As the PWHL season comes to a close, we of course have the PWHL expansion draft to look forward to. After that, though, on June 25th, the league will hand out its awards for the 2024-25 season at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Ottawa.
From an interesting MVP race, to a missed opportunity for a great GOY race, to some all-star teams, some of the PWHL’s best players will receive great honours at the 2025 PWHL awards. In this article, I’m going to predict who I think will win each of these awards, as well as my all-star and all-rookie teams. Without further ado, here are my predictions!
2025 PWHL Awards Predictions: Billie Jean King MVP
I won’t make you all wait for the juiciest award, so let’s start with it. Our finalists for MVP for this year are Montreal captain Marie-Philip Poulin, Boston captain Hilary Knight, and Toronto assistant captain Renata Fast. Poulin was a finalist last season, while the other two are newly finalists. Poulin led the league in goals, Knight led the league in points, and Fast is among the PWHL’s very best defenders.
And my choice for winner is… Marie-Philip Poulin! A much-deserved win for Poulin – the person who may be the greatest woman in hockey history will get to win one MVP in the new-and-improved women’s league before she ages out of her prime. At 34, Poulin is still arguably the best player in women’s hockey, and her impressive 19 goals in 30 games (on top of her team’s regular season success) gives her the win for me.
For those curious, Knight would be my second choice, followed by Fast in 3rd.
2025 PWHL Awards Predictions: Forward of the Year
Truthfully, my pick for the Forward of the Year can’t really be different from my MVP pick, but let’s talk about the candidates anyways. Of course, Marie-Philip Poulin is a candidate for this award too, as is Hilary Knight. Impressively, New York rookie Sarah Fillier was nominated for this award too, which should be a good sign for her career going forward.
And my choice for winner is… Marie-Philip Poulin (obviously)! I personally think this award is redundant given that these leagues tend to award MVP to a forward 9 out of 10 times, but Poulin of course wins this award too, for the same reasons I gave above. One impressive part of her game I didn’t highlight above is that she’s just about the best faceoff-woman in the league, winning an incredible 60% of her faceoffs. If Poulin wins this, it’ll be much deserved for the Canadian legend.
2025 PWHL Awards Predictions: Defender of the Year
For me, this is honestly the first award race on the list that’s interesting; I think Poulin is the obvious choice for MVP and FOTY. The nominees this year are Renata Fast of the Toronto Sceptres, as well as Sophie Jaques and Claire Thompson, both of the Minnesota Frost.
Fast was, of course, also nominated for league MVP, but don’t let this fact write off the other two candidates. In my list of the 5 best PWHL players right now, I included Jaques at Fast’s expense. Jaques was 4th in the league in PT/g, which is a plus for her, though she missed 5 games which may hurt her. Either way, this race is incredibly close, and I think both Fast and Jaques have a great shot at winning. This is not to discredit Thompson, but I think she’s a firm 3rd here.
And my choice for winner is… Renata Fast! By the very thinnest of hairs, I’m going to predict that Fast will win the award. For one, Fast not missing any games this season will give her a narrow advantage in voters’ minds. On top of this, Fast put up an incredible 63 hits this year, a number that leads the entire PWHL. For such a physical position, these types of numbers matter. Finally, given that Fast is an MVP finalist, I’d be foolish to not see the clear opinion of the voters while making my prediction.
2025 PWHL Awards Predictions: Goaltender of the Year
The GOY race could have shaped up to be a very competitive race, but as of right now, it’s looking pretty one-sided. The candidates are Ann-Renée Desbiens of the Montréal Victoire, Aerin Frankel of the Boston Fleet, and Gwyneth Philips of the Ottawa Charge, who’s fresh off winning the PWHL Playoffs MVP. Frankel was a finalist last year, whereas Desbiens is new to the race, and Philips is only a rookie.
And my choice for winner is… Ann-Renée Desbiens! This race is one of the biggest runaway wins in my opinion, as Desbiens put up a GAA of 1.86 and a SAV% of 0.932 in the regular season as her Victoire coasted to the league’s best record. If the playoffs were a factor here, or perhaps if Philips was given the starting role for the Charge earlier in the season, she would have a better shot at winning. But as it is, Desbiens is the only choice to win the award.
2025 PWHL Awards Predictions: Rookie of the Year
While there was a Rookie of the Year award last season, the rules for the award are now switched to “anyone who didn’t play last year” in the PWHL’s second season. The candidates this year are New York’s Sarah Fillier, Montreal’s Jennifer Gardiner, and Ottawa’s Gwyneth Philips.
And my choice for winner is… Sarah Fillier! Given that a rookie Fillier was nominated for MVP as one of the league’s top 3 players, it’s no shock that she’ll win the Rookie of the Year award. Putting up an impressive 29 points in 30 games (which is tied for league leading), Fillier has proven herself the league’s premier young star until some new 23 year old demon dethrones her in a few seasons.
2025 PWHL Awards Predictions: Coach of the Year
This year’s Coach of the Year race is between Montreal’s Korie Cheverie, Ottawa’s Carla MacLeod, and Toronto’s Troy Ryan. Last year, Ryan won the award vs Cheverie and Courtney Kessel of Boston.
And my choice for winner is… Carla MacLeod! Am I being biased to my hometown team? Well, I hope not… I think to her advantage is that Ryan will face voter fatigue having won the award last year. Still, this leaves the window wide open for Cheverie.
Ultimately, the reason I think MacLeod will win the award is because there were rumours of her losing the locker room, but through her positivity and strong mental coaching, she led Ottawa to a 4-1 record in the team’s last 5 games, snatching a playoff spot from the jaws of elimination. If the playoffs were factored into this, I’d say MacLeod certainly wins the award, but as it sits now, there’s a good chance my prediction will prove biased.
2025 PWHL Awards Predictions: All-Star Teams
The only locks for these teams are really the finalists for Forward and Defender of the Year; everything else is up to debate. With That said, here are my picks:
| First All-Star Team Predictions | Second All-Star Team Predictions |
| G: Ann-Renée Desbiens (MTL) | G: Aerin Frankel (BOS) |
| D: Renata Fast (TOR) | D: Claire Thompson (MIN) |
| D: Sophie Jaques (MIN) | D: Ella Shelton (NY) |
| F: Marie-Philip Poulin (MTL) | F: Daryl Watts (TOR) |
| F: Hilary Knight (BOS) | F: Tereza Vanišová (OTT) |
| F: Sarah Fillier (NY) | F: Kendall Coyne Schofield (MIN) |
I think a lot of this just worked itself out, but it’s definitely hard excluding players like Taylor Heise and Hannah Miller from these teams. Still, cuts unfortunately have to be made.
2025 PWHL Awards Predictions: All-Rookie Team
Finally, we have the all-rookie team. Since we have 3 Rookie of the Year finalists, that sorts half of this team out on its own, but that still leaves 3 picks for me to need to make myself. Here’s my list:
| All-Rookie Team Predictions |
| G: Gwyneth Philips (OTT) |
| D: Cayla Barnes (MTL) |
| D: Anna Wilgren (MTL) |
| F: Sarah Fillier (NY) |
| F: Jennifer Gardiner (MTL) |
| F: Brooke McQuigge (MIN) |
Thanks for reading, and only time will tell how correct I am!
