PWHL Power Rankings: Charge, Sirens continue to surge up the charts
Sometimes, first impressions prove to be false, or at least that’s what the New York Sirens and Ottawa Charge are trying to prove. The two teams had rough starts to the 2025-26 campaign, but they’ve quickly turned things around and are right back in the playoff hunt.
While there’s still plenty of hockey to be played, the two retooled teams are keeping up with the best in the league. See where Hunter Crowther, Scott Maxwell and Tyler Kuehl place the Charge and Sirens in this week’s rankings.
1. Boston Fleet
Record: 7-0-2-2, +8
Last Week: 1st
Hunter’s Rank: 1st
Tyler’s Rank: 1st
Scott’s Rank: 1st
Hunter: The Fleet came into the week after blowing a 3-1 lead to the Goldeneyes in Detroit. They struggled to score on the Torrent’s Corinne Schroeder yet still pulled out a 2-1 win, but were beaten by a pesky Charge group led by Sanni Ahola, who stopped 31 shots in her first-career PWHL victory. They started the season hot but with losses in four of their last six, they need to get on track before the international break.
Tyler: Four of a possible six points isn’t too shabby for the team that remains at the top of the PWHL. Sure, they weren’t able to pile on the goals against the Torrent last Wednesday, but they were so dominant that it never felt like they were going to lose the lead. Even on Sunday in Halifax, Boston looked far the better team against the Charge, nearly doubling its shots. I’m a little concerned about the lack of finish, especially on the power play, but you have to credit where credit is due, as Corinne Schroeder and Sanni Ahola played great.
That said, the Fleet still look like a unit that’s tough to get past.
Scott: I speak! The Fleet are a weird team this season, in that they aren’t the top team in any category, but they aren’t bad in any either. They struggle with generating chances (5th in 5v5 expected goals per game with 1.73), but it’s made up for the fact their goaltending has saved +4.1 5v5 goals above expected (via hockey-statistics.com). All hail Aerin Frankel!
Boston is back at the Tsongas Center for the second time this season on Wednesday night, taking on the Toronto Sceptres.
2. Minnesota Frost
Record: 5-1-2-3, +10
Last Week: 2nd
Hunter’s Rank: 3rd
Tyler’s Rank: 2nd
Scott’s Rank: 3rd
Tyler: I don’t know if the Frost woke up on the wrong side of the bed, or they were still ticked off about the loss to the Victoire the week before, but they didn’t need to demolish the Torrent the way they did. The offense was swirling all game long, and seemed to have no intentions of slowing down. Grace Zumwinkle was fantastic, as was Katy Knoll and Taylor Heise. I’m not sure if that was just a Seattle team that was tired at the end of a long road trip, but Minnesota looked like it was on another level.
Wins like that make me scared of what the Frost are capable of.
Hunter: The rich get richer and the Frost are laughing right now, beating the Torrent 6-2 and generating 45 shots in the winning effort. Four of the league’s top-seven scorers wear purple and the team has a league-leading 34 goals, as well as a second-ranked power play of nearly 19%. Britta Curl has found the scoresheet in six of her last seven games … six-seeevvvveeennnnnnn!!!
Scott: As much as I hate to admit that the Frost are still good, they’re still good. Outside of a horrendous penalty kill, they’re good defensively, and are even better offensively, both at even strength and on the power play. That said, they’ve benefitted from a bit of luck, as they’ve outperformed their 5v5 xGF% by a whopping 11.7%. It’s hard to see them sustaining that for the full season, but it’s short enough to pull it off.
The Frost are off until Friday, when they pay a visit to the New York Sirens.
3. New York Sirens
Record: 6-0-0-5, +2
Last Week: 3rd
Hunter’s Rank: 4th
Tyler’s Rank: 3rd
Scott’s Rank: 4th
Tyler: WEE WOO! Sound the alarm, the Sirens are hot again. Even though the team had just the one game last week, coming out of Toronto with a win, a shutout no less, shows that this team is for real. Kristýna Kaltounková needs to be in the MVP conversation, let alone the Rookie of the Year race. She’s playing with much more confidence than we’ve seen out of any European so far in this league, even more than Tereza Vanisova’s play last season with the Charge. On top of that, Kayle Osborne continues to play out of her mind, helping New York build up a four-game win streak.
Hunter: I mean, the Sirens didn’t play last week, and for some reason they’re off until this Friday, so for 10 days they can tell everyone they’re riding a four-game winning streak. Last season, Sarah Fillier was tied for first in points and tied for fourth in goals among all PWHL skaters. But in 2025-26, she has scored just once in her first 10 games. Still, her 37 shots rank seventh in the league, so expect her to break the dam sooner than later.
