The reigning Walter Cup Champion Montreal Victoire have loaded up on veteran talent up front, and they'll have some interesting options on the back end as well, including Russia's best defender, 30-year-old Maria Batalova, who will attend camp as a free agent invite.
The Montreal Victoire loaded up on veteran talent this offseason signing Emma Maltais, Jessie Eldridge, and Michelle Karvinen to add to an already stacked forward group.
Where they didn't make major moves, was on their blueline. Montreal drafted Zoe Uens, Erica Rieder, and Emilie Lavoie, and they re-signed Maggie Flaherty and Nadia Mattivi, but they didn't make a major offseason splash after watching Nicole Gosling and Erin Ambrose leave in expansion, and Amanda Boulier in free agency.
Savvy veteran general manager Daniel Sauvageau, who was recently named the new GM for Team Canada, making this season with the Victoire her final, has a few tricks up her sleeve.
Perhaps the biggest is the inclusion of Russian veteran Maria Batalova as a camp invite.
Batalova, 30, is Russia's 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.
The 5-foot-8 left shot blueliner could be a surprise impact player on Montreal's blueline, which stands as their only question mark on an otherwise championship calibre roster.
Batalova On The Opportunity
The transition to North American hockey came with growing pains for the PWHL's first Russian players last season. Fanuza Kadirova had a highly successful season with the Ottawa Charge, while Russian star Anna Shokhina struggled in her first campaign to adapt. She'll get another opportunity this coming season with PWHL Hamilton who signed Shokhina as a free agent.
The biggest barrier for many PWHL teams, according to team staff across the league, when looking at Batalova, Darya Gredzen, Nina Pirogova and Oxana Bratishcheva who all declared for the draft, was resources. There was concern over the language barrier without access to regular translators. But as Batalova told Daria Mironova on her podcast, "Hockey on the Beach," she's spending her summer working on her English, and preparing for her PWHL opportunity.
Batalova, with the help of 93 Hockey Services, who also represent Shokhina, is working through the process to be ready to arrive, and make an impact. She told Mironova that she followed Kadirova and Shokhina closely.
"We all followed them closely after they were drafted and moved overseas," she said. At first, it was difficult for them to adapt to a new league and a different style of hockey, but they began to perform at their level. I recently spoke with Anna Shokhina about her season and life there. I’m genuinely happy for all of them."
"This season, I heard negative comments directed at Russian players who had already gone overseas - people saying they weren’t succeeding or couldn’t handle the level. But I respect them tremendously because they took a risk. They could have stayed in Russia with stable contracts and comfortable situations, but instead, they challenged themselves in another country and another league. That takes courage."
Now, Batalova, as she said on "Hockey on the Beach" is ready to challenge herself and be courageous as well.
"If I have the chance to compete at that level, I want to take it," she said.
This season there will be more Russians than ever in the PWHL including Shokhina (Hamilton), Kadirova (Ottawa), Vita Poniatovskaia (Ottawa), and Gredzen (Minnesota). And with the reigning PWHL champions, the Montreal Victoire, Batalova will be taking the chance to join them and the best women's hockey players on the planet.
