A look at each PWHL team’s 2025-26 Training Camp invites

With the expansion draft, entry draft, and initial rush of free agency having come and gone, the next point of interest for PWHL clubs is preseason training camp and the opportunity to fill out the remaining spots on their rosters with potential diamonds in the rough. While there are almost certainly more to come as the offseason rolls along, here’s a glimpse at the previously unsigned and/or undrafted players each team is reportedly looking at bringing on thus far.

Boston Fleet

Mia Biotti (D, Harvard), Julia Nearis (F, HV71), Kaitlyn Ross (G, Mount Royal), Julia Shaunessy (D, Boston University)

Biotti and Shaunessy are both tall defenders out of Massachusetts universities, standing at 5’11” and 6’1″, respectively. After an appearance with the United States’ U18 team in 2019–20, Biotti became a mainstay on Harvard’s blueline for four years, notably only taking nine minor penalties over her career for a team that spent more time than not chasing games. Her sister, Emilia, followed in her footsteps at the U18s last season, and will do the same with the Crimson in this one.

Shaunessy, meanwhile, stepped up for a Boston University program that saw marked improvement over her time there, tying Victoire sixth-rounder Tamara Giaquinto in points among Terrier defenders with significantly less power play time. She’s also a former teammate of Nearis who spent four years at BU in her own right, transferring to Quinnipiac for her fifth NCAA season before moving over to HV71 of the SDHL in 2024–25. After a 13-goal season that included a game-winner to help the team avoid relegation, Nearis has a contract in place with HV71 for the upcoming season even if she doesn’t crack the Fleet.

Of the bunch though, Ross might just be the most intriguing, especially when taking Boston’s goaltending situation behind Aerin Frankel into account. She led Mount Royal to their first championship in her first year as the clear-cut starter, and becomes the second Cougars alum to crack a training camp roster along with Charge signee Emma Bergesen.

The main question mark here is how USports success will translate to the PWHL crease, as Lindsey Post’s two games for New York are far from enough to draw a conclusion. However, with Abbey Levy struggling through her limited playing time in 2024–25 and Amanda Thiele’s selection coming as somewhat of a surprise after her .887 SV% with Ohio State, Ross is in the best possible position to steal a #3, or even #2 spot on a team’s depth chart.

Minnesota Frost

Madison Bizal (D, SDE) Alyssa Machado (F, Penn State), Madison Mashuga (F, Minnesota State), Cameron Sikich (D, Brown)

Bizal, from Elk River in Minnesota, played the inaugural season with Montréal before moving to SDE in Sweden for the 2024–25 season. She’s proven herself a solid playoff performer, not only registering an assist with Montréal last season despite limited ice time but nearly replicating her regular season point total in half as many games to help SDE pull off a first-round upset.

Machado consistently improved over the course of her five years with the Nittany Lions but at a slower pace than others in her draft class, culminating in a career-high 21 points across 38 games in 2024–25. Her history of penalty trouble also isn’t encouraging for a team sporting the PWHL’s worst penalty kill two seasons running, though with her early-season scoring pace given time alongside Tessa Janecke at five-on-five, Machado has the potential to be an effective complementary forward.

Sikich, like Shaunnessy, saw her program gradually improve as she took a greater leadership role, leading Brown’s defence in scoring more and more handily each season. Minnesota lacks the play-driving potential from the blueline that they once had before the departures of Sophie Jaques and Claire Thompson, and Sikich could help shore that up.

Once again, though, the other shoe dropping takes the form of the Frost’s weakness on the penalty kill. With Sikich headlining their back end, the Bears’ unit had a success rate of just 62.7% this season, and it’s more difficult to shelter defenders from killing penalties in the PWHL given their No Escape Rule. It’s a risk, but one that does seem to make more sense to take on than Machado.

