Ottawa's Signing Targets, Within and Outside of Their Organization

The restricted period of free agency has ended, and teams can sign whomever they'd like. Here are some of my thoughts on how Ottawa should progress.

[Players Ottawa drafted in the 2024 PWHL draft are marked on each chart with an asterisk.]

Forwards

Ottawa’s existing forward group is strong, with eight talented players committed. I think Ottawa needs to lock down Danielle Serdachny, their first-round draft pick, and bring back Kateřina Mrázová, who was one of the team’s best players last season.

Optional additions from elsewhere could be the 24-year-old forward Claire Dalton, who had five goals for Montréal last year. She would bring leadership and a strong right-handed shot to the Ottawa offence. Elsewhere, Ottawa should look to Europe’s premier women’s league — Sweden’s SDHL. Canadian forward Shae Demale led Saint Mary’s University in Canada to success in the Atlantic conference. She moved to Sweden for her first pro year after collegiate hockey and scored 21 goals in 36 games for SDE, a seriously good result for a rookie.

Defenders

Ottawa's defence is mostly sorted, with five players already signed. Their draft picks, Ronja Savolainen and Stephanie Markowski, will complete the regular lineup. But in reserve, Ottawa could target some veteran depth in players like Jess Healey, who played with Boston last year, or Emma Greco, who won the Walter Cup with Minnesota. Both are tough defenders with lots of pro experience. Greco has two pro women’s hockey championships in just four pro seasons.

Goalies

Ottawa’s goaltending is the most perplexing. They’re confident in their starter, Emerance Maschmeyer — that’s no surprise. At the draft, they selected Gwyneth Philips, a young goalie with a high ceiling, whom Ottawa clearly wants to develop. Hours after drafting Philips, Ottawa general manager Mike Hirshfeld said he had extended a contract offer to Sandra Abstreiter, who served as Ottawa’s backup last season. She was great, but complications, including an injury, meant she only played two games after being injured minutes into her first start. It’s now weeks later, and Abstreiter hasn’t been signed — perhaps because she wants to test the open market. I assume Abstreiter is looking for a deal longer than one year to prevent being replaced quickly by an up-and-coming goalie like Philips.

Then, on Tuesday, Ottawa announced a one-year deal with Logan Angers, an undrafted goalie out of Quinnipiac. She has good college numbers, but is she ready to be a PWHL backup? Ottawa could play the season with two young rookie goalies behind Maschmeyer, or they could bring in another vet and either not sign Philips or drop Angers off the roster. Competition for goalie spots at training camp is healthy for a team, but not if you’ve promised a contract to a player you’ll later drop. According to the standard player's agreement, teams can terminate one-year contracts anytime.