Laura Kluge missed the majority of this season following wrist surgery. She successfully returned to Team Germany, and is serving as the on ice leader. The players invited to Sceptres’ training camp are largely returning from last season, with two very interesting exceptions. Rylind MacKinnon is a graduate of UBC and a British Columbia native. It was widely thought that she would be drafted (and Toronto was the likeliest team to draft her), but she went unselected in a bit of a surprise. MacKinnon is a rangy defender who uses her 5’ 10” height to her advantage. She also has some offensive tools in her toolkit and could be a real contributor to Toronto’s blue line.(She had 10 goals and 12 assists in 26 games last season). She earned an invitation to Canada’s national team selection camp, so GM Gina Kingsbury is familiar with her game. We might see MacKinnon challenge draft pick Lauren Bernard for the sixth or seventh defense spot. Bernard was lower on the depth chart at Ohio State, so seeing them side by side will provide an interesting comparison. Laura Kluge is a fascinating player who could also have been drafted [https://thehockeynews.com/womens/international/size-smarts-and-leadership-keys-to-laura-kluges-game], but was passed by. She’s been a fixture with the German national team for many years, and at 27, is still in her prime. She’s tall and versatile, and has a two-way game that really helped her stand out at the last World Championships, where she had five points in six games. It will be fascinating to see how Kluge fits the strong Sceptres’ lineup, given that they have an abundance of “third-line” players like Jesse Compher as well as newcomers Emma Woods and Noemi Neubauerová. However, it appears that Kluge had other options yet chose to try out in Toronto, so she’ll be given every chance to make the team. Returning forwards Sam Cogan and Kaitlin Willoughby were important players in last year’s very successful run to a first-place finish, but with the incoming talent, they will hard-pressed to find a role this season. On defense, Olivia Knowles played on the third pair and will likely make the team as a seventh defender, and Jess Kondas was a reserve who didn’t see any game action, so might find herself in the same position this season. Players who are drafted yet unsigned coming to camp are Noemi Neubauerová, Lauren Bernard, and Anneke Linser.
