The Professional Women’s Hockey League is nearly halfway through its second season, a natural time to reflect on what we’ve seen through the first half and look ahead at what could happen next.

And with no games until next week — the Canada-USA Rivalry Series continues this week along with other international competition — what better time for an updated PWHL Power Rankings?

The first edition of our rankings back in December had the reigning league champions, Minnesota, coming in at No. 1. This time we have a few changes and maybe some spicy takes.

Let’s get into it.

1. Montreal Victoire (8-3-1-2, 14 GP)

Hailey: Montreal heads into the February international break on a five-game win streak, looking like a formidable opponent.

What has made Montreal particularly dangerous in recent weeks is Marie-Philip Poulin. She has five goals in her last three games and leads the PWHL with 10 goals through 14 games. She’s the best player in the world, and as long as that’s true, Montreal is going to have an edge.

But the team also has meaningful depth — and enough of it that Montreal won all three games with its top-line winger, Laura Stacey, out of the lineup. Abby Boreen has been highly productive, either on her own line or up playing with Poulin. And rookie Jennifer Gardiner has played so well that she’s getting a well-deserved shot on Team Canada.

Not to mention, Ann-Renée Desbiens leads all goalies with a 1.77 goals-against average and .935 save percentage.

The only thing stopping me from calling Montreal the team to beat is that Minnesota is within striking distance despite how many injuries the team has had to navigate through the first half of the season.

Shayna: Montreal is just an all-around threat. It looks like it has a little bit of everything working for it, which is helping it win games in different ways.

Some nights, Poulin is just going to be the difference. Desbiens is going to steal wins for her team. The penalty kill is going to help seal wins, like it did in 11 minutes of action on Sunday against the Sirens. And the supporting cast is going to step up on different nights.

Montreal will face off against New York and Minnesota out of the break, which will be a great test of its strength.

2. Minnesota Frost (5-4-2-4, 15 GP)

Shayna: The Frost set the bar in December. The reigning champs looked like a wagon to open the season, and their power ranking reflected that last month.

But the team hit a few roadblocks in January. The first was a 5-0 loss against New York early in the month. The Frost rebounded with an overtime win over Boston and a regulation win against Montreal, only to lose three consecutive games to New York, Montreal and Ottawa. And maybe most concerning through that stretch was that they mustered just four goals in those three losses.

Minnesota found its scoring touch over the next couple of games with a 5-2 win over Boston and then a 4-3 shootout win against Toronto. That helped steady the ship for the Frost, who managed despite still being without Grace Zumwinkle, Natalie Buchbinder and Dominique Petrie.

Taylor Heise and Claire Thompson’s star power helped fuel this team’s offense to end that losing skid, while Sophie Jaques strengthened its two-way game. Michela Cava and Brooke McQuigge have proved to be the secondary scoring every championship-caliber team needs. So the Frost still have all the tools to jump back to No. 1, especially as this team gets back to full strength — and the international break should give them the time to do so.

Hailey: That Minnesota is second in the league standings (and in our rankings) despite all the injuries, illness and suspensions is a real testament to the team’s depth.

No Jaques? At least you have Thompson, who leads all D in scoring.

Zumwinkle sidelined? You can get through it when Heise, Kendall Coyne Schofield and Cava make a great top-line trio. And when Britta Curl and McQuigge have been able to bring offense to the middle six.

And let’s not forget: Maddie Rooney has been one of the best goalies in the league again this season and has backstopped six of Minnesota’s nine wins.

3. New York Sirens (4-3-2-5, 14 GP)

Shayna: Goaltending has been stellar in New York this season. Corinne Schroeder, for the second consecutive season, is the backbone of her team. In 10 games played, she has earned a 0.933 save percentage and 1.98 goals-against average. And Kayle Osborne has been a great goalie partner in her four games played with a 1.63 goals-against average and a sparkling 0.944 save percentage.

Goaltending has played a part in New York’s strong penalty kill, too. The Sirens are pretty well-disciplined and have only been short-handed 35 times. And they have only given up three power-play goals against, with a league-leading 91.4 percent efficiency on the penalty kill.

But as stingy as the goalies are, the offense doesn’t always match that effectiveness, which holds the Sirens out of the top two. New York struggled to generate much up the middle against Boston in a 3-2 shootout loss. The Sirens could not get to the net-front area in Toronto a couple of games earlier, either.

The approach has been pretty top-heavy in New York with dynamic duo Sarah Fillier and Alex Carpenter leading the way, and even that has a question mark now with Carpenter sidelined.

Hailey: I’m not going to lie, I considered putting Toronto ahead of New York this month because I think the Sceptres have been playing a more complete game than New York of late. But that’s probably a bit too much projection on my part. New York still struggles defensively at times and Schroeder has had to make among the most saves in the PWHL (280) again this season.

And to Shayna’s point, New York has been reliant on Fillier and Carpenter. At least one of them has factored in on over half of the team’s 37 goals. But I’m optimistic about the chemistry we’re starting to see form between Jessie Eldridge and Abby Roque as a reliable second scoring line.

