise.
Wroblewski used four different line combinations with Heise, none of which particularly stood out. While Heise came up big-time in the championship game with a goal and the golden assist, she only scored one even-strength goal in six games. Perhaps Bilka can help with that.
Bilka hasn't done a lot of scoring on Team USA herself, but she's highly skilled and creates space for her linemates with her vision and playmaking ability. It will be interesting to see if she makes her way back onto the roster ahead of next season. Because even if fully healthy – Bilka was injured during the February Rivalry Series – it's my understanding Bilka probably would have been left home.
Edwards' swap to defense was one of the more interesting storylines to follow at this year's tournament. At times, she looked pretty uncomfortable at the position, but she scored a critical power-play goal in the semifinals to help the U.S. climb out of an early hole against Czechia.
What. A. Rip.🔥
A look at Laila Edwards' power-play goal that tied the contest, 1-1! #WomensWorlds
📺 @NHLNetwork pic.twitter.com/CiBhcFdNur
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) April 19, 2025
In the gold medal game, Edwards played almost 30 minutes – second on the team in ice time – and tallied an assist on Heise's power-play goal in the third to make it 3-2.
There's probably better natural defenders who could make the team for Milan (Rory Guilday, for example). But it's hard to imagine the U.S. moving Edwards to the blue line, seeing her progress and deciding to cut her from the Olympic team.
Dunne brings legitimate size (5-foot-11) to the U.S. roster. She's scored 53 goals in just two years in college, winning national rookie of the year last season and being a top-10 finalist for player of the year this season.
But that offense just hasn't translated from college to the national team yet. In 13 games at two different iterations of women's worlds, Dunne has one goal and three points. This year, she only had one assist, despite largely playing on the second line with Heise and averaging over 14 minutes per game.
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It seems like Wroblewski likes Dunne's size and mobility, but has she done enough scoring at this level to go to Milan?
Based on her ice time and the fact that she was scratched for three games of the tournament, including the semifinal and the championship game, Simms should be in the stock down category.
But frankly, it feels unwise to leave her at home for Milan. Because for all the focus on building a lineup that was harder to play against, it was still the young stars for Team USA who got it done when it mattered most against Canada. Simms is very much in that category.
Harmon entered the tournament as Team USA's seventh defender, largely in favor of Edwards getting consistent reps on the top pair with Megan Keller. As the tournament went on, though, Harmon seemed to struggle. In the semifinal against Czechia, she turned the puck over deep in the U.S. zone with goalie Aerin Frankel out of her crease, which allowed Tereza Plosová to open the scoring.
🇨🇿 @narodnitymzen opens the scoring in the semis! 🚨 What a start for the home team! #WomensWorlds #IIHF pic.twitter.com/asIyCudJLw
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) April 19, 2025
Harmon didn't step on the ice again for the rest of the tournament.
If this year's worlds was a 'prove it' tournament for Zumwinkle to make her way back onto the 23-player roster, I'm not sure she did enough. She moved around the bottom of the lineup and even got some second-line looks beside Heise, but couldn't quite stick higher up the lineup. Overall, Zumwinkle played under nine minutes per game and only tallied one point, an assist on a Hayley Scamurra goal in a 7-1 win against Finland.
Zumwinkle is a really talented player – she won the PWHL's rookie of the year award last season – but she hasn't quite been able to consistently put it together on the national team, certainly not since Wroblewski first cut her in 2023.
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Like Zumwinkle, it's not that Compher played poorly per se. It's just that she probably didn't do enough to make a smaller Olympic roster. Compher was one of two U.S. forwards to not tally a point (along with fourth-line center Britta Curl) and her three shots on goal were the fewest among lineup regulars.
(Photo of Lee Stecklein and Julia Gosling: Petr Skrivanek / CTK via AP Images)