(This is the first in a series of six training camp look-aheads as the PWHL heads into its second year. Camps open on Nov. 12)
TORONTO SCEPTRES
LAST YEAR: Finished first overall with 13 wins, four OTW, seven losses; Lost best-of-five semifinal to eventual league champ Minnesota, 3-2.
RETURNING CORE: Sarah Nurse, Renata Fast, Blayre Turnbull, Natalie Spooner, Jocelyne Larocque, Emma Maltais, Kristen Campbell.
NEWCOMERS: Julia Gosling (draft 1st round), Izzy Daniel (draft 3rd round), Daryl Watts (free-agent signing), Emma Woods (free-agent signing), Megan Carter (draft 2nd round), Raygan Kirk (draft 7th round), Anneke Linser (draft 6th round), Noemi Nuebauerova (draft 5th round).
NOT RETURNING: F Brittany Howard (retired), F Rebecca Leslie (signed in Ottawa), F Alexa Vasko (signed in Ottawa), F Jess Jones (retired), G Erica Howe (retired), Lauriane Rougeau (retired), Maude Poulin-Labelle.
BIGGEST QUESTION: How soon is league MVP and Toronto’s leading goal scorer Natalie Spooner back from injury? Spooner tore her ACL during the second round of last year’s playoffs and already is back skating. Will she miss any time and, if so, how much?
FIGHTING FOR JOBS: Sam Cogan and Kaitlin Willoughby both earned praise last year for their play on the third and fourth lines of this team. Neither returns with a contract for this year and come to camp looking to nail down a job. The same applies for defenders Olivia Knowles and Jessica Kondas, the former of which was a top-six defender a year ago and the latter who spent the season on the three-player reserve list.
Standing in their way of returning to the team are forwards Noemi Neubauerova, Laura Kluge and Anneke Linser, and defenders Lauren Bernard and Rylind Mackinnon, all of whom remain unsigned.
The team opens camp with 20 players under contract, so that leaves three roster spots and three reserve spots left to fill. All told, there will be 29 players at training camp.
TEAM STRENGTH: The chemistry on this club, top to bottom, is the envy of the league. They have depth, skill and a common shared view of the game that makes selfish play a non-factor. The leadership group on this club is primarily responsible for this.
TEAM WEAKNESS: Certainly last year they were overly dependent on Spooner to put pucks in the net. That was addressed in the off-season with the acquisition of Watts and the drafting of players like Gosling and Daniels, but we have yet to see that play out.
THE MOTIVATION: This team was the class of the league for the bulk of the season last year and had its pick of the bottom two teams to face in the first round when the playoffs began. While an injury to Spooner that took her out of the series had a definite impact, the memory of falling to the eventual champions from Minnesota after having a 2-0 lead in a best-of-five semifinal series will push this team like nothing else in Year 2.
BIGGEST AREA OF CHANGE: Will come on the blue line with retirement of Lauriane Rougeau and departure of Maude-Poulin Labelle (on Boston’s training camp roster). Three of Olivia Knowles (returning but without a contract), Megan Carter, Lauren Bernard or Jessica Kondas, who was on the three-player reserved all of last season, should make the team.
BEHIND THE BENCH: Only one change behind the bench on Troy Ryan’s staff. Jim Midgley joins as an assistant coach.
PRIMED FOR A BREAKOUT: It sounds ridiculous to put a player who did as much for Toronto in Year 1 in this category, but we believe team captain Blayre Turnbull barely scratched the surface of what she can do for this team. Turnbull had three goals and six assists in her first campaign with the Sceptres and, while points are not the best barometer of a player like Turnbull, we expect those numbers were down even by her standards. Turnbull did lead the team in goals in the post-season and is very capable of having a much bigger impact on the stat sheet in year 2.
THE TRAINING CAMP ROSTER
FORWARDS (17)
Natalie Spooner
Sarah Nurse
Blayre Turnbull
Emma Maltais
Jesse Compher
Hannah Miller
Maggie Connors
Victoria Bach
Samantha Cogan (Camp invite)
Kaitlin Willoughby (Camp invite)
Daryl Watts (Free agent signing)
Emma Woods Free agent signing)
Julia Gosling (Drafted 1st round, signed)
Izzy Daniel (Drafted 3rd round, signed)
Noemi Neubauerova (Drafted 5th round)
Anneke Linser (Drafted 6th round)
Laura Kluge (Camp invite)
DEFENCE (9)
Renata Fast
Jocelyne Larocque
Kali Flanagan
Allie Munroe
Olivia Knowles (camp invite)
Jessica Kondas (camp invite)
Megan Carter (Drafted 2nd round, signed)
Lauren Bernard (Drafted 4th round)
Rylind MacKinnon (camp invite)
GOALIES (3)
Kristen Campbell
Carly Jackson
Raygan Kirk (drafted 7th round, signed)
(Teams will have to cut down to 23 skaters and three reserves to begin the regular season)