It has been pretty quiet on the PWHL trade front since the December blockbuster trade that sent Jocelyne Larocque and Victoria Bach to Ottawa in exchange for Hayley Scamurra and Savannah Harmon.
The trade deadline is approaching on March 13, so some player movement should be on the horizon. What could teams be looking for on the trade market? To get set for the deadline, let’s take a closer look at each team’s most pressing need.
Montreal Victoire
With a 10-6-1-5 record, the Victoire have earned a league-leading 43 points, seven points ahead of the second-place Toronto Sceptres. The stars may be starring in Montreal, from Marie-Philip Poulin to Ann-Renée Desbiens back in goal, but this season has been a full-team effort.
The trick for any team this time of year is balancing the line between accenting a roster and disrupting it. A few weeks ago, the Victoire didn’t look like they needed much help. But the last stretch of play has revealed one area worth targeting. Montreal could add a bottom-nine center to boost the position behind Poulin.
It’s not exactly surprising that Kristin O’Neill isn’t a prolific scorer for Montreal. She is a shutdown center who plays more of a two-way game. But she only has four points in 22 games, and now, with Victoire 3C Alexandra Labelle on LTIR, the position is even more strained. Clair DeGeorge and Maureen Murphy have each taken reps there but are both scoreless in their last seven games. Wingers Lina Ljungblom and Abby Boreen have also been held off the scoresheet. As a result, the Victoire have been too reliant on their top line to produce.
The team doesn’t need to swing bigger than a 3C. That should be reinforcement enough to get back to their balanced approach.
Toronto Sceptres
First and foremost, the Sceptres need a healthy team. Getting a complete picture on Toronto with key players missing is challenging. Just before Natalie Spooner was set to return, after missing the first 15 games of the season, Toronto lost Sarah Nurse to injury at the Rivalry Series. So the team has yet to see what the forward group looks like at full strength this season. The deadline can’t help Toronto get healthy, but it is a chance to make moves to activate Nurse, who is nearing her return.
With the forward group getting closer to full strength, management can focus on defense.
The Sceptres may have the PWHL’s leading scorer on defense in Renata Fast, who has 20 points in 23 games, but their scoring seriously drops off behind her. Management already brought in Harmon as a more offensive option on the blue line, but she has only scored five points in 17 games in Toronto. Kali Flanagan is just behind her in scoring with five points in 23 games. But no other defender in Toronto has more than two points this season, so if the Sceptres can find a puck-mover to spark the bottom four, that should give them a more dimensional approach.
Loren Gabel (pictured alongside Toronto’s Sarah Nurse) could be Boston’s best trade chip. (Dan Hamilton / Imagn Images)
Boston Fleet
If the Fleet want to go on another deep run and return to the Final, management should find Aerin Frankel some support.
Frankel has been a game breaker back in goal for Boston, with a .930 save percentage and 2.01 goals-against average in 18 games. But the team isn’t controlling play well in front of the blue paint. While defensive additions could settle play down in the Fleet’s zone, management may want a more proactive approach with a forward addition.
Sometimes the best defense is a strong offense — especially when a team has an elite goalie like Frankel. The Fleet may be able to pile on the scoring against bad teams, including with a five-goal performance over New York earlier this month, but scoring has been a weakness against some of the top teams in the league. Boston only mustered two goals a game in its last two matchups. Against Toronto last month, the Fleet fell 3-1.
Boston already has one of the top scorers in Hilary Knight, but it would help to have more than one line clicking.
After opening the season with eight scoreless outings, Alina Müller finally hit her stride midway through January. Since then, she has 16 points in 13 games. But what if the Fleet could get her clicking away from Knight, to have a better one-two punch up front? Management should look for another winger to play alongside Müller; someone like Chloe Aurard, who Müller played with at Northeastern, could make a lot of sense. And Loren Gabel could be Boston’s best trade chip since she isn’t viewed as a lineup mainstay.
Minnesota Frost
Minnesota’s return from the Rivalry Series was a bit rockier than expected. During a three-game losing skid, the Frost gave up three goals to Toronto, eight (!) to Ottawa, and four to Boston. The Frost seem to be back on track and have only given up eight goals across their last five games. So maybe Minnesota only needs a few tweaks to round out its edges.
Maddie Rooney is the clear No. 1 in Minnesota, excelling with a .911 save percentage and 2.02 goals-against average through 17 starts. But Nicole Hensley has struggled behind her, with a .872 save percentage and 3.15 GAA in just seven games. So it wouldn’t hurt management to consider reinforcements in net to help balance Rooney’s workload down the stretch. Since returning from the break, Rooney has started seven of the last eight for the Frost.
Otherwise, management may want to bolster the team’s forward depth at the deadline. It wouldn’t hurt to add a power-play specialist since the Frost’s advantage has only converted on less than 17 percent of its opportunities this season. The Fleet has one of the strongest penalty kills in the league and has converted with two short-handed goals, and the Victoire also have a solid power kill, so Minnesota may want to improve its special teams ahead of the playoffs.
Ottawa Charge
The Charge are one of the biggest wild cards at the deadline because management has already shown a willingness to shake up its roster — just look at the early season trade that sent Scamurra and Harmon to Toronto. The team was also active at last year’s deadline, with deals for Shiann Darkangelo and Tereza Vanisova.
Ottawa needs help on both ends of the ice as Emerance Maschmeyer continues to do the most to push this team into the playoff picture. But this isn’t the time for a roster overhaul. Since the team already made a significant addition on defense with Laroque, upgrading this forward group should now be a priority.
Danielle Serdachny hasn’t made an instant impact in Ottawa, so management should try to maximize her strength — whether that means bringing in a passer to push her to become the high-end goal scorer this team is missing or finding a shoot-first winger who can complement her playmaking ability. Either direction would thread the needle for the Charge. This team is missing a high-end puck-mover to add an element of danger to their shots; Serdachny could become that puck-mover, or an option could emerge from outside the organization. Even if this team ultimately doesn’t make the playoffs, the big picture matters, too — Serdachny’s development is crucial to Ottawa’s success, so management should be trying to get her on track.
New York Sirens
After a nine-game losing streak, the Sirens’ odds of reaching the playoffs are down to just three percent, so the focus needs to be on the future in New York.
Management should be open to moving anyone outside their core of Alex Carpenter, Sarah Fillier, Ella Shelton and Corinne Schroeder. Jessie Eldridge should also be untouchable. Otherwise, this team should be open to roster turnover. Aurard and Elizabeth Giguère could be trade candidates for any team needing a middle-six refresh. On the back end, management could even shop Jaime Bourbonnais around to shake things up.
The Sirens can only do so much retooling at the deadline; the bigger moves may have to wait until summer. So for now, the team needs to find a way to get somewhat back on track to earn points once officially eliminated from playoff contention. Addressing their goal-scoring concerns may be the best way to do that. New York has scored at a lowly rate of 2.33 goals per game due to struggles at both even strength and on the power play. So management should look for depth forwards who are underutilized in their current surroundings to spark the middle six.
(Top photo of Chloe Aurard: Elsa / Getty Images)
