With two teams now eliminated from the PWHL playoff race, the Gold Plan is in effect, and the race is on to win the PWHL's fist overall pick, and the right to select Caroline Harvey.
While some teams in the PWHL remain in the race for a 2026 playoff spot, a new race is underway as well — the race for the first overall pick in the 2026 PWHL Draft.
On Saturday, the Seattle Torrent, who were the first team mathematically eliminated from the PWHL playoffs, picked up their first "draft order point" in an overtime loss to Vancouver.
Draft order points are any point for a regulation win, overtime/shootout win, or overtime/shootout loss accumulated after a team is mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. It's a system known as the Gold Plan. Within the Gold Plan, the team who records the most draft order points, wins the first overall pick in the PWHL Draft.
The idea behind the plan was to keep teams from tanking in order to pick first, and it also makes every game of the PWHL season count, as once teams are eliminated from the playoffs, they're still playing for something.
Seattle was joined by the Vancouver Goldeneyes on Saturday when Vancouver beat the Torrent 6-5 in overtime. The Goldeneyes needed a regulation win after Ottawa won earlier in the day to stay in the playoff race, but registered only two points with the win, eliminating them from contention.
It means Vancouver, even though they lead Seattle in the standings, has two games to earn more points than Seattle and steal the first overall pick.
Since Seattle already has one point, Vancouver will need to win at least once to have a chance to earn the pick. Both Seattle and Vancouver will face Montreal and Minnesota to close out their seasons.
Any other team who joins Vancouver and Seattle is likely to have a single game, at most to earn points.
A Chance To Select Caroline Harvey
Caroline Harvey is the best defender in the world. It's an assertion she's backed up time and again, including this season winning the Patty Kazmaier Award as the NCAA's top player, and being named the Olympic MVP while winning gold with USA. Harvey is a generational player.
Beyond Harvey however, there is another wave of immediate impact players in Laila Edwards, Abbey Murphy, and Tessa Janecke. The next wave is no consolation either with impact players like Kirsten Simms, Lacey Eden, Nelli Laitinen, and Emma Peschel waiting, as well as European veterans like Petra Nieminen, Viivi Vainikka, and Andrea Brandli.
It's a talented draft class, but there's only one top pick and one team who'll win the opportunity to make it.