The Minnesota Frost repeated as Walter Cup Champions, becoming only the 5^th North American professional hockey team to win a championship with a points percentage below 0.500 (their 2024 roster was the 4^th team to accomplish this feat). Their championship run was fueled by heroics from Lee Stecklein, Sophie Jaques, Taylor Heise, and Claire Thompson, all of whom exceeded their regular season PPG rates in the postseason.

Beyond the tops scorers, toward the end of the 2024-25 season, I highlighted the Frost’s tremendous depth, particularly players like Dominique Petrie and Brooke McQuigge, who were both in the league’s 84^th percentile for P/60.  Unfortunately for the Frost, Ken Klee and Brianna Decker will need to figure out how to create scoring in 2025-26 after losing five of their ten most efficient scorers via free agency and the expansion draft.

The expansion draft saw the departures of Sophie Jaques, Claire Thompson, Brooke McQuigge, and Denisa Krizova. Jaques departs as the league’s top scoring defender in both PPG and P/60 (0.88 and 2.35 respectively) leaving an immense hole on the right side of the Minnesota blue line. Thompson finished 4^th in the league in both scoring categories and will create an immense hole on the left side. The Frost will need to revert to the system they deployed prior to Valentine’s Day 2024 when Jaques joined their roster, to adjust for the lack of explosiveness at the point. McQuigge’s efficiency will be challenging to replace, as she was dominant and opportunistic in limited minutes. Krizova’s 1.25 P/60 is easiest thing for the Frost to replace, but her awareness and defensive instincts will still leave a hole.

Free agency was just as difficult as Michela Cava, Mellissa Channell, Liz Schepers, and Maggie Flaherty moved onto other opportunities. Cava figured out the PWHL during the 2024 playoffs after a sluggish inaugural season and carried that momentum to be in the league’s 85^th percentile in PPG and P/60 as one of its brighter stars. Schepers’ departure leaves a veteran gap in their middle six. Channell was a critical part of both Walter Cup runs for the Frost with her exceptional defensive plays and zone exits. Flaherty is a solid stay-at-home defender but had the most replaceable skill set of the Frost’s departures.

The Frost only added one player in free agency: Sidney Morin. In terms of scoring efficiency, Morin’s P/60 was effectively identical to Channell’s, making her a one-for-one replacement. As a right-handed shot, Morin will keep the pairings balanced for zone exits following Jaques’ departure.

In the first round of the draft, the Frost added Kendall Cooper. I had her ranked as the third best defender in this class, and in the same vein as Morin, her right-handedness will keep the blue line balanced for zone exits. Cooper should immediately slot in on the second pairing for Minnesota, playing meaningful minutes in both zones, but it’s unlikely that she’ll be able to replace either Jaques or Thompson’s scoring. With their second selection, the Frost took Abby Hustler, who was 9^th on our board after a great career at St. Lawrence. After averaging a point-per-game pace in her draft year, the Frost will look for her to fill the role previously owned by Michela Cava. Hustler’s teammate, Anna Segedi was taken with Minnesota’s third pick and will likely be slotted in their middle six in a similar capacity to either McQuigge or Krizova. UConn’s Ava Rinker was the Frost’s fourth selection, and based on her time in college, she’s going to be handling heavy defensive zone assignments. The Frost’s fifth round selection was Mercyhurst’s Vanessa Upson. I love this pick because of the value. I’ve been trying to weigh strength-of-schedule for NCAA players translating to the PWHL, but the data has been inconclusive so far. Upson had the 9^th highest scoring efficiency in this draft class, and if that carries over to the PWHL, Minnesota will have struck gold. The final pick of the draft was Providence’s Brooke Becker. Like Cooper and Rinker, Becker is a right-handed defender (this is trend leaguewide) with solid defensive instincts and the ability to play decently with the puck.

Overall, I’m not going to bang any coffin nails in Minnesota. I thought their 2024 offseason was less than ideal, but their coaching staff found a way to replicate their inaugural season with virtually identical results. With the leaguewide roster churn, the Frost still have the core of their forward group intact. Based on what rosters are looking like league wide, teams are taking a page out of the NHL’s playbook with balanced defensive pairing handedness to better counteract the opposing forecheck, and Minnesota is no exception. The X-factor on the Minnesota roster might be Mae Batherson this season. Based on her film at St. Lawrence and her rookie season, she has the skills to take a step forward in her second season, like what Jincy Roese did for Ottawa last season. I’m excited to see if Minnesota can make a return to the postseason with this roster.