Whichever team you support in the PWHL, there is one player that is a must follow on Social Media: Toronto Scepters forward Emma Maltais. There’s a reason why whenever the Scepters take on the Montreal Victoire, there’s an entire section of the crowd who’s there with the sole purpose of cheering on Maltais.
The soon-to-be 26-year-old has got the complete package. She’s a tremendous athlete on the ice, an absolute pain to play against, a woman with a shiny disposition with a million-dollar smile, and a fantastic ambassador for the game. If Roberto Luongo is the most interesting player to follow on social media in the NHL for his funny comments and hindsight, Maltais is the one for the PWHL.
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Her TikTok account regularly pumps up content. Of course, there are the mandatory videos promoting her sponsors, that’s inevitable when an athlete has sponsorship deals, but she’s also got the funniest lip-sync sessions, pranks, behind-the-scenes footage with the scepters on the road; she has it all.
In one video, she goes around the Scepters training facilities putting an X on all the Ms she spots because her alma mater, Ohio State’s football team, happens to be taking on Michigan that week. It may not seem like a lot, but having a player on your team who’s ready to invest time in pulling pranks can be a big difference maker. It’s great to lighten up the mood and create team spirit.
Personally, I was shocked when Toronto elected to protect Blayre Turnbull, Renata Fast, and Daryl Watts ahead of Maltais in the expansion process. It therefore came as no surprise that she was protected once PWHL Vancouver poached Sarah Nurse and PWHL Seattle took Julia Gosling.
Even though she had a tough season on the ice last year, only putting up nine points in 30 games after racking up 19 points in the 24 games of the inaugural season, Maltais is about much more than just the points. She has a way to get into an opponent’s face and make them lose their cool.
A member of the gold-winning Team Canada in Beijing, she attended the National Team training camp in the last couple of weeks, and Hockey Canada posted a picture that sums up Maltais perfectly. While the main aim of the camp is to provide these players with much-needed playing time as teammates, it also aims to foster bonds between teammates who usually are rivals in PWHL action. To achieve this, team-building activities are essential. The picture shared of a rafting outing on social media by the national side is hilarious in large part because of just how expressive Maltais can be. In one, she looks positively terrified, but it’s impossible not to laugh.
She’s the kind of player that forms the glue that holds a team together, be it in an Olympic tourney or in PWHL action. Toronto is lucky to have her, and whether you support the Scepters or not, you should follow her.