PWHL Playoff Picture: Who's In and Who's Still Fighting for a Slot?

As the women's hockey world gears up for the 2025 IIHF Women's World Championship, the PWHL has hit pause on its games until April 26th. With only nine games left in the season (three for each team), The Ice Garden takes a look at who's likely to make it in to the playoffs and who probably won't make the cut.

The Standings

Just like last year, the top four teams make it into the Walter Cup playoffs. Montréal is the only team to clinch so far. Toronto's comfortably in second and almost sure to get through to the playoffs—even if they dropped all three games, it would take near-perfect performances from Boston, Ottawa, and Minnesota to force them out.

Then there's a battle for the third and fourth slots: the exact places Boston, Ottawa, and Minnesota each take will depend on the slimmest of margins. But, if there's one team you don't want to be right now, it's the New York Sirens. They can't reach Montréal or Toronto, and as difficult as it is, they really need to win all three games to have a chance for the third or fourth slots.

Let's break down each team's path to the playoffs in more detail.

Paths to the Playoffs

Montréal Victoire

• Path to clinching a playoff slot: They're in!
• Path to clinching the first seed: The three-point lead they're holding gives them a great chance to keep the first seed. The Victoire don't play Toronto again this season, which would've been the cleanest way to seal up first, but if they can keep pace with the Sceptres and keep their point lead, the first seed is theirs. A win against Ottawa on April 26th and a point against Boston on April 28th could do it if the Sceptres can't get past Boston's defenses in their first game back.
• Path to elimination: Montréal can breathe easy—they're guaranteed at least the fourth seed.

Toronto Sceptres

• Path to clinching a playoff slot: They could be in on their first day back, if they can beat Boston in regulation and Ottawa loses to Montréal. That would leave Toronto with 48 points, Boston with 40, and Ottawa with 39 or 40 (depending on how they lose). With only two games left for all these teams, Boston and Ottawa wouldn't be able to catch up on points, and since New York is already way behind, Toronto would be guaranteed to finish at least fourth regardless of Minnesota's performance. And even if they can't seal the deal on that first day, a Minnesota loss would clinch a playoff slot for Toronto as well.
• Path to clinching the first seed: It's quite possible, but they'd need Montréal to flinch. The easiest way for Toronto to make up the three-point gap is a Montréal loss. It's certainly possible that Ottawa or Boston could hand Montréal a loss, and even New York could surprise with a win. But Toronto's got to show up and win as many games as they can.
• Path to elimination: Toronto's got five to seven points—about two wins' worth of points—over the trio of dangerous playoff contenders. That significantly narrows the paths to Toronto being eliminated, but it's still possible. If Toronto picks up a loss, and two of three of the Fleet, Charge, and Frost go on a run, Toronto might not make it. There is good news for Toronto, though: the Charge and the Frost will play each other again, and the Fleet have a challenging schedule, including matchups against Montréal and Toronto. It would be hard for any of the Sceptres' challengers to go on the run they'd need to keep Toronto out, so it's unlikely that they'll face a serious chance of elimination.

Montréal and Toronto are in control. Boston, Ottawa, and Minnesota are in a challenging position: two of them will likely make it in, and the unlucky team will probably be eliminated only by the slimmest of margins. Here's how they can secure their places in the playoffs.

Boston Fleet

• Path to clinching a playoff slot: It's heavily dependent on how Ottawa and Minnesota perform. Boston is helped by the fact that Minnesota and Ottawa play each other again in one of their three remaining games—that'll help protect the one-point gap Boston has over Ottawa and the two-point gap Boston has over Minnesota. But Boston faces a challenging schedule themselves: they play Montréal and Toronto in two of their three games, and two losses here could see them fall to fifth, out of playoff contention. Boston really needs to win at least one of those games, and even more importantly, a win against Minnesota in their regular season finale will likely be critical.
• Path to clinching the first seed: They're eight points behind Montréal, so clinching the first seed would be difficult but not impossible. They'd need to win all three games and hope Montréal doesn't get a point for the rest of the season. If Montréal does get a point, they'd stay in the first seed based on a tiebreaker.
• Path to elimination: Losing to both Montréal and Toronto would be incredibly damaging to their playoff hopes. So would losing to Minnesota—the current margin between the two teams is only two points, and an outright loss would close that gap by itself. There's still quite a few scenarios that leave Boston right on the precipice, and it might come down to the very last game.

