The Toronto Sceptres were hit hard this offseason losing a significant portion of their offense, without making major moves in turn. But could the Sceptres still surprise teams in the league with a winning season?
A lot has been made about the Toronto Sceptres’ offseason losses. The team watched Daryl Watts, Jesse Compher, and Maggie Connors leave in expansion. Savannah Harmon retired and Blayre Turnbull is due to give birth to her first child in December. Then in free agency the team lost Emma Maltais, Anna Kjellbin, and Kristen Della Rovere.
The league’s lowest scoring team in 2025-26, saw the bulk of the offense they did have leave.
But Toronto also kept some key pieces, particularly in net and on the blueline, and found some new blood via the draft and free agency.
Could the Toronto Sceptres surprise some people? The Hockey News' Cee Benwell and Ian Kennedy discuss.
Ian Kennedy: Anything is possible when you have a goalie on the trajectory Raygan Kirk has been on. There was a lot of talk about the value of Aerin Frankel and Ann-Renee Desbiens last season, but Kirk was also spectacular. And add in a very strong top four in front of her, and this team could certainly scrap out some wins. But nobody knows the Sceptres better than you, Cee, what are your thoughts?
Cee Benwell: When you look at how the team finished last year, those departures are almost impossible to imagine. Turnbull and Watts were the only forwards who scored with any regularity, and it still wasn’t enough to get them a win in most games. Now those two are missing, and the replacement is rookie Kirsten Simms. Most likely, we’re looking at Jamie Lee Rattray taking over as the first line centre. But in some respects, it reminds me of the situation that Boston was in last year in the off-season with seemingly no offense, only a good blue line and a great goalie. In a twelve-team league, where we know goal scoring will be hard to come by, I could almost, if I squint, see the Sceptres leaning into that defense and becoming a hard team to play against who can keep themselves in the middle of the pack.
Ian Kennedy: I’m not willing to write off Toronto fully either. But it will come with a lot of things that need to go simultaneously right. Toronto needs Rattray to score more in a bigger role, which she’s capable of. They also need Natalie Spooner to find even a fraction of her inaugural season. Then they’ll need the rookies who were buried and left without the same in season development peers received elsewhere to take big steps as sophomores. Kiara Zanon is the one I’m watching, but in this year’s landscape, Sara Hjalmarsson could also make a contribution offensively, and Emma Gentry has the potential to blossom into a top two-way forward, and the same goes for Clara Van Wieren.
Cee Benwell: Those forwards who were drafted last year will be the key to the Sceptres’ offense, even though Simms is expected to be the centerpiece. As you mentioned, Zanon has a lot of potential if she can find some chemistry as a playmaker with Simms. Van Wieren played really well in stretches and could contribute more especially if she improves on faceoffs, and Gentry needs to create more with her size to drive a line. A huge element to their season will be a return to form from both Shelton and Fast, who, for different reasons, just didn’t have the impact you’d expect from two elite defenders. Along with Simms, I’d put those two players as the absolute essentials for success.
Ian Kennedy: Simms is a super exciting player. She’s going to make a few moves that draw people out of their seats, and Toronto was beyond lucky to get her in the draft. She’s going to need to find ways to do it against more experienced defenders, and as the most skilled forward on this roster, she’ll face tough match ups night in and night out. She’s not the only Sceptres pick that will help keep them competitive this season. Brooke Disher and Alyssa Regalado are both legitimate defensive prospects. Toronto fans are going to like Jamie Nelson as well, another player on their roster with experience on USA’s Collegiate Select team. And Toronto has a few players coming to camp with national team experience from European nations that could win a spot. It looks dire in Toronto, and certainly they’re in an unenviable position, but all hope is not lost, especially in this year’s PWHL landscape that has thinned out the talent pool across the league.
