This series is undergoing a revamp and will now include a few of my favorite PWHL transactions, in addition to the standard 10 NHL pickups. Arguably the best acquisition of the 2024 free agency signing period in the PWHL goes to Toronto for signing Daryl Watts to a two year contract. Daryl Watts had a stellar campaign in the inaugural PWHL season, playing in all twenty four games and tallying ten goals, seven assists, and seventeen points. Watt’s seventeen points ranked twelfth in the PWHL amongst all players, and was the 3rd most for Ottawa. She led Ottawa with her ten goals beating out teammates Brianne Jenner and Gabbie Hughes, who both scored nine. Ottawa struggled for most of the season with playing good consistent hockey and they were eliminated from playoff contention in the final game of the year. According to our production model, Daryl Watts has superstar offensive production based off of her .71 points per game this past season.

Toronto was a powerhouse last season after a slow start to their year. They led the league at the end of the regular season with most goals scored and least goals allowed. Toronto was up 2-0 on the eventual Walter Cup champion PWHL Minnesota in the semi-finals but ultimately weren’t able to put away the series and Minnesota completed the reverse sweep to advance to the finals. The notable turning point in the series is when league leading goal scoring superstar forward Natalie Spooner was injured in a collision with Minnesota’s Grace Zumwinkle in game three and missed the rest of the postseason with an ACL injury. In Games Four and Five, Toronto’s offense struggled to generate consistent scoring chances and couldn’t solve Minnesota netminder Maddie Rooney. The signing of Daryl Watts is going to bolster an already dangerous PWHL Toronto forward group, as she will make an immediate impact on the top six and will take some pressure off Spooner and Nurse who were the top two players in the league in points (though Nurse was tied for 2nd with Marie-Philip Poulin and Alex Carpenter). Watts was also effective on the powerplay for Ottawa, tallying a powerplay goal and four power play assists. I believe this signing will solidify Toronto’s claim to being the favorite to win the Walter Cup in the sophomore season of the league with the addition of Watts’ great skating ability, high hockey IQ, vision, and ability to finish.