Five Late Round Prospects For the 2025 PWHL Draft

Get ready to learn some AHA players

The PWHL draft is scheduled for Tuesday, and 48 of the 199 players who declared for the draft will be selected. We have a general idea of most of the names that will go in the first three or four rounds, even if there’s some debate about the order, but not so much for the later rounds. Last year, I wrote about five players who I thought would be good late round grabs. Two of those players ended up in the PWHL, one was drafted but didn’t receive a contract, one was cut as a training camp invite, and one spent the year in Sweden. Not a terrible showing, so let’s try it again!

Since we’re examining sleeper picks, much of this will focus on players who possess the skills to be effective third- and fourth-line forwards or third-pair defenders in this league. For a more traditional mock draft, I recommend The Ice Garden’s, which did the first three rounds of the draft.

As a quick disclaimer, I am eye-testing a lot of this. I watched a lot of AHA/ECAC college hockey, SDHL, and SWHL, so those are the player pools I examined. There are almost certainly players I overlooked due to not watching them enough, and I do not have anything beyond basic counting stats for these players.

1. Vanessa Upson

Center · Mercyhurst University · Age 21 · Canada

Summary: The top scorer for Mercyhurst, Upson’s profile is as straightforward as you can get. The 5’5 two-way center had 147 points in 148 NCAA games, racking up conference honors and player of the week selections. She won faceoffs 56.3% of the time in the 2024-2025 season and had 64 blocked shots. During her final season, Upson also served as captain for Mercyhurst.

Why someone should draft her: One of the biggest things a team looks for in their fourth line is the ability to gain possession in the defensive end and get the puck back up ice to set up the next group of forwards. Few players in this draft can better execute that than Upson. Her puck reception and skating skills aid her in transition, as she excels at receiving the puck while in motion, creating entries into the offensive zone via passing plays, and getting off the boards and into the middle of the ice. Upson’s playmaking potential also separates her from the other depth prospects; she’s above average at seam and slip passes. However, even if the offensive game doesn’t translate, the defensive game should be enough to make her worthy of drafting.

Why she might fall: Teams are looking for scoring, and Upson is much more of a playmaker than anything else. Most of her goals have come from knowing where to be and making herself open in the right place (a skill in itself) rather than having a great shot, and she can sometimes slow down when shooting off the cycle. Against PWHL goaltenders and defenders, that is unlikely to have the same success. Upson is more likely to gel with a team that prioritizes rush offense.

Best fit: Seattle needs to fill out their third and fourth line center roles, and Upson could be a good fit with Snodgrass. Ottawa does have that rush-based offense and needs center depth

Comparable players for production/deployment: Alexa Vasko (and not just because she was also a Mercyhurst captain!), Emma Woods

2. Ena Nystrøm

Goaltender · Brynäs IF · Age 25 · Norway

Summary: Nystrøm is a player who declared last year but, in a year that had a few more goalies than this one, did not get picked. She went to the SDHL and had a slow start, but put it together by midseason to finish with a .917 save percentage. During the playoffs, she had a .926 save percentage and finished with the second-most saves in the postseason and two shutouts, despite her team being eliminated in the quarterfinals. Nystrøm did not get a lot of defensive help in front of her at Brynäs, something she is used to on Norway’s national team. She impressed this year at Worlds, earning Norway their only win with a 45-save shutout against Hungary, and putting up a .921 save percentage despite facing an average of 44.5 shots per game. Before the SDHL, Nystrøm also played for Mercyhurst and RPI, where she had a .926 save percentage over five seasons.

Why someone should draft her: Nystrøm has handled tough workloads and fended off high-danger shots on some of the biggest stages in women’s hockey, against some of the world’s best players. Throughout her career, she’s been consistently elite, even when the team in front of her isn’t. She handles net front traffic exceptionally well, not losing her position when jostled by opposing players. With expansion and Peslarová and Söderberg possibly going back to Sweden, more goaltender spots have opened up, and goalies with extensive club and national team experience are always sought after.

