Hilary Knight will lead a new team this year after signing with PWHL Seattle during the exclusive expansion signing period.
Boston also lost rookies Hannah Bilka and Sydney Bard, as well as veterans Jessica DiGirolamo, Emma Greco, Emily Brown, Sidney Morin, Lexie Adzidja, Emma Soderberg, and first year European goalie Klara Peslarova. The team is also moving on from Loren Gabel.
It's a lot of lost leadership from the veteran group. And it begs the question, with Hilary Knight gone, who will step up to lead the Boston Fleet, serving as the team's second-ever captain?
Who will be the Boston Fleet's next captain?
Whoever it is has big shoes to follow with Hilary Knight coming off a season where she tied for the league scoring lead, captained Team USA to a World Championship gold medal, and further solidified her first ballot Hall of Fame status.
Boston protected Megan Keller, Alina Müller, and Aerin Frankel from the initial expansion process, and locked in Shay Maloney, who they later signed to a two-year extension, with their fourth protection.
The team also managed to re-sign veteran forward Susanna Tapani, and they also retained the services of veterans Jill Saulnier, Jamie Lee Rattray, and Hannah Brandt.
In another world, this conversation would also include the Fleet's most experienced leader who captained a pro women's hockey team in the city for six seasons, and also captained Harvard in the NCAA, in Jillian Dempsey. Dempsey, however, looks like a reserve player at most again this season despite the value she adds on and off the ice.
With Knight out of the picture, the most logical choices for captain in Boston are returning assistants Megan Keller and Jamie Lee Rattray. It would be premature to rule out Müller, Brandt, or Tapani just yet.
If there's a deciding factor in this discussion, it could be which one of these players intends to stay in Boston beyond next season.
Rattray brings so many positive attributes to the team despite the fact that she saw her ice time slip to nearly fourth-line minutes last year. In terms of a leader who gives her all, and is a well-respected off-ice member of the community and positive role model to those around her, Rattray checks the boxes.
But she's not the leading candidate...
Megan Keller The Likely Replacement
Keller has spent the last decade of her life entrenched in Boston's women's hockey culture. The Michigan native moved to Massachusetts in 2014 to join Boston College in the NCAA. While at Boston College she was a three-time First Team All-American. Following college, she set up shop with the PWHPA, remaining in New England. And when the PWHL came calling, Keller chose to sign as one of three foundational players. The other two? Knight and Frankel.
Keller averaged the third highest time-on-ice in the PWHL last season, and played on average more than a minute and a half more than any other Fleet player. The closest was Knight. The next was Tapani who played more than two minutes less than Keller per game.
Her steadying presence as a catalyst to Boston's offense, and her role in facing the league's best forwards every game. are central to her importance in Boston. Keller is the logical candidate for Boston's next captaincy. With a new head coach in Boston, however, it's possible the new bench boss will want to put a unique stamp on the future direction of their team. They could go with any of the aforementioned players, but not without a long look at Keller for captain.
