ČWHR’s 2025-2026 PWHL Season Preview
The 2025–26 PWHL season arrives with a very different landscape: eight teams, two new markets in Seattle and Vancouver, and Czech flags scattered across the league from the Pacific Northwest to Québec. For Czech hockey fans, this season represents another step in a long project: proving that Czech players can not only belong in the best league in the world, but also shape its identity.
The Current State
Eight Czechs enter this season on PWHL rosters (as of the morning of 11/18):
Aneta Tejralová - Seattle Torrent
Denisa Křížová - Vancouver Goldeneyes
Tereza Vanišová - Vancouver Goldeneyes
Daniela Pejšová - Boston Fleet
Kateřina Mrázová - Ottawa Charge
Kristýna Kaltounková - New York Sirens
Natálie Mlýnková - Montreal Victoire
Klára Hymlarová - Minnesota Frost
Some return as champions, some as expansion cornerstones, some as rookies expected to provide high impact value on day one. Together, they form the Czech contingent running through a league entering a pivotal and massive third season of existence.
Seattle Torrent - Aneta Tejralová
From shutdown backbone in Ottawa to expansion pillar in Seattle. No Czech player’s role is more clearly defined than Aneta Tejralová’s. Last year in Ottawa, she quietly logged one of the heaviest defensive workloads in the league: 30 games, 1 goal, 9 assists, 10 points, and 24 penalty minutes, with steady top-four usage game in and game out and heavy penalty-kill responsibility. The raw scoring line is modest, but that’s the point, Ottawa didn’t ask her to run their offense; they asked her to erase other people’s.And she did just that with ruthless efficiency all season long.
Seattle has essentially looked at that Ottawa tape and said: we’ll take that, and use that consistent foundation as a building block of a new franchise.
In the 2025 Expansion Draft, Seattle used the second overall pick on Tejralová, right after Vancouver opened with Ashton Bell. She arrives in the Pacific Northwest as a 29-year-old left-shot defender with back-to-back years of reliable PWHL minutes and a long resume of tough assignments for Czechia, including bronze-medal runs at Worlds.
She brings so many things to Seattle and we want to highlight just a few of them:
First, she will dominate matchup minutes. Expect Aneta to live on the ice against top lines. She’s strong in gaps, kills rushes early, and forces opponents to chip pucks instead of carrying them with control. Second, she is a reliable PK anchor. Her reading of seams and ability to disrupt entries made her a key penalty killer in Ottawa. It would be surprising if she doesn’t immediately become Seattle’s PK 1 lefty. Third, she brings first-pass stability. She’s not an aggressive offensive blue-line walker, but she moves the puck efficiently to her forwards and rarely panics under pressure. Her calm under pressure is a pillar of her success.
Seattle’s identity is likely to lean on star power up front. Hilary Knight, Alex Carpenter, Danielle Serdachny, and elite goaltending from Corinne Schroeder. But how far the Torrent go in year one may depend on whether they can trust players like Tejralová to simply take care of the difficult minutes and let everyone else play to their strengths.
From a Czech perspective, she enters the season as one of the league’s clearest examples of a true First-D: not because of point totals, but because of the difficulty of the minutes she absorbs so the rest of the roster can breathe.
Off the ice, fans can expect an absolute gem of a human being. Aneta is deeply thoughtful, shy in front of English audiences, but passionate about the fans, the broader community, and her role as a leader on any team she find herself on. She was a fan favorite in Ottawa, and there is no reason to believe it won’t be the same in Seattle. Of all the teams she could have moved too, Seattle appears to be best possible fit, and the potential for her to go down as an early hero for the new franchise is high.
Vancouver Goldeneyes - Denisa Křížová & Tereza Vanišová
A Czech one-two punch on the Pacific coast, Vancouver’s inaugural roster is built around a simple idea: take proven PWHL winners and give them more ice. Few players fit that brief better than Denisa Křížová and Tereza Vanišová.
Denisa Křížová
In Minnesota, Křížová was the kind of player that title teams always end up relying on. She was a middle-six winger who can move up and down the lineup, contribute secondary scoring, and play responsible minutes on both sides of the puck.
Her 2024-25 line with the Frost: 30 games, 4 goals, 5 assists, 9 points, 12 penalty minutes, doesn’t jump off the page until you remember the context: Minnesota repeated as Walter Cup champions, and Křížová was part of a deep forward group on the league’s two-time champion.
In June’s Expansion Draft, Vancouver made sure that experience didn’t stay in St. Paul, selecting Křížová from the Frost to join their inaugural roster.
