PWHL power rankings: Boston Fleet are the team to beat one month in

The holiday season is upon us, and The Athletic’s PWHL power rankings are officially back. Consider it a gift from us to you!

We’re only one month into the 2025-26 season, but we have plenty of thoughts on the PWHL’s eight teams through the first few games. For the first edition of the rankings this season, we’ll keep it simple. No holiday-related gimmicks here, unlike those power rankings boys on the NHL side.

Let’s get started.

Note: Team records are reflected as regulation win, overtime win, overtime loss, regulation loss.

1. Boston Fleet (6-0-0-1)

Salvian: Heading into the season, the big question about the Boston Fleet was who was going to score goals after losing Hilary Knight in expansion. So far, it hasn’t really mattered because Aerin Frankel has been nearly impossible to beat. Frankel allowed one or fewer goals in all five regulation wins to start the season, with three shutouts, and only lost her first game of the season last week, giving up three goals to the Minnesota Frost.

It’s not just Frankel getting it done, either. The Fleet have impressed under new coach Kris Sparre. And the goals are coming from up and down the lineup with 12 players scoring at least one goal through seven games — the most of any team in the league. Captain Megan Keller paces the group, and all defenders in the league, with three goals and seven points through seven games.

Goldman: Like Hailey said, it’s bigger than Frankel … but we have to gas her up some more. Using HockeySkytte’s model, Frankel has faced 13.8 expected goals against so far, and only coughed up five for a goals saved above expected of 8.8. And in between that, she was stellar for Team USA at the Rivalry Series.

2. Montreal Victoire (3-1-0-1)

Goldman: Nothing like a 35-save performance and a .972 save percentage to bounce back from a tough Rivalry Series. Ann-Renée Desbiens returned to form when PWHL play resumed to remind the rest of the league that she is still one of the best goalies in the world; she book-ended the break with two big wins over the Sceptres. And even more encouraging is that Montreal has more than one goalie to lean on, after Sandra Abstreiter had a solid outing against Vancouver.

Montreal’s success so far is bigger than just the goalies. The whole back end deserves a lot of credit for the Victoire’s strong start, and it’s even more impressive considering how much turnover there was on the back end due to expansion.

It wouldn’t hurt to see a little more scoring from the top of the lineup — Montreal’s balanced approach is working for now, but there’s room for improvement. But it’s hard to nitpick too much when their only loss came against the Fleet.

Salvian: Considering secondary scoring has been the biggest issue in Montreal over the last two years, I’ve been quite pleased to see ten different players pitch in on offense already this season.

As for the top of the lineup, the Marie-Philip Poulin, Laura Stacey and Abby Roque combination already has faceoff plays — using Roque in the dot to line Poulin up in the slot — it can run, and Roque scored the nicest goal of the season last month. When that trio really starts clicking, they’re going to be scary.

DÉGEU 🤯

DIGUSTING pic.twitter.com/NPnwEMPI3c

— Victoire de Montréal (@PWHL_Montreal) November 26, 2025

3. Minnesota Frost (3-0-1-2)

Salvian: The Frost, once again, have the most potent offense in the PWHL, with three of the top-scoring forwards in the league. Nobody has more goals than Kendall Coyne Schofield (5), while Kelly Pannek and Britta Curl-Salemme are tied for the league lead in points (8).

As a top-line trio, Coyne Schofield, Curl-Salemme and Pannek had only been held off the scoresheet in one game and scored six of Minnesota’s 10 goals to start the season. Head coach Ken Klee split them up last week, likely in an effort to spread the wealth up and down the lineup, and they’ve still been productive with their new linemates.

Nicole Hensley has shouldered most of the workload in net, with Maddie Rooney losing her first two starts in Minnesota’s only regulation losses of the season. As long as they continue to have one hot hand, the Frost should be fine.

Goldman: This is the only team in the league that has been able to put up more than one goal against Frankel and the Fleet, and that is legitimately impressive. It’s a top-heavy approach, but secondary scorers like Dominique Petrie could emerge over this next stretch. Also have to give some stick taps to Mae Batherson on the back end; I was pretty worried about this blue line post-expansion, and while there’s room for improvement (which pretty much has to come on the fly with four straight road games up next), this start is still overall promising.

4. Toronto Sceptres (3-0-1-2)

Goldman: The Sceptres just feel very middle-of-the-road right now. The three teams ahead of them look like bona fide contenders. The two expansion teams are a little more disjointed. And New York and Ottawa are … well, New York and Ottawa.

And that feeling extends up and down the lineup. The goaltending is fine, but it’s not stingy enough to get away with scoring just 12 goals in six games. The Victoire have made a lower-scoring approach (13 goals so far) work because they’ve only given up six. Toronto, on the other hand, has a minus-one goal differential after scoring one goal in three of its losses so far this year.

To the Sceptres’ credit, the schedule hasn’t exactly been easy, with meetings against Minnesota and Boston plus two against Montreal so far, and they have yet to face either expansion team. But it just feels like a difference-maker has to emerge to lead the offensive charge a bit more.

Salvian: I think we knew heading into the season that the churn at the top of the lineup was going to hurt the Sceptres. Hannah Miller and Daryl Watts were one of the best duos in the league last season, both on the power play and at even strength. When healthy, Sarah Nurse was a legit No. 1 center. Now, Toronto has tasked Emma Maltais with a more offensive role this season as the 1C beside Watts and Natalie Spooner. The results have been fine, with the trio combining for two goals at five-on-five, and could get better the more time they spend together.

