Who will be on the Canadian women’s Olympic hockey team?

Only 49 days remain before the Canadian women’s Olympic hockey team opens its tournament in Milan, Italy, and looks to defend its Olympic title.

The women’s hockey landscape has changed dramatically since the buzzer sounded on the Canadians’ 3-2 win over the Americans at the Beijing Winter Games in February 2022.

The creation of the PWHL has changed the way the Canadian team is training for the Olympics, ending the tradition of having players “centralize” together in one location for months before the Games. It’s also given players a new stage to prove they should be on the national team. 

Canada and the U.S., remain the teams to beat heading into the Olympic tournament, but the Canadians may be underdogs heading into the Games.

The American team was revamped after losing three straight major tournaments to Canada between 2021 and 2022. That rebuilt American roster, with a skilled, youthful core, has won six straight games against Canada.

Most recently, the Americans swept the Canadians in the Rivalry Series, outscoring them 24-7 over four games. A 10-4 shellacking was a low point. It was the Canadians’ worst defeat since 2012.

But the Olympics are a fresh slate, and Canadian head coach Troy Ryan isn’t worried.

“I don’t think it’s a concern,” Ryan said this week. “We know we have business to do. We know it’s going to be a difficult challenge for us, for sure, but I think we’ve got perspective on it as well.”

The Canadian team is likely to be built around a veteran core with plenty of experience winning at big tournaments. Much has been made about the age of the Canadian team compared to the younger Americans, but with that age also comes experience.

Canada plays its first game against Finland at 3:10 p.m. ET on Feb. 5, which you can watch coverage on CBC and CBC Gem.

Here’s a projected list of who is likely to be selected to the team, which will be announced on Jan. 15.

Forwards

Marie-Philip Poulin (Montreal Victoire)

The best player in the world is looking to win her fourth Olympic gold medal, something only three other hockey players have done: Jayna Hefford, Hayley Wickenheiser and Caroline Ouellette.

The captain is also two goals away from surpassing Wickenheiser’s record for most Olympic goals.

Sarah Fillier (New York Sirens) 

A rookie at the last Olympics, Fillier now has a season of pro hockey under her belt. The reigning PWHL rookie of the year is one of the most talented players in the game, and will be a big part of this team for years to come.

Laura Stacey (Montreal Victoire)

Stacey played a touch over two minutes on the fourth line at the last Olympics. Since then, she’s evolved into one of the best power forwards in women’s hockey.

No player in the PWHL generated more shots last season than Stacey, whose speed frequently creates breakaway opportunities. Most recently, she’s been playing on the top line alongside Poulin, a role that has taught Stacey a lot.

“Part of my game hopefully can help hers and obviously a big part of hers can help mine,” Stacey said. “It’s still a work in progress. We’re still trying to figure out those little details, still trying to click more, still trying to produce more.”

Blayre Turnbull (Toronto Sceptres) 

The Toronto Sceptres captain is a staple on the Canadian team’s penalty kill and the anchor of a hard-to-play against third line. 

Off the ice, she wears a letter for this team, and is a big part of the culture they’ve built.

“She competes hard and that’s her bread and butter,” defender Jocelyne Larocque said at Olympic training camp earlier this year. “Blayre Turnbull’s best asset is when she’s on that forecheck or she’s trying to get that puck from you. It’s going to take a lot to not lose that battle.”

Emily Clark (Ottawa Charge) 

Like Turnbull, Clark is hard on pucks and one of Ryan’s most trusted penalty killers. She led the Charge in hits last season, while also finishing second on the team in points (19 in 30 regular season games) en route to the Walter Cup final. She’s a lock to go to her third Olympic Games.

Daryl Watts (Toronto Sceptres)

Watts is poised to make her Olympic debut, and there’s no longer any doubt that she belongs on this team. Since the PWHL was created, only Poulin has recorded more points than the ultra-skilled Watts.

“She’s confident, she’s skilled, she sees the game, she can snipe in important moments,” Poulin said about Watts earlier this year.

Watts spent much of the Rivalry Series on Poulin’s left wing. It was a tantalizing prospect, but didn’t quite work as planned. An all-Sceptres line of Watts, Emma Maltais and Natalie Spooner that Ryan has been rolling out in Toronto could be a solution in February.

Emma Maltais (Toronto Sceptres)

Like Stacey, Maltais has evolved from a fourth-line player in 2022 to someone with the utility to play up and down the lineup.

She has logged some time on Poulin’s wing on the Canadians’ top line. She can also play centre, which is where Ryan has been deploying her with the Sceptres this season.

“I know it’s probably difficult for her to move positions and move roles, but I think that’s what makes her so valuable is just her versatility,” Ryan said. “She can play a hard game offensively or really shut down defensively as well.”

Brianne Jenner (Ottawa Charge)

The 2022 Olympic MVP had some jump to her game at the two Rivalry Series games she played, including some time on the power play. Jenner can slide up and down the lineup, and in a pinch, has plenty of experience playing with Poulin.

Jenner, who wears a letter for the Canadian team, also brings some experience in tough moments. It would be her fourth Olympics.

Julia Gosling (Seattle Torrent)

Most of the debate around the forward group comes at the bottom of the lineup, and Gosling has made a solid case for one of only two or three open spots. With size and a rocket of a shot, Gosling has shown most of her skill on the power play in the PWHL.