Lastly, the first of three Minnesota State Mavericks to receive an invite across the league, and the one who performed the best of them this past season. Mashuga broke out with a career-high 29 points, made even more impressive by 26 of them coming at even strength. She more than doubled her 2024 point total of 11, though she recorded 22 the year prior. Mashuga’s year-over-year consistency is her biggest question mark, but if she can build off the momentum from her senior season, she’ll be a great pickup for the Frost.

Montréal Victoire

Tricia Deguire (G, DNP/Montréal Victoire), Kelly-Ann Nadeau (D, Montréal Victoire), Audrey-Anne Veillette (F, HV71), Megan Warrener (G, Connecticut)

Montréal is the only team so far to bring back multiple players they rostered last season on camp invites. Nadeau got into four games with the Victoire last season, playing a career high 17:29 in their final regular season contest, while Deguire was Montréal’s choice for insurance after Ann-Renée Desbiens went down with an injury. She won’t be getting a free ride to the third goaltender spot, though.

Warrener has a strong track record at UConn, putting up a save percentage ranging from a solid .916 to a stellar .959 in each of her seasons, but never got into the greater share of games compared to her goalie partners. With Warrener proving to be reliable when called upon along with Deguire not having played a professional game since 2022–23, it will be interesting to see who the Victoire end up going with.

Veillette was selected by Ottawa in the initial PWHL draft, the only player that year to be selected right out of USports. She spent the following season as a reserve before being invited to the Charge’s camp once again the next year, but ended up going overseas to HV71. Like Nearis, she stepped up in their relegation series to help them stay in SDHL contention, and is hoping to use that performance to finally carve out a spot in North America. Will the third time be the charm for Veillette in the PWHL?

New York Sirens

Kira Juodikis (F, New Hampshire), Alexis Paddington (F, Minnesota State)

Even with Noora Tulus’ departure, the Sirens’ roster might just be the most difficult to crack for a training camp hopeful at forward, which speaks to the work Pascal Daoust has done this offseason. There does appear to be an opening at 4C, though, should players like Elle Hartje and Kayla Vespa continue to be utilized on the wing.

Both Juodikis and Paddington have varying levels of experience at centre, and both would address a weakness of New York’s last season: bottom-six goal-scoring. Juodikis put up double-digit goal totals in all four of her NCAA seasons while Paddington scored up a career-high 13 in 2025. While the former has shown the higher offensive ceiling given Juodikis’ 17 tallies for New Hampshire in 2023, the latter looks to be a better fit for the Sirens’ vacancy, as Paddington took nearly 500 face-offs for Minnesota State this year at about a 50/50 success rate. Of note, Juodikis also has a contract in place with ZSC in Switzerland’s top division.

Ottawa Charge

Alexandra Huszák (F, MAC Budapest), Vita Poniatovskaia (D, Yale), Kathryn Reilly (D, DNP/Quinnipiac), Alexa Vasko (F, Ottawa Charge), Kendra Woodland (G, DNP/UNB)

While the Charge may have struck out swinging in free agency, they’ve certainly put themselves in scoring position in all other aspects this offseason. Ottawa acquired a draft class brimming with promise that Mike Hirshfeld has nearly completely under contract already, and followed it up with undoubtedly the most intriguing group of training camp invites.

Vasko is the standout name here, being the first thus far to have two full seasons of PWHL experience under her belt. She was incredibly effective in her first season with the Charge, winning 56.7% of her draws and finishing the year with the lowest on-ice goals against rate in the entire league, albeit with a sample size limited by an early-season injury. Given her effectiveness, the familiarity between team and player, and Ottawa’s thinness down the middle on paper, this one should be a no-brainer.

Poniatovskaia and Reilly are both right-shot defenders which the Charge notably lack, though Ronja Savolainen, Jocelyne Larocque, and Stephanie Markowski have all played at least eight games on the right side while Bergesen played her off-side for SDE this past season. Reilly tied for the most points among NCAA defenders in her graduate season for Quinnipiac with the same total as top-five picks Haley Winn and Nicole Gosling, but didn’t declare for the draft in 2024 and went undrafted in 2025. Poniatovskaia also going undrafted was something of a surprise, but with Ottawa drafting two of her countrywomen in Anna Shokhina and Fanuza Kadirova as well as the team’s positional need, it’s a logical fit.