5. Seattle Torrent (2-0-1-2)

Salvian: Admittedly, figuring out where to place Seattle and Vancouver in this mushy middle tier was a huge challenge. Ultimately, I’m going with the Torrent here because their goal differential (-2) is slightly better than Vancouver’s (-6), but neither team has been particularly impressive — at least not consistently.

The Torrent are getting offense from its top players: Hannah Bilka, Alex Carpenter, Julia Gosling and Hilary Knight are all point-per-game players. The team isn’t scoring consistently just yet — it’s lost both games when scoring one or fewer goals in regulation.

What’s also interesting is that when rookie Hannah Murphy is in net, the Torrent are a perfect 2-0 and have outscored opponents 6-2. Seattle has yet to win a game when its No. 1 goalie, Corinne Schroeder, starts. Her 3.30 goals-against average is last in the league; her .889 save percentage is a league-worst among starters.

Goldman: What gives me pause about the Torrent is that their only two wins have come against New York and Ottawa. Beating up on the weaker teams obviously earned this team six valuable points, but the problem is how they’ve fared against the top of the league, with just one goal against the Frost and Fleet. If Seattle can push the Victoire on Tuesday night and generate some scoring against Desbiens, it would solidify this fifth-place ranking for me.

6. Vancouver Goldeneyes (2-1-0-4)

Goldman: I really didn’t think we’d have Seattle and Vancouver fifth and sixth heading into the season, considering how stacked both of these rosters looked heading into the year. Then again, while some teams had to navigate some roster turnover, these two were literally built from scratch, and it takes time to find chemistry and some rhythm.

Even with all that in mind, it’s absolutely brutal to follow up a dramatic overtime win over the Torrent with a pair of 5-1 losses to the Charge and Sirens. Credit to the Goldeneyes for turning things around as of late with December wins over Ottawa and New York, and a solid effort against Montreal last Saturday. After hovering around the 20-shot mark for a few games, the Goldeneyes have turned things up with 29 shots on goal in two straight games. What keeps them behind Seattle right now is the fact that they aren’t doing a good enough job of driving to the quality areas against the top half of the league.

Salvian: We’ve seen flashes of the Goldeneyes playing an up-tempo and stingy game, like in the first period of a 4-0 win against New York earlier this month. We’ve also seen them get caved in and struggle to find their way, like in the second period of that game against New York, or the 2-0 loss against Boston, where Vancouver failed to get a shot on goal for most of the first period.

Growing pains are to be expected, but Vancouver has yet to outshoot a team through seven games this season, which isn’t exactly a recipe for success. Emerance Maschmeyer and Kristen Campbell have faced 30 shots per game through seven starts, while the Goldeneyes have given up the second-most goals against (20) in the league.

7. New York Sirens (2-0-0-5)

Salvian: The Sirens have a new-look roster, but appear to be having similar issues. (Retools take time, so this shouldn’t be all that surprising, for what it’s worth.)

After a promising start, with two regulation wins against Ottawa and Vancouver, the Sirens have lost four straight games and have been outscored 12-4. Only New York and Ottawa are averaging fewer than two goals per game, and starting goalie Kayle Osborne has faced among the most shots in the league (165) through seven games.

Sarah Fillier is also having a slow start to her sophomore season with just one goal and two points. Kristýna Kaltounková scored two goals on Sunday after being moved to Fillier’s line, so maybe there’s some more chemistry and offense to come between the two No. 1 picks.

Goldman: If anything was surprising, it was how dominant New York looked in its two early wins. The Sirens likely won’t shoot below 6 percent forever, so there could be somewhat of a turnaround on the scoresheet … but it starts at the top with Fillier, and that should have a trickle-down effect on the rest of the roster. The one bit of good news is this team has the long game in mind, so as long as they can keep the vibes going even as losses pile up, New York is at least building towards something.

8. Ottawa Charge (1-1-0-5)

Goldman: Listen, the Charge could literally be fine after a putrid 1-1-0-5 start — just look at their surprise turnaround all the way to the Walter Cup Final last year. But this team, once again, has found itself in an early hole.

The shot volume is lacking. The shot quality is lacking. And the defense has been even worse. Against the Frost, they gave up 43 unblocked shots that added up to four (!) expected goals against. Ottawa didn’t give up a ton to Seattle, but still only created 1.8 xG for. Go back to their matchup against the Goldeneyes, and they lost the xG battle again 2.1-3.2. That has just been the theme of this season so far in five of six games.

It adds up to the Charge only having 12 goals on the season (when they should be closer to 15). Gwyneth Philips is doing the most to keep this team in games with 4.4 goals saved above expected so far, but that clearly isn’t a sustainable strategy long-term.

Salvian: That the Charge snapped a four-game losing streak against a strong Minnesota squad is a promising sign. So is captain Brianne Jenner’s strong start to the season with three goals and six points in seven games. Rebecca Leslie has already tied her career high in goals (2) and has surpassed her point totals from last season, which is another bright spot in an otherwise rough start.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Toronto Sceptres, Minnesota Frost, Vancouver Goldeneyes, New York Sirens, Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Seattle Torrent, Boston Fleet, NHL, Women's Hockey

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