While they've never won an SDHL title, SDE HF has quickly become one of Europe's best teams for developing players and revitalizing careers for players hoping to get back to the PWHL.
When the conversation arises of Europe's top teams, Sweden's Frolunda, Brynas, and Lulea are rightfully are the forefront.
When it comes to the conversation of development and sending players to the PWHL, another enters the conversation. That team is SDE HF.
Several SDHL players from 2025-26 are making the move to the PWHL next season including draft picks Petra Nieminen (Lulea to Montreal), Elisa Holopainen (Frolunda to New York), Viivi Vainikka (Brynas to Minnesota), Andrea Brandli (Frolunda to Detroit), Erica Reider (Lulea to Montreal), Tereza Pistekova (SDE to Ottawa), Neena Brick (MoDo to Seattle), Jenna Goodwin (Frolunda to Boston) and free agents Akane Shiga (Lulea to Detroit) and Sarah Bujold (Lulea to New York).
Last season, when the PWHL season ended, a group of players including Nadia Mattivi (Monteal), Sini Karjalainen (Vancouver), Sam Cogan (Minnesota), and Gabrielle David (Seattle) signed to finish the season after strong campigns in the SDHL.
Two of those players, Cogan and David, came from SDE HF after both finishing in the top five in league scoring. David tied for second in league scoring with 42 points in 35 games, while Cogan was 5th with 39 points in 33 contests.
For the duo, they were following a path that is now becoming more common for players who have found themselves near the bottom of PWHL depth charts; they went to Europe and bet on themselves.
The bet paid off for the duo as Cogan was signed by Minnesota and David by Seattle, and both played top six minutes down the stretch, with Cogan getting time in the playoffs as well. For many in the PWHL, a season as a reserve can strip a player of timing, game readiness, and conditioning. It has left players a step behind rather than given them a door into the league. Others who are reserves get lucky and grab an opportunity following injury, but for David and Cogan, they weren't going to test fate again. Both were re-signed this offseason by their respective teams removing all question of their future.
SDE has become a program where others have come to rejuvenate their careers. Dominika Laskova suffered injuries early in the inaugural PWHL season with Montreal. She came back briefly the next year, but needed to re-sharpen her game. Over the last year the defender did just that with Czechia and on SDE's blueline. This offseason Laskova signed as a free agent with the Vancouver Goldeneyes. A year prior, Madison Bizal did the same before signing with Las Vegas this offseason.
Young forward Tereza Pistekova was drafted out of SDE by the Ottawa Charge. The Czech national team member will start the season again in the SDHL before leaving for the World Championships in November and training camps on November 18.
Other SDE HF members from last season including Jessica Adolfsson, Malia Schneider, Annika Rankila, Mathea Fischer, and Kayleigh Hamers will all be at PWHL camps as well, as will former SDE skaters like Lotti Odnoga and Michelle Lowenhielm.
SDE has made this move in the hockey world under the guidance of former Ohio State assistant Peter Elander.
While SDE HF has never won an SDHL title, they've become a team known not for holding onto their best players in order to do so, but in developing, promoting, and sending their best to North America to compete against the best in the World.
Lulea, Brynas, and Frolunda have done the same, but SDE's ability to take players that were cast off and revitalize their careers into contributors at the highest level is something that players, and PWHL teams, are beginning to notice.