4. Toronto Sceptres (5-0-4-6, 15 GP)

Hailey: Toronto might be the most interesting team in the PWHL when we come out of the international break on Feb. 11.

After a terrible start, the Sceptres are on a four-game point streak and, with a 4-2 win against Ottawa on Saturday, find themselves in a playoff spot for the first time this season.

Their power play has been lights-out with eight of their last 14 goals on the advantage, their captain Blayre Turnbull has been on a mission and only Poulin has more goals than Hannah Miller. Raygan Kirk has been providing more stability in goal than 2024 Goalie of the Year Kristen Campbell with two regulation wins in her last three starts.

There’s a lot trending in the right direction for Toronto. Oh, by the way, they’ll get to add a league MVP in the second half of the season when Natalie Spooner inevitably returns.

Shayna: I think we all know Toronto is going to get better when Spooner returns. There is always a question about how a player will return from injury, but when she is at her best, she is an outright game-breaker.

But one player — even its MVP — can’t be a team’s only hope. The Sceptres had to prove they could stay afloat.

After a rough start, it feels like Toronto is finally getting back on track offensively, and Miller and Turnbull are major reasons why. There are definitely areas that need improvement, but I think this recent progress is why it’s easier to be more optimistic about the Sceptres (compared to, say, the Fleet). Positive signs are building, and Spooner should really kick things up to the next level.

5. Boston Fleet (3-3-2-5, 13 GP)

Shayna: Deciding the placement of the Sceptres and Fleet was the toughest choice in this month’s power rankings.

To the Fleet’s credit, they only suffered one regulation loss in January when they fell 5-2 to the Frost on the 26th. That was their first regulation loss since Dec. 30 (3-1 to Montreal). The team rode a five-game point streak into that Minnesota matchup and got back in the win column against New York just days later. And while they sit fifth in the standings with 17 points, they have a better points percentage than Toronto and two games in hand. Plus, Alina Müller is finally hitting her stride with two goals and six points in her last four games after going point-less through the first eight games of the season.

But even with all of that in mind, there’s still something missing for Boston. And it’s a similar theme to last season: The offense isn’t as dangerous as it should be. Even when the shot quality is there on paper, there is still something missing, and the loss to the Frost really amplified that. The Fleet may generate some quality chances, but it doesn’t turn into sustained pressure often enough. They don’t generate as many rebounds and second-chance opportunities. When they picked up their shot volume against the Sirens, the quality still didn’t match up. The Fleet took more point shots and didn’t drive to the middle of the ice enough. And those are key reasons why this team is not scoring consistently enough against some of the best goalies in the world.

Hailey: Boston kind of baffles me, more than any other team.

The Fleet have high-end skill (Hannah Bilka, Hilary Knight, Megan Keller and Müller, to name a few), and solid depth (Susanna Tapani, Sophie Shirley and Jamie Lee Rattray) on paper. But they haven’t really been able to put it together in a convincing way. Only Ottawa has scored fewer goals than Boston this season, and their three regulation wins is a league low.

I said this last time, but I don’t really know why we haven’t seen Müller, Knight and Bilka get more looks together on the top line, especially now that Müller’s game has turned around. And I know Loren Gabel isn’t a perfect player, but she’s got one of the best shots in the game and she’s played two games since the calendar flipped to 2025. For a team that’s struggling to score, it’s an odd move.

6. Ottawa Charge (5-0-2-8, 15 GP)

Hailey: The Ottawa Charge were built in the offseason to play a relentless, physical brand of hockey. The way that’s translated on the ice, however, has meant a lot of time short-handed. No team in the PWHL has taken more penalties than Ottawa (53) or allowed more power-play goals against (13). Exactly one-third of the team’s goals against have come short-handed.

There’s something to be said about the PWHL’s inconsistent officiating — especially if we consider Ottawa has the fewest power-play opportunities in the league (31) — but the Charge take a lot of no-doubt undisciplined contact penalties. We’re talking about a lot of boarding calls, illegal hits or interference.

Taking a lot of penalties isn’t enough to be last in the power rankings. The compounding issue is Ottawa’s offense. The Charge have scored the fewest goals in the league (27) and have averaged 1.1 goals per game in their last seven. Ottawa’s only win in that stretch was 1-0 against Minnesota.

Now, only five Ottawa players are shooting over 10 percent on the season. So the optimist’s view is that skilled players like Brianne Jenner (3 percent shooting) or Danielle Serdachny (7.7 percent) won’t be snakebitten all season. But consistent offensive production has yet to come in Ottawa.

Shayna: The problem for me is there are so many negative trends that have become bad patterns. Ottawa only scored multiple goals in two of seven games in January. The Charge may have a 1-0 shutout win under their belt in the last month, but they also lost three games in which they only mustered a goal and were shut out once.

And the team hasn’t had a breakout star to pace its offense yet this season. Ottawa’s leading scorer, Tereza Vanišová, has just seven points in 15 games and leads the league in penalty minutes. Vanišová spending so much time in the box could be fine if the Charge had more reliable scoring up and down their lineup, but that clearly has not been the case.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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