What changes in Vancouver? More touch, more usage. On a new team building its identity, she should see more consistent second-line and PP2 time than she did on a loaded Frost roster. She’s been part of championship and top tier rosters her whole career, but its very possible that now she’ll be getting the best opportunity of her career to show exactly how impactful of a player she can truly be.
One thing fans will learn about her play style early is her two-way presence. Her game has long been defined by work rate and responsibility; on a largely new group, that kind of reliability is extremely valuable. Křížová may not be advertised as a star, but if Vancouver makes a playoff push in year one, she’ll likely be at the center of their “this team just doesn’t go away” identity.
Tereza Vanišová
From Ottawa’s chaos engine to Vancouver’s offensive centerpiece. If Křížová is subtle, Vanišová is anything but. Last season in Ottawa, she finished with 15 goals and 7 assists for 22 points in 30 games, leading the Charge in goals and finishing among the league’s top scorers. She recorded her first PWHL hat trick in February and famously completed a Gordie Howe hat trick: assist, fight, tying goal in the final seconds, against Boston in what became one of the league’s defining moments of the year.
Vancouver signed her in free agency to a multi-year deal, positioning her as one of the franchise’s offensive faces from day one, and she brings a broad range of skills to the Goldeneyes.
First and foremost is her transition threat. Vanišová is one of the league’s best at carrying pucks through the neutral zone with pace and attacking between the dots. Ottawa’s offense often flowed through her entries and one-on-one creation. And that transition game led to setting up her second best attribute. Finishing. A 15-goal season in a 30-game schedule is top-tier production; she converts chances at above-average rates and generates a high volume of shots. And she brings such a unique energy and edge. That Gordie Howe night wasn’t a one-off. Her game has now been defined by high compete, physical engagement, and emotion, which will play extremely well in a new market.
In practical terms, Vancouver’s top-six likely revolves around Vanišová as a primary driver, Křížová as stabilizing support, and a mix of other offensive pieces brought in via free agency and the expansion draft. For Czech fans, this is maybe the most intriguing storyline of all: two stalwarts of Czech success the last couple of years helping lead an offensive core trying to launch a new franchise into relevance from day one.
It’s no question we’ll be watching this team very closely.
Boston Fleet - Daniela Pejšová
A quiet rookie year leads many to wonder the question of what comes next. While some Czech players enter 2025-26 with big headlines, Daniela Pejšová comes in under the radar, but that doesn’t mean her season isn’t important.
In her first PWHL season with Boston, Pejšová played 28 games, finishing with 0 goals, 3 assists, 3 points, 8 penalty minutes, and a -1 rating. Those numbers point to a third-pair, low-usage defender being asked to adapt to the pace and physicality of the league rather than drive offense. That’s a very different role from what she’s often asked to do in Europe and with the national team, where her mobility and offensive instincts are more prominent.
There are a number of key questiona for 2025-26 that we are curious as to whether they will be answered when it comes to Pejšová. And we imagine others have the same ones.
Boston’s blue line has leaned heavily on veterans and defensive specialists over the first two PWHL seasons. Pejšová’s second year quickly is going to become a litmus test. If her minutes grow, into a clear top-four role with occasional power-play touches, that’s a signal Boston wants to modernize the position and lean more into her puck-moving game. If she stays locked into 12-14 quiet minutes on a sheltered pairing, that says something about how the Fleet see her ceiling and how quickly they’re willing to incorporate younger, more dynamic defenders.
From a Czech national-team lens, a step forward in Boston would be huge, and its something we will be hoping for. Daniela came into the league as a confident, high-value defender with a high upside. A heavy-usage Pejšová in the PWHL combined with more responsibility and insertion into high impact situation is exactly what Czechia needs on the path toward Milan-Cortina 2026.
Ottawa Charge - Kateřina Mrázová
Injuries turned Mrázová’s 2024-25 campaign into a fragmented story, but the chapters we did get were revealing nonetheless. Mrázová without question is the power-play brain who changes Ottawa’s ceiling and game outcome when healthy. She played only 14 games for Ottawa, recording 3 goals and 4 assists for 7 points, with 19 shots on goal. A midseason upper-body injury sidelined her for 11 games; and when she was activated off LTIR in April right after the World Cahmpisonship, she immediately returned as the same calm, cerebral presence in Ottawa’s top six.
