2024-25 PWHL Preview: Montréal Victoire

On Saturday, November 30, the Montréal Victoire will kick off the second PWHL season when they host the Ottawa Charge at Place Bell. Playing an expanded slate of 30 games, they’ll seek to better their results from last year.

Storyline for the Season

In season one, Montréal finished second in the league in the regular season. In the first round of the playoffs, they were swept by PWHL Boston. For better or worse, the Victoire’s storyline for this season starts where last season left off: with questions about personnel and their usage. After not trusting their fourth line and third pair enough to play them in the most important games of the year, has Montréal been able to add players who they will put on the ice when the game is on the line?

More broadly, this team tasted victory (if you will) last year, first with their regular season performance, but also when they played in some of the biggest games on the calendar at 20,000 seat arenas. This year, the Victoire will play in four neutral site games and seek to better their second-place finish.

Location Changes

While the team will still train at Verdun Auditorium, all of the Victoire’s home games this season will be played at the 10,000-seat Place Bell, with the exception of the neutral site game they will host in Québec City. The expanded opportunities for fans to attend games will serve the team and the crowd with an even more electric atmosphere.

After visiting the Ottawa Charge at the Canadian Tire Centre in December, the Victoire will be playing in three neutral site games in seven days and four in 14 days during the PWHL’s Takeover Tour. They will be the visiting team against the Boston Fleet in Seattle on January 5, against the Toronto Sceptres in Vancouver on January 8, and against the Minnesota Frost in Denver on January 12, before hosting the Ottawa Charge in Québec City on January 19. Tickets for the Québec City game are on sale now.

Key New Arrival

For season two, the Victoire added some dangerous talent up front, with the biggest standout being the final pick of the inaugural PWHL Draft, Lina Ljungblom. At only 23 years old, she already plays on the top line of the Swedish national team, where she has twice been named a Top Three Player on the team at the Women’s World Championship. Last year she was named the MVP of the SDHL and the Swedish Player of the Year after finishing third in scoring in the SDHL.

Ljungblom started on the top line with Marie-Philip Poulin during the Victoire’s two preseason games, an indication of where the coaching staff is looking to fit her in. If her scoring output is anything like what it has been in the SDHL and internationally, she looks to be a very high impact player for Montréal.

Key Departure

Montréal lost one of their highest impact players with the retirement of Mélodie Daoust, who registered five points in six games as a reserve player last season. While she didn’t play a full season for the team, the loss of the McGill graduate and Québec native is a significant one for a fanbase that would love to rally around its homegrown players. The fact that she was an Olympic and World Championship MVP also stings.

The only silver lining is the fact that Montréal managed to scoop up the Minnesota Frost’s big-impact reserve player from year one in the form of Abby Boreen. While it won’t heal the wound of seeing yet another beloved player retire in her prime, hopefully it will help soothe the sting.

Prediction

Montréal’s forward group has added firepower, but their defense is starting off in a difficult place. First overall pick and Team USA staple Cayla Barnes, as well as Czech national team blueliner Dominika Lásková, will be on IR to begin the season. While the team prepared well for this possibility by having eight additional defenders in training camp, we may see some shakiness on the blue line as the new defensive corps settles in.

Optimistically, this should be a Montréal team that is able to score, regardless of what’s going on on the back end. I don’t see any reason why a repeat of their first season’s success should be out of reach.