With the World Championships moved to November, Hockey Canada has a lot to do this summer. Not only does Canada need a new coach and general manager for their women's national program, but they also, for the first time in years, have major holes to fill in their roster.

At the November World Championships in Denmark, Canada will be without captain and all-time great Marie-Philip Poulin, who is undergoing offseason ACL surgery. They'll also be without long-time veteran Blayre Turnbull, who is due to give birth in December. 

It's also highly possible that Canada will need to replace Claire Thompson on their roster as well as she ponders her future in the sport, versus the start of her career as a doctor.

Hockey Canada will be looking to take a new direction for their national team in the 2026-27 season, one that sets the program on the right path into the future, even if it means taking risks in Denmark for the 2026 World Championships. 

Compared to the United States, Canada is stuck in the mud when it comes to developing players. The nation has put almost no thought, or backing, into girls and women's hockey. They released a new framework this year, but it remains all talk, and any real impacts are several years away even if the governing body successfully implements and achieves their targets across the board.

In the meantime, all Canada can do to attempt to close the gap with the United States, and fend off rising nations like Czechia, Sweden, Switzerland, and Finland, is to search for new blood on their roster.

Canada was the only nation to field an entirely PWHL roster at the 2026 Olympics. USA's success however, has been built on the backs of their collegiate players, including this year Olympic MVP Laila Edwards, Olympic All-Star Laila Edwards, and elite forwards like Abbey Murphy and Tessa Janecke. It was Janecke who scored the overtime golden goal for USA at the 2025 World Championships.

Still, many of Canada's best options for their roster are in the PWHL. Some have already enjoyed their breakout seasons, others are working to get there, and many have outperformed members of what now feels like a stagnant roster for Canada.

Last season, there were four Canadians in the top ten of PWHL scoring. Two of those players, Rebecca Leslie and Jessie Eldridge weren't even invited to Canada's camp or the Rivalry Series. In the top 30 PWHL scorers, 16 were Canadian. That number includes Poulin, Turnbull, and Thompson. Of the 13 remaining players, Eldridge, Leslie, Nicole Gosling, Kendall Cooper, Hannah Miller, and Danielle Serdachny were all left off Canada's Olympic team. It makes little sense to bring an all-PWHL roster, if you aren't bringing the best PWHL players in the league. 

Cooper and Gosling are the obvious solutions on Canada's blueline. Gosling was a PWHL Rookie of the Year nominee, and if it weren't for Gosling and Rookie of the Year winner Haley Winn, Cooper would have got her dues as well. Gosling led the Walter Cup champion Montreal Victoire in time-on-ice this season, and Cooper was second on the Minnesota Frost behind only American national team veteran Lee Stecklein. 

Other Canadian prospects in the PWHL deserving of a look include Abby Hustler, Anne Cherkowski, Sarah Wozniewicz, and Ashton Bell. As a group, they've already surpassed many Canadian national team members in their on ice play and impact.

Leslie, Serdachny, Miller, Cooper, and Gosling are the frontrunners, while Hustler and Cherkowski deserve long looks. Defender Sara Swiderski, and forward Issy Wunder, the top Canadians picked in the 2026 PWHL Draft deserve to be at camp as well.

It wasn't an American who scored the most goals in the NCAA last season, it was Canadian Kahlen Lamarche. You might not know her name because Canada has ignored her at the U-18 level, and hasn't brought her to a single camp since. Not the national development team, composed completely of collegiate players, not a summer showcase camp. Her 42 goals in 41 games this season should change that. 

Canada's next wave however, is impressive. Canadian players took home ECAC Player of the Year and Hockey East Player of the Year honors this season...earned by a pair of rookies, Sara Manness and Stryker Zablocki. And then there are national team experienced players such as Chloe Primerano, Eve Gascon, and Caitlin Kraemer. 

But that's not where Canada's considerations should stop. Whether it's Jocelyn Amos, Mackenzie Alexander, Adrianna Milani, Megan Mossey, Claire Murdoch, Maxine Cimeroni, Danica Maynard, Emma Pais, Kate Manness, Grace Outwater, Rhyah Stewart and others.

Marie-Philip Poulin will return. When she does, she might be doing so alongside Canada's next stars. When the puck drops at the 2026 World Championships in Denmark, Poulin won't be there, Turnbull won't be there, and Thompson may not be there, but new faces, who will someday soon take their places permanently, might be.