The national team only scored three power-play goals over four Rivalry Series games. One bright spot on that power play was Gosling, who scored one of those goals and assisted on another.

She was one of the final cuts before Beijing, and should finally earn a spot on the Olympic team.

Sarah Nurse (Vancouver Goldeneyes)

Nurse has been one of the top players in the PWHL when healthy, but injuries have limited her ability to play over the last two seasons. She’s been sidelined with an injury since the Goldeneyes’ inaugural game, where she scored the team’s first franchise goal. If Nurse is healthy and back up to speed, she should be on this team.

Kristin O’Neill (New York Sirens)

O’Neill has carved out a role as Canada’s fourth-line centre over the last few years, after going to Beijing on the taxi squad but not seeing any action.

She’s a strong forechecker, solid in the faceoff circle, and people hate playing against her. It’s hard to imagine she won’t play that role in Italy.

Natalie Spooner (Toronto Sceptres)

The 2024 PWHL MVP has looked more like herself this season, after recovery from ACL surgery derailed much of the last season.

Beyond what she brings on the ice, particularly in her trademark spot in front of the net, Spooner brings a lightness to the locker room that could help a team facing the pressure that comes with entering an Olympics as the underdog.

Jennifer Gardiner (Vancouver Goldeneyes) 

Canada could take a few different directions with its final forward spot. Nineteen-year-old Caitlin Kraemer has the potential to be a big part of the Canadian program in the future, but she’s only played three games with the national team. 

The edge here goes to Gardiner, who has experience playing on the top line alongside Poulin and Stacey both on the national team and in the PWHL. At her world-championship debut last April, she finished second in the tournament in points, behind Poulin.

Defence

Renata Fast (Toronto Sceptres)

Fast is coming off an MVP-calibre season where she led the league in hits and total time on ice, on top of powering a top-ranked Sceptres power play.

Few, if any, other players will be more important to Canada’s quest to secure another Olympic gold medal than the reigning PWHL defender of the year.

Ella Shelton (Toronto Sceptres)

Shelton played sparingly in 2022, but is now one of the best defenders in women’s hockey. She also leads all defenders in all-time PWHL points. 

Now with the Sceptres, Ryan could experiment with a Shelton-Fast pairing that should be strong on both sides of the puck.

Erin Ambrose (Montreal Victoire)

A smart player who can quarterback a power-play unit, the 2024 defender of the year should be a lock to go to her second Olympic Games.

Claire Thompson (Vancouver Goldeneyes)

Thompson took some time away from the national team to attend medical school, but hasn’t missed a beat. She was one of the best defenders in her first season of the PWHL, winning a Walter Cup with Minnesota along the way.

Ryan could pair her with Ambrose to bring back the best pairing at the 2022 Games.

Sophie Jaques (Vancouver Goldeneyes)

Jaques is one of the best at quarterbacking a power play in the PWHL, but may not get that opportunity on the national team, with players like Fast and Ambrose higher on the depth chart.

Regardless, Jaques stood out at dismal Rivalry Series for Canada, including two goals in Canada’s 10-4 loss. She’s too talented to not make her first Olympic team.

Jocelyne Larocque (Ottawa Charge)

The veteran defender is looking to go to her fourth Olympic Games. She’s not the player who was a staple on the first pairing beside Fast in 2022. But the shutdown defender still has the trust of the Canadian coaching staff, and could be a steadying presence beside an Olympic rookie.

“She’s so consistent with how she plays the game and she’s so predictable in a good way to her teammates,” Ryan said back in September.

Chloe Primerano (University of Minnesota, NCAA)

Primerano will be the youngest player since Poulin to make this team, should she be chosen to go to Italy. But it makes sense to bring the Canadian defender of the future, who will be 19 when the Games start, even if it’s in a seventh defender role.

Primerano’s hockey IQ, skating and shot are well beyond her years, and her transition to the NCAA a year early was “seamless,” according to her head coach in Minnesota, Brad Frost. But the biggest strides in her game over the last two seasons have come defensively.

Ambrose sees a player that’s continuing to grow.

“You know how high of a ceiling Chloe has,” she said. “Her skill, the way she moves on the offensive blue line, her offensive threats, it’s probably unlike anybody we have in our national program. Chloe’s starting to really get a hold of everything else that comes with that.”

Goaltender

Ann-Renée Desbiens (Montreal Victoire) 

Desbiens was a brick wall when the Canadians won gold in 2022. She’s won every game she’s started on the Olympic stage. Even after a shaky performance in the last two games of the Rivalry Series, there ’s no question last season’s PWHL goaltender of the year will be Canada’s starter. 

Emerance Maschmeyer (Vancouver Goldeneyes)

Desbiens’ long-time backup on the national team should be a lock to return for her second Olympics. After a significant injury ended Maschmeyer’s second PWHL season, she’s back and looking as steady as ever with her new team in Vancouver.

Ève Gascon (University of Minnesota Duluth, NCAA)

Canada’s third goaltender is unlikely to see game action, but it could still be valuable experience for a player who could lead Canada into the next Olympics.

Kayle Osborne from the New York Sirens would be a great choice here too, but the edge goes to Gascon, who performed well at the Rivalry Series despite a shaky defensive effort in front of her.

Desbiens has watched the younger goaltender from Quebec rise through the ranks, and is impressed by her consistency.

“She’s very talented, very skilled and she’s going to accomplish amazing things, there’s no doubt,” Desbiens said in September.