PWHL Trade Deadline Approaching: Who Could Be On The Move?

The 2025 PWHL trade deadline is only days away. Almost every team in the league is currently in conversations with teams across the league looking at how they can improve their roster now, and into next season.

With the countdown on to the return of Sarah Nurse to the Toronto Sceptres' lineup, it means that Toronto needs to make a move. If they don't, Toronto will be forced to move another player to their reserve roster, and for the second time this season move a player to their reserve roster and cut a reserve. When Natalie Spooner and Megan Carter made their way back into Toronto's roster, the team moved Lauren Bernard to their reserve group. This time, Toronto needs to make a move up front. There has been conversation around the league that Toronto is shopping Maggie Connors. Another name that could draw interest is Noemi Neubauerova, although there's been less discussion around the Czech forward whose potential has yet to be explored in Toronto.

The Ottawa Charge have been the most active team on the trade market in the PWHL's short history. They made two trades last year at the PWHL Trade Deadline, and this year made a blockbuster deal with Toronto. The Charge are currently sitting in fifth place in the PWHL chasing Minnesota. They'll look to make a roster improvement in hopes of making the playoffs for the first time in PWHL history. Ottawa is in a similar position to the New York Sirens who also missed the playoffs last season.

While New York isn't mathematically eliminated from the PWHL playoff picture, their playoff hopes are all but done. The Sirens will almost certainly finish last for the second straight season and will soon be playing for the top pick in the PWHL Draft (unless expansion occurs). Currently, the PWHL hasn't provided expansion information to teams, meaning the added time given for the trade deadline is nearly meaningless for teams. New York may be looking to offload a player like Abby Roque in hopes of changing their on and off-ice culture. The current issue in New York however, is that the team has been unable to develop secondary scoring. To make an impact on their roster and create enough cap space to sign meaningful players this offseason, including to lock in Sarah Fillier longer term, New York will need to move a three-year contracted player. If it isn't Roque, New York could move a blueliner like Jaime Bourbonnais. Another name to watch in New York is Noora Tulus. While she is likely 4-5 on New York's forward group talent-wise, she's playing bottom line minutes. There are players on New York's forward chart who could thrive if Roque is moved out.

One issue teams are running into is who can and can't be put on a reserve spot. Multi-year contracts are guaranteed, so players currently on multi-year deals cannot be moved to the reserve roster. It's a significant risk teams have taken signing depth players to longer deals.