MONTREAL — Erin Ambrose said the hardest part of the Victoire’s playoff exit was knowing the same group won’t return to Montreal next season.
And with Professional Women's Hockey League expansion looming, she knows that might include her.
"More than anything, I'm anxious that I might not be in Montreal, I might not be a part of the Victoire,” Ambrose said. “That's something for me that means a lot.”
Victoire players, following a semifinal series loss to the Ottawa Charge, cleaned out their lockers at Verdun Auditorium on Tuesday — a day after the league announced expansion procedures for incoming franchises in Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»and Seattle.
The guidelines are clearly designed to make both teams competitive as soon as they hit the ice next season.
“It's a great buffet that those expansion teams have,” Victoire general manager Danièle Sauvageau said.
Each of the league’s original six franchises will lose four players. Teams can initially protect only three, before adding a fourth after two players are selected from their rosters.
Even as last season’s defender of the year, Ambrose knows she could be the odd one out on a Victoire roster loaded with high-end talent.
Montreal boasts star forwards Marie-Philip Poulin and Laura Stacey — who are married — and netminder Ann-Renée Desbiens, the heavy favourite to win goaltender of the year after a stellar season.
They were the first three signings in franchise history back in September 2023, and Ambrose expects they’ll be the first three protected come expansion time.
“All of us could probably collectively agree on who the three (should be),” Ambrose said. “Ann-Renée, Stace and Pou, if that happens, it's definitely not a bad choice. I'm not oblivious.
"It's something that's just weird, you have no control over. My hands are up in the air and we'll see where everything falls."
Expansion will unfold in two phases: An exclusive signing window from June 4 to 8, followed by the expansion draft on June 9.
Ambrose isn’t the only player anxiously waiting for those dates to pass.
"It's pretty hard to process,” said forward Kristin O’Neill, another Canadian national team player. “I thought I was going to be here for three years, but that has become a little unknown and that's pretty scary, especially because as female professional athletes we're not used to that.”
Sauvageau said she hadn’t yet chosen her three protected players, although one spot is clearly spoken for.
“Marie-Philip Poulin is going nowhere,” she said.
All players, including Ambrose and O’Neill, still acknowledged the bigger picture — that expansion is a positive step for the league's growth.
"Growing to two new cities that are thriving in the women's sports world and really want a women's hockey team, from that perspective, it's amazing to see," said Stacey, the Victoire’s players’ association representative. "We all knew they wanted the two teams to be competitive, and to do that every single team is going to have to lose some great players."
Parity has been a calling card in the PWHL. In each of the league’s first two seasons, the Walter Cup final has featured the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds.
Poulin believes the even playing field needs to continue with the Seattle and Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»franchises.
"That's something we take pride in here for this league, that we want to put the best product on the ice," she said. "That's what made these rules happen, to make sure everybody has a great start and is able to compete."
A short protection list means U.S. defender Cayla Barnes and Canada winger Jennifer Gardiner — Montreal’s first two picks in last year’s PWHL draft — could be on the move.
Gardiner is from Surrey, B.C., while Barnes hails from California.
"It would be nice," said Barnes about the possibility of moving back West. "My family's close, so that would be nice to be able to see them and them to be able to come out to more games."
Sauvageau, meanwhile, said she’s prepared to rebuild.
"It's like our children, we have to let them go," she said. "We're probably going to lose players that we recruited, that we developed, for the good of the league."
When the NHL expanded to Vegas in 2017, several teams made trades with the Golden Knights to shield players from selection. Sauvageau said such deals won’t be possible in the PWHL, which does not yet allow teams to trade draft picks.
HERE TO STAY
Sauvageau made it clear that Kori Cheverie, a nominee for the PWHL’s coach of the year, will return next season.
"Kori is here to stay," she said. "We're going to continue to build."
The Victoire exited the playoffs in agonizing fashion for a second consecutive season. Montreal, after finishing first in the regular season and earning the right to select third-place Ottawa, lost to the Charge in four games.
Goals dried up in the playoffs again. The Victoire scored six in four games and parts of 16 periods, including a quadruple overtime victory in Game 2 — the only playoff win in the franchise’s young history.
Sauvageau, however, didn’t want to hit the panic button.
"We had a good season, the playoffs are another story, we'll ask questions of ourselves and learn," she said. "To restart and sweep away everything we've done in a season would be a lack of respect, a lack of recognition.
"We won't panic."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 20, 2025.
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