Huszák, a veteran of the Hungarian national team and a teammate of former Ottawa forward Fanni Garát-Gasparics, has showed her scoring touch in the EWHL for the past eight seasons but her dogged forechecking puts her right at home in a bottom-six as well. Meanwhile, Woodland became the first USports Player of the Year award winner out of the University of New Brunswick in 2022–23 after putting up a .960 SV%. While the Charge do have three goaltenders under contract already, the invite is an opportunity for Woodland to get some more eyes on her play after a year off.

PWHL Seattle

Brooke Bryant (F, Minnesota Frost), Sydney Langseth (F, Minnesota State), Marah Wagner (F, Skellefteå)

There are numerous spots in Seattle’s bottom-six up for grabs and numerous camp invites vying for those spots, including some championship pedigree. Bryant spent the last two seasons in the PWHL with Minnesota, playing 48 regular season games over that time while recording two goals and five points, but only getting into half of their playoff games.

Wagner spent three years with the RPI Engineers, leading them in scoring in her first year after transferring from Robert Morris and serving as their captain in the latter two. She scored two SDHL playoff goals this season as eighth-seeded Skellefteå gave the powerhouse Luleå a fight despite a sweep at their hands. Langseth’s 32-point peak in the NCAA demonstrates the potential she has, but she’s coming off a down year with Minnesota State where her decrease in production and role was offset by increases from the likes of Mashuga and Paddington, among others.

Toronto Sceptres

Kristin Della Rovere (F, EV Bozen) Leah Herrfort (F, Waterloo)

Yet another former member of Ottawa’s 2023–24 team, Della Rovere’s first pro season was heavily abbreviated by injury. She appears to have recovered nicely as she torched the EWHL to the tune of 2.4 P/GP and a scoring title with EV Bozen in Italy, who she put up seven points in five games for internationally in Division 1B of the World Championships.

Herrfort, meanwhile, spent a year at Union College before transferring to USports for the remainder of her college career. She’s never finished lower than second in team scoring in any of her seasons with Waterloo nor her one with the Garnet Chargers, and helped the Warriors to the national championship game this season. Despite going twice undrafted, Herrfort will hope to break through to a Sceptres team that saw a lot of turnover in their bottom-six this offseason.

PWHL Vancouver

Katie Chan (F, Cornell), Karley Garcia (D, Penn State), Kimberly Newell (G, DNP), Malia Schneider (F, SDE)

Newell is a familiar face to many with PWHL Vancouver. Hannah Miller, Michela Cava, and Michelle Karvinen were all teammates of hers with KRS Shenzhen under coach Brian Idalski, where Newell put up a combined .950 SV% over three seasons. She also suited up for China at the 2022 Olympics and performed admirably, though that was also the last year she played professionally.

Garcia and Chan both have some connections on the team as well. With Penn State alongside Vancouver fourth-rounder Brianna Brooks, Garcia was a reliable presence on the blueline en route to a near-undefeated season in their conference. Chan put up 19 points in 16 games for Cornell in 2024 before an injury prematurely ended her season, including a streak of 17 consecutive on scoring plays involving expansion draft pick Izzy Daniel. Coming off that injury and without her Patty Kazmaier-winning linemate in 2025, Chan struggled, recording the same goal and assist totals in over twice as many games. She has a deal in place with Färjestad in Sweden, but will also attend Vancouver’s camp.

Finally, Schneider brings both PWHL and PWHPA experience, having played two games with Ottawa in 2024 and nineteen with Team Sonnet in 2023. She’s spent the last two seasons in the SDHL, putting up 10 points in 12 games in an abbreviated stint with Brynäs before sharing the team goal-scoring lead for SDE this past season.