When opponents visit the Toronto Sceptres early this season, it won't simply be three points on the line. Players will also be looking to impress Toronto's brass and earn an Olympic roster spot with Team Canada.
There's bulletin board material, and then there's another type of motivation players will feel every time they face the Toronto Sceptres in the opening month of the season. Toronto general manager Gina Kingsbury and head coach Troy Ryan have made it clear they'll be watching closely, and weighing PWHL performances heavily when it comes to final roster decisions for Team Canada ahead of the 2026 Olympics.
It's why the Toronto Sceptres are unlikely to have many nights off this season as players from across the league will be looking to earn a spot, or perhaps show Kingsbury and Ryan they were wrong to not consider them for Canada's national team.
Looking at Canada's roster from the 2025 World Championships in Czechia, 23 of their 25 players will be in the PWHL this season with only Chloe Primerano and Eve Gascon coming from the NCAA. When Canada announced their 30 player roster for the Olympic training blocks, Gascon and Primerano were joined by University of Minnesota-Duluth forward Caitlin Kraemer, while the other 27 players will be in the PWHL this season.
Canada struggled significantly in their first two Rivalry Series games of the year losing both to USA by a combined score of 10-2. It may be enough to get Kingsbury and Ryan looking at more players across the league, and could further motivate those not among Canada's original 30 player pool to see the door opening a crack.
Luckily for Kingsbury and Ryan, Ella Shelton, Renata Fast, Emma Maltais, Natalie Spooner, Blayre Turnbull, and Daryl Watts are all members of the Toronto Sceptres. But there remains 21 players from the training block, and another half dozen omissions, who will be out to prove something when the puck drops on the 2025-26 season.
Starting in the West, PWHL Vancouver features six members of Canada's training block including Sophie Jaques, Claire Thompson, Sarah Nurse, Hannah Miller, Emerance Maschmeyer, and Jennifer Gardiner. PWHL Seattle has one of the smallest groups, but Danielle Serdachny and Julia Gosling could be considered "bubble" players coming into the PWHL season, which should make for some exciting competition from the young forwards when they face Toronto, particularly for Gosling who was not protected by the Sceptres during expansion.
Moving East, three members of the Ottawa Charge are looking for a spot with Canada including Jocelyne Larocque, Emily Clark and Brianne Jenner. Two of those Charge players, Larocque and Jenner might have an extra axe to grind after they were omitted from Canada's Rivalry Series roster in what looks like the earliest roster move ahead of the Olympics, although either, or both, could play their way back onto Team Canada quickly, especially given Canada's struggles at the Series.
From the New York Sirens, Micah Zandee-Hart, Sarah Fillier, Kristin O'Neill, and goaltender Kayle Osborne were all at Canada's training blocks. Montreal sits tied with Vancouver for the most Canadian national team candidates outside Toronto, a group that includes Ann-Renee Desbiens, Marie-Philip Poulin, Laura Stacey, Nicole Gosling, Kati Tabin, and Erin Ambrose.
The two teams in the PWHL without a player at Canada's camp are the Minnesota Frost, who have a predominantly American roster, and the Boston Fleet, who are a team many expect to struggle this season.
Across the league, there's a handful of players omitted from Canada's training block rosters who could storm out of the gate to garner interest including Vancouver's Michela Cava and Ashton Bell, Seattle's Corinne Schroeder and Jessie Eldridge, Boston's Jamie Lee Rattray, and New York's Jaime Bourbonnais.
While there are no easy nights in the PWHL, the Toronto Sceptres can expect a little extra jump from many of their opponents to open the season as players make their final push to earn an Olympic roster spot by impressing Kingsbury and Ryan in the PWHL.