On Thursday, the second half of the PWHL season got underway with the Montreal Victoire defeating the New York Sirens by a score of 4-1.
With play now resuming across the league, it's worth discussing some of the biggest storylines for the 2025-26 season's second half.
But first, let's quickly recap where things stand right now. Currently, the Boston Fleet and Montreal Victoire are tied for first in the PWHL with thirty points while the two-time Walter Cup Champions - the Minnesota Frost - find themselves just two points back of Boston and Montreal. New York holds the fourth and final playoff spot up for grabs, but they are only marginally ahead of the Ottawa Charge. Though Vancouver's start to life in the PWHL has them in sixth, Seattle and Toronto aren't exactly giving the Goldeneyes a good grip on their standing.
From goaltending to draft/playoff positioning, here are the three biggest storylines that will define the remaining half of the PWHL regular season.
The New York Sirens lead the way for the final playoff spot, but a first-ever postseason berth is nowhere close to being guaranteed
Heading into the second half of the PWHL season, the New York Sirens were in control of the fourth and final playoff spot up for grabs. If they get the job done and secure fourth place or better, it would mark the franchise's first-ever appearance in the PWHL Playoffs.
But even before a humbling 4-1 defeat to the Montreal Victoire to restart league action, the Sirens' hold on that spot is, at best, slim. Just five points separates New York in fourth from Vancouver in sixth, but with their loss to Montreal, New York has given all three of the teams immediately behind them (Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver) a game in hand to make up part of their deficit.
For the Charge, they could easily dispatch New York from that final playoff spot as soon as Saturday, when they play host to the first-place Boston Fleet.
Even worse? New York's pole position in the fourth-place race could easily disappear before they play again on March 5th, a game that sees New York host the Boston Fleet. Before then, Toronto will have three games, Seattle and Ottawa will play two games each, while Vancouver will have one game to potentially halve their own deficit to New York.
For some historical context, the New York Sirens' first season saw the team fall nine points shy of a playoff spot. In their second season, New York ended up seven back of the playoffs.
Though New York is doing well to reverse that trend and put themselves into a playoff spot, it's going to be a very close battle all the way to the final day of the season.
The Seattle Torrent are in a strong position to walk away from their inaugural season with either a playoff berth or the top draft pick
Despite entering the second half of the season in last place, the Seattle Torrent cannot be counted out in the playoff race.
Not only does Seattle have three games in hand on the fourth-place New York Sirens, but they also have two games left against the Sirens before the end of the season. With the Sirens on a losing streak, Seattle still has plenty of breathing room in the playoff race. Add on the fact that Alex Carpenter, Hilary Knight (on LTIR), and two other Americans will return to the Torrent roster with Olympic gold and you have the recipe for what could be a fast start to the Torrent's second-half slate.
Even if Seattle doesn't get into the playoffs, one cannot count them out in the race for a top draft pick. Though the Sceptres are arguably closer to the first overall pick than the Torrent, a winning streak to close the season could give Seattle strong positioning, especially given that the push for a draft pick doesn't start until a team is officially eliminated from playoff contention.
It remains to be seen what the Torrent do with their games in hand, but they'll nonetheless be a very intriguing team to watch for the next few weeks.
Can Aerin Frankel convert a dominant Olympics to continued league success and help the Boston Fleet contend for the Walter Cup?
One can easily argue that best player at the Olympics was Boston Fleet goaltender Aerin Frankel.
Over the course of her time at the Olympics, Aerin Frankel posted a 5-0 record, a .980 save percentage, and three shutouts.
That stat sheet is relatively similar to what Frankel posted during her 2025-26 campaign thus far. Through her thirteen games played, Aerin Frankel has a 9-2-0-2 record (wins, losses, overtime losses, shootout losses). She's also given up just eighteen goals through her thirteen games played (a goals against average of just 1.38) while posting a save percentage of .946. Outside of Montreal Victoire netminder Ann-Renée Desbiens, whose save percentage and goals against average is slightly better despite suffering two additional regulation losses, it's easy to view Aerin Frankel as the top goalie in the PWHL.
As a result, through their first fourteen games, the Boston Fleet find themselves level with the Montreal Victoire for thirty points on the season, though Boston has a 8-2-2-2 (wins, overtime wins, overtime losses, losses) record compared to Montreal's 8-3-0-5 record. The Victoire also have played two additional games, meaning that the Fleet are essentially in the driver's seat in the regular season standings.
Though things can change drastically before the playoffs, it seems that Aerin Frankel and the Fleet are in pole position to not only secure a second playoff berth in their first three PWHL seasons, but they're also on track to top the standings for the first time ever.
If Aerin Frankel can convert her gold medal winning performance to a strong finish to the regular season, it might be too hard to not view her Boston Fleet squad as a Walter Cup favourite.