Montréal Victoire 2025-26 Season Preview

The Montréal Victoire set the standard for the PWHL during the 2024-25 regular season, finishing at the top of the league with 53 points. They were the team to beat at the start of the playoffs and had their choice of Ottawa or Minnesota in the first round.

In the end, Montréal fell to Ottawa in an extremely tight four-game series that featured a quadruple overtime win for the Victoire in Game 2. While Montréal’s fans and players took solace in the fact that the series was incredibly tight, it wasn’t an outcome that excited either party.

“We weren’t able to score, is the long and the short of it,” said Kori Cheverie, who was voted PWHL Coach of the Year. “We need to be able to produce in those moments and rely on more players in those moments.”

In a summer filled with great change around the league, Montréal actually emerged with consistency and its foundational core intact.

The trio of reigning MVP and Forward of the Year Marie-Philip Poulin, Goaltender of the Year Ann-Renée Desbiens plus power forward Laura Stacey, recipient of the “hockey for all” award for her unwavering commitment to community, all signed two-year extensions that will keep them in Montréal beyond the upcoming season. Victoire fans should sleep easily knowing their core players and leaders will continue to lead the team forward.

“The fact that they re-signed is obviously a great day for women’s hockey and hockey in Montréal,” said Cheverie. “They’ve really been the drivers behind what we’re trying to create here in Montréal, so we’re really happy to have them back.”

The return of the core is augmented with some exciting new rookies, new veterans from across the league and a new backup goaltender.

Rookie to watch: Nicole Gosling

The Victoire selected Gosling with its first-round pick in the 2025 PWHL Draft, and it's not hard to see why. “She’s offensive, she can shoot the puck, she gets the puck through, and she can certainly skate the puck,” said Cheverie. “Nicole is an offensive player who has the ability to play top minutes and also has the ability to play important defensive minutes.”

Gosling is an elite defender who finished last season with 12 goals and 39 points in 40 games as the captain of Clarkson University’s women’s hockey team. She’s also represented Canada internationally on three occasions, twice with the U-18 team and once in a gold medal performance at the 2024 IIHF Women’s World Championship.

With only three mainstay defenders returning from last year’s team, there will be plenty of opportunity for Gosling to show what she can do.

Veteran addition: Abby Roque

Montréal pulled the trigger on a draft- day trade that sent forward Kristin O’Neill and a fourth-round pick to New York in exchange for veteran U.S. forward Abby Roque.

Roque is known for being a strong all-around player who can be used in all situations. Last season, she scored six goals and totaled 17 points in 30 games. Montréal fans can expect Roque to help bring more physicality to the lineup, something that Cheverie says is a priority for the group going into the season—a point further exemplified by the acquisitions of veterans Shiann Darkangelo, Jade Downie-Landry and Hayley Scamurra, who will collectively make the Victoire tough to play against.

Leadership/coaching: staying the course

In addition to the pre-expansion draft protection of Desbiens, captain Poulin and alternate captain Stacey, Montréal was also able to safeguard alternate captain Erin Ambrose on draft day. The 2024 Defender of the Year is a rock on the Victoire blue line and contributes at both ends of the ice in addition to her leadership.

Cheverie is entering her third season as the coach of the Victoire and will be joined by a familiar face in Hockey Hall of Famer and fellow Canadian National Team assistant Caroline Ouellette, now in a full-time role. GM Danièle Sauvageau, who was just inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as the first woman in the Builder category, further solidifies organizational stability. The high level of continuity in the coaching and leadership department provide the Victoire with a strong foundation heading into the season.

Returning veteran to watch: Lina Ljunblom

The Victoire chose Ljungblom with the final pick in the inaugural draft and waited a year for the Swedish star to make her PWHL debut. Now, with the loss of players like Cayla Barnes, Jenn Gardiner and Abby Boreen—each among the team’s top five scorers—she's an intriguing player to watch heading into the 2025-26 season.  

Ljungblom’s history suggests she has the capacity to thrive with a year of PWHL action under her belt. During her six seasons in the SDHL, playing for HV71 and MODO Hockey, she scored 145 points in 152 games and was named Player of the Year at the end of the 2023-24 season. Interestingly, in her first full season in the SDHL, Ljungblom only recorded five points in 20 games, a stat line that closely mirrors the six points she scored in 29 games with the Victoire last year. If history repeats itself, she has the potential to substantially increase her scoring this year. 

Between the pipes: Ann-Renée Desbiens

Desbiens is one of the most accomplished goaltenders in the sport. She’s represented Canada on countless occasions, winning three World Championship gold medals and an Olympic gold medal in Beijing in 2022.

This past season, Desbiens cemented her Goaltender of the Year status after leading all netminders in wins (15), goals-against average (1.86) and save percentage (.932). Her dominant performance was one of the reasons for the Victoire’s first-place finish during the regular season, and Montréal fans are without a doubt thrilled they get to watch one of the best goalies in the world for at least three more years.

Former Victoire goaltender Elaine Chuli signed with Toronto during the offseason, leaving the backup position vacant. Montréal subsequently extended Sandra Abstreiter, a star with Team Germany who served as the team’s third goalkeeper last season, and who Cheverie says will get her opportunity this year after putting in the work last season.

Season Outlook

Cheverie stated that she is prioritizing the continued growth of the defense. “We did a really great job last year with our goal differential in terms of scoring more and allowing less, and that’s always going to be at the top of our minds,” she said. “We want a bigger focus on our D-corps and continuing to grow that group.”

With a first- and second-place finish in two years of PWHL action, the Victoire are certainly a strong regular-season team. As an organization, the next step is to make strides in the playoffs.

“We continue to build as an organization,” said Cheverie. “Year three is really about taking what we’ve learned from year one and year two, evolving it, upgrading it and putting our team in the best position to compete for a Walter Cup.”