It’s important to remember the baseline: in the inaugural season, Mrázová led Ottawa in assists (12) and power-play goals (3), and went 3-for-3 in the shootout, numbers that underlined her pivotal role as a playmaker and special-teams problem-solver. But her health matters so much to this team which arguably was decimated offensively by the expansion draft. Mrázová brings nothing if not power-play structure. When Mrázová is on the ice, Ottawa’s PP has a clear half-wall decision-maker who can freeze defenders and find seams. Without her, the Charge rely more on point shots and simpler patterns. This season especially, she’ll have to bring consistent center depth and continue to play key matchups against opponents. She can play center or wing, but when slotted down the middle, she gives Ottawa another line that can sustain offensive-zone time and control tempo.
For 2025-26, the story is almost binary: A fully fit Mrázová over a 30-game season makes Ottawa a much more dangerous team, especially in tight, low-scoring games where PP execution matters. Another injury-plagued year forces the Charge to lean heavily on other play drivers, and weakens the Czech spine of both club and national team. Ottawa was close to winning it all last season, and one may wonder how much more impactful Mrázová could have been in the championship series had she had a full season of consistent offensive production and gameplay.
Her upcoming season won’t be about showcasing something new in her game, but it will be about reminding everyone how much she already does when she’s able to play a full year.
New York Sirens - Kristýna Kaltounková
There is no subtlety in what the New York Sirens are asking of Kristýna Kaltounková. A Czech 1OA tasked with changing a franchise overnight. The history is one thing. Not only a 1OA, but the first Czech…..ever, on both the men and women’s side of the game to be drafted first overall.
After back-to-back last-place finishes and a major roster turnover, New York went into the 2025 PWHL Draft with the first overall pick and essentially made a statement: the rebuild runs through this Czech sniper. Kaltounková arrives from Colgate in the NCAA with one of the most decorated offensive résumés in college hockey. In 2024-25 she scored 26 goals, 22 assists, for 48 points in 37 games, leading Colgate in scoring and ranking among the top goal scorers in the NCAA. Over her entire highly successful career she potted 111 goals and 233 points, the program’s all-time leader in goals and one of its most productive players ever.
New York signed her to a three-year deal in September, and local coverage has been explicit: she’s expected to form a new offensive core with Sarah Fillier and fellow young additions like Casey O’Brien once signed. And the team firmly believes she can do it. If the amount of press and community outreach is any indication, the Sirens are banking on Kalty becoming a beacon of light and the franchise’s first legendary star. So what should fans and experts alike expect in her rookie season?
We know she’ll get immediate top-line usage. The Sirens don’t have the depth to shelter a 1OA pick, she should step straight into first-line minutes and first-unit power-play time. Fans will expect and will get high shot volume. At Colgate, she was a volume shooter who consistently attacked the slot and power-play seams. That style should translate well to a PWHL that increasingly rewards forwards who can create their own looks off the flank.
Perhaps most importantly however, will be her learning curve without a safety net. Unlike some rookies landing on deep contenders, Kaltounková will be asked to produce while facing top defenders every night. It’s not going to be an easy adjustment for a player that has dominated competition in the NCAA the past 5 years. From a Czech perspective, this might be the single most important PWHL storyline to monitor this year. If Kaltounková adapts quickly, Czechia suddenly has another top-line, PWHL-proven scoring threat heading into the Olympic cycle. If the transition is slower, it will say more about the difficulty of jumping from NCAA to a league where every D pair can punish mistakes.
Montreal Victoire - Natálie Mlýnková
Few Czech players arrive in the PWHL with as clear a scoring pedigree as Natálie Mlýnková. Across five NCAA seasons split between Vermont and Minnesota, Mlýnková put up 64 goals and 67 assists for 131 points in 143 games. Her final year with the Gophers saw her record 16 goals and 18 assists for 34 points in 39 games, good for third on the team in scoring on a national powerhouse.
Montreal grabbed her 12th overall in the 2025 PWHL Draft, a spot many analysts considered a steal given her production and international résumé, which includes Olympic and World Championship experience for Czechia. And yet, as the season approaches, Mlýnková represents one of the league’s most intriguing unresolved stories.
A recent camp report highlighted that three early-round picks remain unsigned with less than a week to go before opening night: Casey O’Brien (3rd overall, New York), Mlýnková (12th overall, Montreal), and Kiara Zanon (16th overall, Toronto). The piece noted Montreal’s cap crunch and the added complication that early-round picks, like Mlýnková, qualify for minimum guaranteed salaries that can tighten an already stressed cap sheet. If Montreal and Mlýnková reach an agreement in time, her rookie season projections bode well for fans who are excited about the young forward. Mlýnková is a bonafide middle-six scoring winger. She can drive a second line or complement a top unit, with the kind of finishing touch that punishes soft coverage. PP2 or even PP1, she’ll be an option on special teams. Her shot and offensive instincts make her a natural candidate for flank or bumper usage on the power play.
