Italy used dual passport players to bolster their roster this year. When France hosts in 2030, they could lean on an abundance of French Canadian talent from Quebec to make their roster competitive.
The trend of stockpiling rosters with dual passport players is something that has become common at Olympic hockey tournaments. It's a trend that is currently benefitting Italy in the Olympic women's hockey event, and which could be utilized by France to an even more substantial mark.
In 2022, China brought in players including Hannah Miller, Leah Lum, Anna Segedi, and Kimberly Newell who have all had PWHL stints, along with several NCAA players with Chinese heritage.
This year, Italy bolstered their roster with North American born players of Italian descent including Laura Fortino, Kristin Della Rovere, and Justine Reyes, among others.
When France hosts in 2030, they'll likely follow the same path, and potentially, with a deeper talent pool than any Olympic host in the past.
This season, France received a berth to the Olympic women's hockey tournament when the IIHF and IOC upheld their ongoing ban of Russian teams from the tournament. It opened a spot for the next highest ranked nation who had not earned their spot through Olympic Qualification events. Early in the tournament however, France opened with losses to Italy and Japan, and could potentially finish without a win at Milano Cortina.
It's a trend they'll aim to erase for 2030, which will also likely be an event without the current tiered groupings with the top teams in Group A, and the lower ranked teams in Group B.
In terms of where France will find their talent, it's likely they'll look to French Canadian athletes. At the current Olympics, France's netminder Alice Philbert is already in that bracket. Born in St-Bruno-de-Montarville, Quebec, Philbert played her minor hockey in Quebec before backstopping Concordia University for five seasons. She came to France in 2023 with a spot on France's national team in mind.
The same could be said for Gabrielle de Serres and Marie-Pierre Pélissou, who are both Canadian born memnbers of France's national team.
With a new Olympic cycle about to start, the pool of French Canadian athletes who could choose a similar path is large.
Canada's national team currently includes only a pair of Quebec products including Ann-Renee Desbiens and Marie-Philip Poulin.
The PWHL cohort of Quebecoise women's hockey players however, grows significantly, and there's a chance, like Laura Fortino, a former Canadian Olympian who won gold and silver with Team Canada, that some of those players could opt to represent France.
Those Quebec-based PWHL players include Catherine Dubois, Jade Downie-Landry, Maya Labad, Elizabeth Giguere, Alexandra Labelle, Kelly-Ann Nadeau, Emmy and Fecteau. Looking at the current pool of players in Europe who have French backgrounds, the list continues to swell to include former PWHL players like Gabrielle David, Alexie Guay, and Maude Poulin-Labelle, and others like Ann-Frederique Guay, Jessika Boulanger, and Philbert's sister Leonie Philbert. Another is recently returned to U Sports hockey and former PWHL Draft pick Audrey-Anne Veillette.
The largest pool however, will come from players who are soon to graduate from the NCAA and the plethora of quality U Sports programs located in Quebec.
This group will have the opportunity to move to France to gain their eligibility by living and competing in the nation, and get into World Championship competition with France prior to 2030. NCAA players like Méghane Duchesne-Chalifoux, Laurence Frenette, Alexia Moreau, Stephanie Bourque, Alice Sauriol, or Naomi Boucher, or U Sports stars like Emilie Lussier, Gabrielle Santerre, Emilie Lavoie, Sandrine Chouinard, Zoé Thibault, Jessymaude Drapeau, or Maelle Laplante. Any of this group would benefit France's national competitiveness, and the list is significantly longer than this group alone.
For years, France has been sending players in the opposite direction to Quebec to improve their game. Current Olympians including Estelle Duvin, Manon le Scodan, Jade Barbirati and Lore Baudrit, among others from Team France played in Quebec. Each year, several top French prospects come to the Ligue de Hockey Collégiale du Québec, including current national team member Anais Peyne-Dingival who currently plays for John Abbott College in the circuit.
If there's a barrier to this process, it's the fact that France does not house a competitive professional women's league, nor do they have a professional team that plays in a neighboring league like the SWHL, EWHL or DFEL. Adding a French based roster to any of these leagues would open doors for their national program to grow. Without it, attracting dual passport players becomes significantly more difficult.
Still, with the wealth of French Canadian players competing in professional leagues, and collegiate loops, France sits with a unique opportunity to be one of the more competitive host nations at the Olympics. France has a solid core of Estelle Duvin, Lore Baudrit, Chloe Aurard-Bushee, Manon le Scodan, and Clara Rozier, but entering this Olympic cycle, they'll need reinforcements to remain competitive in 2030.
By that point, the number of nations with core groups in the PWHL, and sending more players annually to the NCAA will have risen again, bringing with it the calibre of international play. It's why France's French connection to Quebec is a resource the nation will almost certainly mine ahead of hosting in 2030.