How can the Ottawa Charge safeguard its PWHL future?

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Served alongside the Ottawa Charge’s PWHL finals defeat was a bitter side dish: that their current collection of players will not have the privilege of running it back next year.

Following an exclusive free-agent signing window from June 4 to 8, each of the PWHL’s original six franchises will lose four players to the league’s two new franchises in Seattle and Vancouver on June 9. That’s before league-wide free agency opens, when teams will be gutted even further.

Teams will be afforded just three slots with which they can protect players, with an additional player being eligible for protection once two players have been lost by either the signing window or the draft.

While it may seem like Ottawa has little control over the coming roster upheaval, the three players the Charge puts down on its protection list next Tuesday will significantly influence the direction of the franchise — and its timeline for a return to the PWHL finals in a parity-driven league.

Ottawa faces the challenge of identifying the select few players it can truly build a perennial championship contender around, and sentimentality can’t factor into that equation.

Fortunately for the Charge, general manager Mike Hirshfeld has shown he’s not afraid to make tough calls. Over the past two seasons, he’s demonstrated a willingness to make bold, even unpopular, roster moves in pursuit of a stronger competitive edge.

In March 2024, he acquired forward Shiann Darkangelo from the Boston Fleet, parting with fan favourite Lexie Adzija. Despite posting just a single assist with Boston, Darkangelo became a top-six fixture for Ottawa this season, finishing third in team scoring with 17 points. Meanwhile, Adzija scored just six points for the Fleet.

Another tidy piece of business was swapping depth defender Amanda Boulier for the Montreal Victoire’s Tereza Vanišová on the same day. Vanišová blossomed into the Charge’s top goal scorer this season, with only Marie-Philip Poulin and Hilary Knight lighting the lamp more across the PWHL.

Hirshfeld’s most criticized move came this season, when he shipped out defender Savannah Harmon, the team’s first-ever draft selection, for the league’s oldest player in Jocelyne Larocque. All she did was regain her elite shutdown form alongside Ashton Bell, anchoring a defence-first approach en route to the PWHL finals.

With that track record, perhaps no one is better positioned than Hirshfeld to evaluate the true value on his roster heading into the expansion draft. Tough decisions will be made, and he hasn’t shied away from them in the past.

Thankfully, Ottawa’s first order of business is a no-brainer: protect goaltender Gwyneth Philips. Not only is she the most valuable player in the league at this very moment, taking home a rare playoff MVP award in a losing effort, but she is still 24 years old, giving the Charge plenty of runway for its championship aspirations.

While that would inevitably leave Emerance Maschmeyer, one of the team’s first three signees, as an attractive option for Seattle and Vancouver, the 30-year-old might have staying power with her family being rooted in the Ottawa-Gatineau region. On the other hand, her departure would allow the Charge to patch roster holes left by the expansion process.

Beyond Philips, things get murkier. Fourteen other players are eligible for protection, while those on expiring contracts — including Vanišová, Darkangelo, Jincy Roese, Zoe Boyd, Alexa Vasko and Victoria Bach — cannot be protected.

Many fans will lobby for original signee Emily Clark to be protected, especially after placing first in team playoff scoring and kicking her game up to another gear. A heart-and-soul player on the ice and a beacon in the community, she’s likely the frontrunner for Ottawa’s second protection slot.

But protecting captain Brianne Jenner, the Charge’s all-time scoring leader with 38 points across 60 regular-season and playoff games, isn’t as clear-cut.

Between Maschmeyer and Jenner, Ottawa has two large contracts it probably wouldn’t mind shedding in order to re-sign Vanišová and possibly attract other younger free-agent talent. That should be considered a top priority for the goal-starved Charge, who scored just 13 times over eight playoff games and tied with the New York Sirens for the fewest goals in the regular season.

If Clark is protected, the Charge have a hotly contested list of options for the third slot that includes Larocque, Danielle Serdachny, Gabbie Hughes, Bell, Aneta Tejralová, Ronja Savolainen and Kateřina Mrázová.

Following a standout defensive clinic throughout the PWHL playoffs alongside Larocque, Bell’s stock has never been higher, and protecting her would solidify Ottawa at each position. But there’s good reason for Ottawa to buck what will likely be a trend of teams scrambling to protect their top defenders.

That reason is Serdachny, the second-overall selection in last year’s draft. She flashed glimpses of stardom in Game 4 of the finals against the Minnesota Frost. Relegated to the fourth line for the entirety of the playoffs, Serdachny was given new life by coach Carla MacLeod, who promoted her to first-line duty midway through Game 4.

From there, she set up Ottawa’s only goal and was generally one of the fastest and most dangerous players on the ice for the rest of the night. It was a stark contrast to her largely disappointing regular season, where she compiled just two goals and eight points.

The Charge have to tread carefully with Serdachny. There’s a reason they made her the second pick in last year’s draft: She scored 132 points in her final 80 games in the NCAA. That included 47 goals, which were especially attractive to Ottawa with its scoring woes.

Despite her defensive lapses and turnover issues, Serdachny possesses significant offensive upside. Given that Sarah Fillier — the only player selected before her in last year’s draft — is already a forward of the year finalist at age 24, Serdachny, a year younger, could be poised for a breakout season of her own next year.

There have been several instances across the PWHL where teams have struggled to develop young talent. The best example was Boston’s trouble with Sophie Jaques, who blossomed into a No. 1 defender for Minnesota after being traded. Ottawa has also experienced firsthand the sting of losing a youthful contributor with Daryl Watts, who turned down a contract with Ottawa to sign with the Toronto Sceptres.

Even with Ottawa’s lack of trust in Serdachny throughout the regular season, there’s a sense that if she goes unprotected next week, her production will explode in an expanded role on Seattle or Vancouver.

While her confidence may have taken a hit after limited deployment down the stretch, Hirshfeld can help restore it by using a valuable protection slot on his highest-upside player.

From trading fan favourites to betting on undervalued talent, Hirshfeld has consistently made gutsy moves to position Ottawa for long-term success, even when the safe play would have been easier.

Fortune favours the bold, and bold is exactly what Hirshfeld has been.