If the contract impasse drags into the regular season, Montreal’s depth chart looks thinner and one of the most promising Czech scoring talents sits in limbo just as the PWHL enters its most visible year yet. For Czechia, the stakes are obvious: a productive PWHL rookie season from Mlýnková would give the national team another high-pace, North American-tested winger to build around. Mlýnková, in our opinion still has a ton of room to take her game to new heights, and we believe there is more upside to her potential than many would her credit for. A delayed debut would push that development curve further down the road, and would be incredibly difficult to stomach considering her talent.
As of this writing, we’re yet to see a status update….
Minnesota Frost - Klára Hymlárová
A rookie Walter Cup champion. Klára Hymlarová will be looking for more in year two despite reaching the pinnacle in year one.
Klára Hymlárová slid into the PWHL in the least flashy way possible: straight onto the defending champions, into a depth role, with a job description that was basically “do the hard stuff.” It suits her perfectly.
Drafted 15th overall by Minnesota in the 2024 PWHL Draft, Hymlárová signed a two-year deal that runs through 2025-26 and joined the Frost after a five-year career at St. Cloud State, where she put up 36 goals and 53 assists (89 points) in 142 games and finished among the program’s top all-time scorers.
Her rookie stat line with Minnesota in 2024–25 looks very modest at first glance: 29 games, 1 goal, 1 assist, 2 points, 4 penalty minutes, -1 rating, (4.8% shooting). But that doesn’t really capture what she was asked to do, or what she actually did, on a Frost team that went back-to-back as Walter Cup champions.
Hymlárová’s calling card has always been versatility and defensive detail. At St. Cloud, she played both wing and center and even spent long stretches on defense in her final season because the team needed it. A Minnesota draft profile described her as “probably the best defensive forward in the draft,” highlighting her physicality, edge, and elite shot-blocking as reasons the Frost were comfortable spending a third-round pick on her.
That translated quickly to the pro game. She made her PWHL debut in early December, picked up her first assist later that month, and finally broke through with her first goal on her 21st shot in her 29th game, becoming the fifth Frost rookie to score that season. The scoring may have come slowly in the regular season, but her real impact began to show up in the playoffs: 8 games, 1 goal, 4 assists, 5 points, as part of Minnesota’s second Walter Cup run.
For 2025-26, we don’t project Hymlárová as a pure scorer, we project her as a coach’s dream in the middle of a deep lineup:
A low-maintenance, high-trust forward who can kill penalties, take tough defensive shifts, and still chip in secondary offense.
A flex piece who can move up or down the lineup and across positions without the system breaking.
A playoff-proven role player who already knows what it takes to survive four rounds in this league.
From a Czech perspective, that matters a lot. Not every national-team contributor needs to be a first-line star. Hymlárová gives Czechia something different: a detail-oriented forward who can tilt the ice in the small ways that win tight games. On a Minnesota team stacked with big names, she’s the kind of player who makes sure the stars can do their jobs. With the expansion draft taking some big names, time will tell if Hymlárová can step up the offensive contribution a bit and take her game to the next level forgoing the Sophomore Slump.
The bigger picture: Czech fingerprints on a growing league
Czechia’s presence in the PWHL is no longer peripheral. It’s woven into expansion franchises, championship cores, and full-scale rebuilds. In Seattle, a Czech defender is being trusted to anchor an entirely new blue line on a brand new franchise in a city that is hockey mad. In Vancouver, two Czech forwards are going to become central to manufacturing offense for a brand-new market and identity, and have the potnetial to be front and center as household names. In New York, a Czech 1OA is being handed the keys to a franchise that desperately needs a new face and a new identity. In Ottawa, Boston, Minnesota, and Montreal, Czech players influence how power plays function, how young defenders develop, and how expected contenders manage their future.
The 2025-26 PWHL season is going to tell us a lot about the league’s evolution. It will also tell us something important about Czech women’s hockey: not just whether Czech players can keep up, but whether they can help define what the best women’s league in the world looks like, on expansion blue lines, top power plays, and in the most intense playoff series in the sport.
Thanks for following along. The season is only just about to start, and we are ready to bring all of it to you. Lets go!