Scott: I’m sure the question on everyone’s mind is: are the Sirens for real? Offensively, definitely. No one generates chances like New York with their 2.05 5v5 expected goals per game, as they’re the only team averaging more than two. Their defensive game could use a bit more work as they’re sixth in 5v5 xGA/G with 1.73, but they’re goaltending has helped them a bit there, saving two 5v5 goals above expected.
The Sirens are back home Friday to take on the Frost before heading to Washington, D.C. for a Takeover game on Sunday.
4. Montreal Victoire
Record: 4-2-0-4, +6
Last Week: 4th
Hunter’s Rank: 5th
Tyler’s Rank: 5th
Scott’s Rank: 2nd
Scott: As out of place it feels to have the Victoire this high despite sitting in fifth right now, their defensive play has been too good to ignore. They’ve allowed the fewest 5v5 expected goals per game in the league with 1.43, and are first in the league in penalty kill percentage at 96.4%. If not for the fact that they’ve underperformed their 5v5 xGF% by 2.6%, they’d be in much better standing this season.
Hunter: It was a low-event, 1-0 win for the Victoire against the Goldeneyes in front of more than 14,600 fans at Videotron Centre in Quebec City. Ann-Renee Desbiens continues to thrive, now posting a .953 SV% through her first eight appearances. Just like New York’s Fillier, Laura Stacey has struggled to score through her first 10 games, but with a league-leading 44 shots, the goals will come. Why not this week against the Charge or Sirens? Or maybe both?
Tyler: I do feel bad pushing the Victoire back, despite picking up a win in front of a raucous crowd in Quebec City. Yet, it felt like Montreal wasn’t at its best against the Goldeneyes, a team that we’ve quickly realized isn’t as strong as it is on paper. This Victoire has players who can certainly bring out a killer instinct, but haven’t really shown it this year (or in the playoffs, for that matter). With teams above them in the standings starting to distance themselves from the pack, the Victoire need to start playing with an edge if they simply want to make it to the playoffs.
Montreal takes on the Charge in Laval on Tuesday, before taking on the Sirens in America’s capital on Sunday.
5. Ottawa Charge
Record: 3-4-0-5, -1
Last Week: 4th
Hunter’s Rank: 2nd
Tyler’s Rank: 4th
Scott’s Rank: 7th
Hunter: Anytime a team wins six straight in a 30-game season, they deserve some credit, and that’s what we have with a Charge group that beat the Goldeneyes, then followed up with a shootout win over the league’s best in the Fleet, despite getting outshot 23-11 in the second, third and overtime frames. As mentioned earlier, Ahola earned her first-career win, and Gwyneth Philips looked calm, cool and collected in a 23-save victory over Vancouver.
Tyler: Like the awesome 2002 song from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Charge Can’t Stop winning. A team that was considered by many to be in a lower tier after the amount of talent lost this past offseason, they have turned things around over the past month, winning six games in a row.
The nice part is, it doesn’t just have to be Gwyneth Philips saving the day. Ahola showed on Sunday against the league-leading Fleet that she can give the Charge a chance to win. Brianne Jenner is still cooking, Peyton Hemp is starting to find a nice spot on that second line with Katerina Mrazova and Emily Clark. This team is fun to watch again.
Scott: Look, Ottawa’s recent run of success has been a lot of fun to watch, but they just aren’t this good. They consistently get outchanced in their games with a 40.47% 5v5 xGF% (the next closest is Vancouver with 45.48%), and are last in both 5v5 xGF/G and 5v5 xGA/G. They aren’t even experiencing insane shooting or goaltending luck either (although a 0-4-1-0 record in one-goal games plays a role in that). They aren’t nearly as bad in the shot department (50.1% 5v5 CF%), but the other teams are getting much better quality with their chances.
Side note: Boston is the only other team in the PWHL to have seven wins thus far. Ottawa is back in action on Tuesday, visiting the Victoire.