Ottawa Charge

• Path to clinching a playoff slot: Like with Boston, it's heavily dependent on how the Fleet and Frost perform. Ottawa stays in if they can keep the Frost a point behind. Their game against the Frost will be critical here: if Ottawa can earn a full three points, they could likely keep the Frost a step behind and even leapfrog Boston if they're still sitting in third place. Unfortunately for the Charge, they face a similarly difficult schedule to Boston, with matchups against Montréal and Toronto left. Ideally, Ottawa wants to win both matchups, but a win against either one would help if Boston loses both.
• Path to clinching the first seed: Ottawa is nine points behind Montréal, so they'd need to put up a perfect performance in their last three games and hope Montréal doesn't earn even a point. That's very unlikely, but it's still possible. A single point from Montréal ends Ottawa's chances, though.
• Path to elimination: A loss to either Montréal or Toronto, paired with wins from Boston (or the Frost in their matchups), could be enough to drop them down to fifth. And losing to the Frost could doom them, because the gap between the two teams is only one point at the moment. If the Charge are knocked out, it probably won't be by much—slim margins are key here.

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Minnesota Frost

• Path to clinching a playoff slot: You'll be shocked to read this, but Minnesota's path to the playoffs also depends heavily on Boston and Ottawa's performances. The Frost are the least well-positioned team of the bunch—with a two-point lead, Boston could knock Minnesota out of contention for the third slot with one win and a Frost loss. But the Frost are helped too by a somewhat easier schedule: they face New York, Ottawa, and Boston, and avoid matchups against the powerhouses of Montréal and Toronto. That gives them a good amount of control over their own destiny, and the matchups against Ottawa and Boston will be critical. If the Frost can pull off wins against both, that could give them up to six huge points against their rivals and leave them in a comfortable position to clinch possibly even the third seed. But to have the best possible chance, they need a win against the Sirens. Three points would be a huge help here.
• Path to clinching the first seed: They can't—the Victoire have 10 points over the Frost, and the Frost only have nine possible points to gain. The best the Frost can hope for is the second seed.
• Path to elimination: The matchups against Boston and Ottawa will likely decide whether the Frost stay in. Let's focus on just these games for a moment: if the Frost lose outright to both teams, then, all else being equal, the gap between Minnesota and Boston would widen to five points and the gap between Minnesota and Ottawa would widen to four. That might not seem like much, but at that point, the Frost wouldn't have enough points available to catch up, and they'd be locked out of the playoffs. The good news for Minnesota is that it's likely that Boston and Ottawa will pick up at least one loss in their games against Montréal and Toronto, so the Frost don't necessarily need to win against both Boston and Ottawa. But losing against both teams would be dire, especially if they lose against the Sirens.

The New York Sirens are also in contention, but it's not looking good. But they could still make it:

New York Sirens

• Path to clinching a playoff slot: It's not easy. They basically need to win all three of their remaining games to even have a chance. And even if they win all three games, wins from the Fleet and the Charge would knock them out, because the Charge would win over the Sirens on tiebreakers. They'd have to hope the Fleet go winless and the Frost defeat the Charge in their remaining matchup. And everything else would basically have to go perfectly.
• Path to clinching the first seed: They can't, unfortunately. The best the Sirens can hope for is the third or fourth seed.
• Path to elimination: A loss, paired with the Fleet and Charge winning or tying, would do it. There's other scenarios too: any combination where the gap between the Sirens, the Charge, and the Frost grows to more than 6 points would mean the Sirens can't claw their way into a playoff slot.

Predictions

Montréal, with their commanding offensive firepower and strong defense, is already in the playoffs, and they're likely to keep the first seed. They've demonstrated their strength on both ends of the ice, and even if they slip in a game or two, I don’t think Toronto will catch up. But Toronto is comfortably in second, and based on how strong they’ve looked in the last few weeks, the trio of playoff contenders in the middle of the standings probably can’t muster enough to steal the second seed.

A tougher question is who will fill the third and fourth slots. Boston, Ottawa, and Minnesota all have their strengths, and it shows by how tightly clustered these three teams are. I think the Fleet will take the third slot: they have strong offensive firepower, and Aerin Frankel's performances in net this year have made a massive difference. And, perhaps surprisingly, the Frost are my pick for the fourth slot. Ottawa's been excellent this year, but Minnesota has a brilliant offense in Kendall Coyne Schofield, Taylor Heise, Sophie Jaques, Claire Thompson, and Michela Cava. Each of them has 17 points or more this season, and it reflects a strong, well-rounded offense that is ready to put Minnesota over Ottawa. The Frost's goalies have been strong—Maddie Rooney is consistently reliable—and they have a slightly easier schedule, too. I think that all these small advantages combined will keep the Frost in the playoffs.

PWHL action resumes on April 26 with three matchups: Minnesota hosts New York at a time to be decided, Montréal faces off against Ottawa at 12 p.m. Eastern time, and Toronto visits Boston at 2 p.m. Eastern time.