There's no questioning the talent the Montreal Victoire brought in up front, and their veteran depth at forward. There are questions about how their depleted blueline will handle the task.
No team in the PWHL will challenge the depth amassed by the Montreal Victoire up front. Even with Marie-Philip Poulin set to miss most, if not all, of the 2026-27 season, the Victoire enter the campaign with four deep lines up front with reinforcements in tow.
Montreal, this offseason, managed to re-sign Abby Roque who they acquired heading into last season, and then proceeded to add Jessie Eldridge and Emma Maltais in free agency, and drafted Finnish Olympian Petra Nieminen in the first round of the PWHL Draft. They even went out and signed Finnish legend Michelle Karvinen. When you factor in the return of players like Laura Stacey, Lina Ljungblom, Catherine Dubois, Jade Downie Landry, Alexandra Labelle, Kaitlin Willoughby, and Skylar Irving, as well as the selection of Avi Adam in the draft, and Montreal's depth up front is clear.
Where that depth isn't so clear, is on the blueline.
Through the last two expansion periods, Montreal's blueline has been hard hit. Last year it involved the loss of first round pick Cayla Barnes, along with Anna Wilgren and Mariah Keopple. This season, those losses were magnified with Nicole Gosling, who became the team's top defender in the playoffs, as well as veteran stalwart Erin Ambrose. Add in the fact Amanda Boulier walked in free agency, and Montreal has lost far more than they've gained.
The Victoire are bringing back Canadian Olympian Kati Tabin on the blueline alongside signees Maggie Flaherty, who had a breakout playoff run, and veteran Jessica DiGirolamo. Montreal also signed Italian national team captain Nadia Mattivi at the 2026 deadline, and re-signed the blueliner this offseason. It's a quartet capable of playing in the PWHL, but not one that matches well against other top fours in the league, and also lacks a true top pairing.
Last season, the Boston Fleet had the best blueline tandem in the league in Megan Keller and Haley Winn. They'll likely remain the top pair in the league yet again, although Vancouver's Caroline Harvey and Sophie Jaques could call that into question. Across the league defensive depth has been tested this offseason, and Montreal is no different.
Tabin is Montreal's only returning blueliner to average more than 20 minutes per game last season, with Flaherty and DiGirolamo 18:30 and 17:42 respectively. Mattivi and Tamara Giaquinto both averaged just over 10:30 in ice in limited starts.
Outside of their veteran four, Montreal's biggest questions are in who comes next. They do have Giaquinto back, who played in 12 regular season games with the Victoire, including more consistent time following the Olympic break. Montreal also drafted Zoe Uens, a defender from Quinnipiac, who not only plays a physical, shutdown style, but can showed solid offensive growth in college. One of Montreal's more intriguing selections in the 2026 Draft was that of 29-year-old veteran defender Erica Reider. Reider followed a five-year U SPORTS career with Manitoba by spending the last five seasons in Sweden. It's a period that involved a two-year hiatus from hockey as she came close to earning an Olympic berth as a member of Canada's cycling team. Montreal then used their final pick in the draft on Emilie Lavoie, a Concordia standout who can play both forward and defence.
It gives Montreal eight defenders, before considering their training camp invites.
Montreal has Minnesota State blueliner Kianna Roeske coming to town, but the most intriguing invite in their camp will be Russian defender Maria Batalova.
Batalova, 30, is Russia back-to-back top defender winning the ZhHL's Best Defender award in both 2025 and 2026. She was also named the Russia's Best Player in 2026. A two-time Olympian and three time World Championship representative of Russia prior to the nation's ban from IIHF competition, Batalova is coming off a 12 goal, 36 point season in 36 games with Agidel Ufa. She added eight points in 11 playoff games including the championship clinching goal for Agidel.
Batalova plays a free flowing game where she is often an extra attacker joining the rush, and could provide the missing offensive element to Montreal's blueline, particularly following the departure of Gosling.
Montreal has experience in Tabin, Flaherty, and DiGirolamo, and Mattivi got better as her opening stint in the league continued, and brings her own diverse background to the group.
With Ann-Renee Desbiens behind them, and the wealth of offensive talent, a group also known for their two-way acumen, in front of them, Montreal's blueline won't need to be perfect. To challenge for a back-to-back Walter Cup win, the Victoire's defenders will need to provide stability however, and right now, it's the biggest question mark in Montreal's offseason outlook.
