PWHL Vancouver signs trio of top free agents

Karissa Donkin · CBC Sports

· Posted: Jun 17, 2025 2:43 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 minutes ago

PWHL Vancouver has made a splash successful escaped agency, signing 3 of the apical forwards disposable connected the market.

North Vancouver native Hannah Miller (three years), two-time Walter Cup champion Michela Cava (two years) and the Ottawa Charge's Tereza Vanišová (two years) each signed deals with the enlargement squad successful the archetypal 24 hours of escaped agency.

After an enlargement process that saw Vancouver GM Cara Gardner Morey absorption connected gathering the squad from the nett out, the 3 signings springiness Vancouver discourtesy and much two-way quality up top.

Miller volition beryllium reunited with erstwhile Toronto Sceptres teammate Sarah Nurse connected Vancouver. She racked up 24 points successful 29 games with Toronto before a late-season wounded seemed to dilatory her scoring gait a bit.

Miller is simply a defensively-responsible guardant who tin play anyplace successful the lineup, from the powerfulness play to the punishment kill. Only Toronto teammate Renata Fast had much powerfulness play assists past play than Miller.

"Hannah is an elite guardant who tin enactment up points and deterioration down opponents," Gardner Morey said.

The declaration brings Miller backmost location to British Columbia aft stops successful China, Europe and Toronto.

"It means truthful overmuch to maine to correspond the metropolis wherever I archetypal fell successful emotion with the game," Miller said. "It's a existent full-circle moment, and I can't hold to conscionable each the fans and get started."

A proven winner

Cava spent the past 2 seasons connected the Minnesota Frost's apical enactment alongside Kendall Coyne Schofield and Taylor Heise.

Remarkably, Cava has won 5 consecutive titles successful 4 antithetic leagues. In summation to back-to-back Walter Cups with Minnesota, she won championships with the Premier Hockey Federation's Toronto Six successful 2023, the KRS Vanke Rays successful Russia's ZhHL successful 2022 and Luleå successful the Swedish Women's Hockey League successful 2021.

Now, the 31-year-old from Thunder Bay volition effort to triumph with a caller squad connected the westbound coast, without Heise connected her line.

"Michela has tremendous vision, and her elite playmaking volition assistance our offense," Gardner Morey said.

Vanišová tied Boston's Hilary Knight with 15 goals successful 30 regular-season games, trailing lone Montreal's Marie-Philip Poulin. 

Beyond her accomplishment with the puck, Vanišová is hard to play against. That helped substance Ottawa to a playoff spot, adjacent if she was undisciplined astatine times. Vanišová led the league successful regular-season punishment minutes. 

In Vancouver, Vanišová could slot successful connected the apical enactment beside Sarah Nurse oregon play connected a gritty 2nd line.

In the enlargement draft, Gardner Morey, alongside caput scout Kathy Pippy and wage headdress adept Alex Gimenez, selected young, two-way forwards with an violative touch. They targeted 2024 draught picks who outperformed expectations past season, including Toronto's Izzy Daniel and Minnesota's Brooke McQuigge, and who were apt connected smaller contracts.

Going into escaped agency, Gardner Morey wanted to motion 2 much top-six forwards. So far, she's done that and more.

Tabin re-signs with Montreal

Elsewhere successful the league, the Montreal Victoire re-signed apical defender, Kati Tabin, for different 2 seasons. Tabin spent astir of past play beside Erin Ambrose, and bringing her backmost was a apical priority after Montreal mislaid 2 apical defenders to expansion.

"Kati is an invaluable portion of our team, some connected the crystal and successful the locker room," Victoire GM Danièle Sauvageau said.

"Over the past 2 seasons, we've seen tremendous maturation successful her game, and she continues to elevate her play each year. Her quality to lend astatine some ends of the rink makes her a cardinal portion of our lineup, and we're thrilled to person her back."

More volition beryllium coming for Montreal connected the bluish line. Only 3 defenders are officially signed for adjacent season: Tabin, Ambrose and Amanda Boulier.

The Victoire besides signed guardant Shiann Darkangelo from the Ottawa Charge, which volition springiness the squad immoderate of the centre extent it was missing past season. Darkangelo had a breakout twelvemonth offensively, scoring 17 points successful 29 games. She signed with Montreal for 2 seasons.

In Toronto, the Sceptres signed one-year deals with goaltender Elaine Chuli and guardant Claire Dalton, who some played for the Victoire past season.

"Elaine brings consistency to our team," Toronto GM Gina Kingsbury said. "A proven goalie successful the league, she brings a batch of traits we worth some connected and disconnected the ice. We are besides excited to person signed Claire Dalton, who brings size, a large changeable and a precocious ceiling."

Signing Chuli suggests Toronto mightiness privation to spell into adjacent play with a tandem of Chuli and Raygan Kirk. But that volition necessitate uncovering a trading spouse for Kristen Campbell, who has 1 play near with the Sceptres.