6. Toronto Sceptres
Record: 4-0-3-4, -8
Last Week: 6th
Hunter’s Rank: 6th
Tyler’s Rank: 6th
Scott’s Rank: 5th
Scott: The Sceptres have a strong foundational game, as their third in 5v5 xGF% and the only team to rank in the top two in 5v5 xGF/G and xGA/60. But it’s becoming more and more apparent the team is lacking finishing talent, as they’ve scored 4.8 5v5 goals fewer than expected. Troy Ryan went all in on a defensive game by protecting Blayre Turnbull and Emma Maltais, losing Sarah Nurse, Hannah Miller, Julia Gosling and Izzy Daniel in the expansion process, and then trading for Ella Shelton by giving up the third-overall pick (Daryl Watts is the only Sceptre with more points than Casey O’Brien, by the way), and the offense that was sacrificed has hurt the team overall. Toronto may still be able to make the playoffs, but it’s hard to see them winning the Walter Cup without more of a scoring punch in their lineup.
Hunter: The Sceptres were able to generate chances on a surging Sirens group but couldn’t get any past Osborne, giving them their fourth loss in their last five games. Not all slow starts are equal, but only four players in this group have more than one goal. If they don’t figure out how to produce soon, they’ll be chasing a playoff spot the rest of the season, instead of holding onto one.
Tyler: Getting goose-egged on home ice certainly isn’t a good look for a team trying to play catch-up. Regardless if they were playing a hot team like the Sirens, the Sceptres just simply need to be better. They need to create better second and third chances, get gritty around the net. I want to see Emma Maltais step up. I want Blayre Turnbull to contribute. I want Natalie Spooner to be the MVP-caliber player she was in year one. This team has too many weapons to be this bad.
If there’s any silver lining, the goaltending (outside of the loss to Minnesota last month) hasn’t been the problem. Elaine Chuli and Raygan Kirk have certainly given Toronto the effort needed to win, but they simply haven’t had enough consistent support.
The Sceptres are on the road on Wednesday, taking on the Fleet in Lowell before facing the Goldeneyes at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday.
7. Seattle Torrent
Record: 3-1-1-5, -6
Last Week: 5th
Hunter’s Rank: 7th
Tyler’s Rank: 7th
Scott’s Rank: 6th
Scott: The Torrent aren’t all that different from their NHL counterpart in the Kraken, where they’re just very meh. They aren’t bad by any means, but I wouldn’t say there’s an aspect of their game to write home about either, with the best aspect of their game being their fourth-ranked power play. As a Sceptres fan, it’s been nice to see Gosling take the next step in her game this season.
Hunter: With two regulation losses last week, the Torrent have looked like what you’d expect out of an expansion franchise: hard-working, motivated, but with long stretches where the offense is non-existent. Danielle Serdachny has seen less ice time in recent weeks, but she scored Sunday against the Frost. As a former second-overall pick, you would hope she gets more opportunities going forward. Also, let’s give the people what they want: put Carly Jackson in the crease!!!
Tyler: Tough way to end the four-game road trip for the Torrent. After a couple of competitive Takeover games, Seattle was limited by the Fleet last Wednesday before walking into the gauntlet known as the Minnesota Frost. It certainly was a shot to the confidence that the team had built during its five-game homestand earlier this season. Thankfully, the Torrent are back home for a couple of games, hoping to turn the tide and get back into the postseason hunt.
The Torrent are off until Sunday, when they host the Fleet.
8. Vancouver Goldeneyes
Record: 3-1-1-7, -11
Last Week: 8th
Hunter’s Rank: 8th
Tyler’s Rank: 8th
Scott’s Rank: 8th
Hunter: The Goldeneyes have the same issues scoring as the Sceptres, only Vancouver’s two top scorers are defenders in Sophie Jaques and Claire Thompson, with only three forwards producing more than one goal. The combination of Tereza Vanisova, Hannah Miller and Michela Cava scored 34 goals in 2024-25, but this season, they’ve combined for two. Something has to give.
Scott: The Goldeneyes continue to be an example of how a great team on paper doesn’t always translate to the ice. They looked like a stacked lineup after the offseason, but it just hasn’t clicked so far this season. They can’t finish (tied for second-last in goals), they can’t create (second-last in 5v5 xGF/G, and despite also being second-last in 5v5 xGA/G, their goaltenders have managed a -5.9 5v5 GSAx. Outside of a good penalty kill, everything has gone wrong for Vancouver, and they look nothing like the Walter Cup Champs everyone thought they might be this year.
Tyler: Oh, Vancouver, how you continue to disappoint away from home. This team has just one win in seven games outside of British Columbia thus far, that coming in Detroit a little over a week ago. The Goldeneyes followed that up with a tough loss to the Charge on Friday before getting shut out in Quebec City on Sunday. I wish I could tell you what the team needs to do to get a win on the road. But, like the Goldeneyes record, I’m at a loss.
Vancouver ends its current five-game roadie on Saturday, when it takes on the Sceptres.