Nystrøm in a group stage game against Japan

Why she might fall: Sanni Ahola and Hannah Murphy are likely ranked ahead of Nystrøm in draft rankings for most teams, and there are still free agent goaltenders with PWHL experience that teams may prefer. Nystrøm may have a better chance trying to win a spot at training camp, but whether she’d want to commit to that when she has a contract she can turn to in the SDHL is unknown.

Best fit: Ottawa, Vancouver, Seattle, and New York all have open goaltender spots. Since New York lost both Schroeder and Levy to other teams, and six roster spots to fill, an affordable rookie may be the way to go.

Comparable players for production/deployment: Sandra Abstreiter

3. Lily Delianedis

Center · Cornell University · Age 23 · United States

Summary: There was a lot of talk going into the season on how Delianedis would look playing without Izzy Daniel. Despite having a streaky year, Delianedis ultimately put up 12 goals and 10 assists in 35 games, including a triple-overtime winner in the ECAC semifinals. 2025 was her worst season by point production, but it was not a significant drop-off from prior years. She would ultimately go on to finish her college career with 110 points in 125 games, and her play earned her an invitation to the USA Hockey Women’s National Festival in 2024.

Why someone should draft her: The biggest case for Delianedis to be drafted is her puck retrieval skills and how that can strengthen a team’s forecheck. This is the skill that is likely to translate best to the PWHL. She is not the most physical player, but strong stick work and quick reaction times have made her one of the better players at maintaining possession in the offensive zone.

Delianedis’ offense primarily comes from her shot and her ability to receive and convert on high-danger passes in the slot. She is great at catch-and-release shots, specifically receiving the puck on a soft catch. Her puck retrieval skills (particularly below the net), spatial awareness in the offensive zone, and comfort using her stick for quick shots or tip-ins make her a good option for a second power-play unit.

Delianedis’ overtime goal against Clarkson

Why she might fall: The main question for teams will be what Delianedis can do that would separate her from more experienced options, and how her puck retrieval skills and ability to get in high-danger areas will hold up when tested in a more physical league. Additionally, Delianedis is on the smaller side, and while I think a lot of the height discussions in women’s hockey can be a bit overblown, it may be a mark against her when comparing her to similar options.

Best fit: Vancouver and Seattle have the most need for affordable depth forwards. Vancouver has her former linemate, Izzy Daniel, so the reunion possibilities may be an incentive to draft her.

Comparable players for production/deployment: Lexie Adzija

4. Morgan Neitzke

Left Wing · Lindenwood University · Age 22 · United States

Summary: Neitzke holds nearly every offensive program record at Lindenwood: goals, assists, points, the single-season scoring record, short-handed goals, etc. She finished college with 116 points in 119 games and numerous CHA/AHA awards. Neitzke’s 46-point junior year campaign was followed up with only a 26-point senior campaign after losing some of her support cast, but Neitzke was still Lindenwood’s main driver of offense. No one else on the team reached double-digit goals this year, and she had 12 more points than the next highest player.

Why someone should draft her: A lot of the most attractive options in the later round have lower floors and higher ceilings, making a case for themselves through strong defensive play. Neitzke is the opposite; she stands out because her offensive ceiling is very high, it’s just a matter of if a team feels she can reach that ceiling in this league. She has a shot-first mentality, and while her forehand release is great, the strength on her backhand is just as offensive. Combined with her drive to the net and comfort with physical play, Neitzke has all the makings of a power forward.

Neitzke backhanded goal against Penn State

Why she might fall: A lot of it is the Lindenwood and the AHA of it all. Lindenwood is not a program known for producing many professional players (shoutout Nicole Hensley!), and the AHA is not a conference with the toughest competition. A lot of Neitzke’s play has come as a result of her being stronger and faster than her competition, which is an accomplishment in and of itself, but it won’t be the case in the PWHL, especially as a rookie. Teams will worry that the increase in pace, checking, and competition will severely limit her offensive potential. If that does end up being the case, Neitzke does have the avenue to spend a year in the SDHL and re-enter the draft.

Best Fit: New York needs players who can shoot the puck, and they’re struggling to find that in free agency. If Neitzke is available in a late round, why not?

Comparable players for production/deployment: It’s honestly hard to find a PWHL comparison other than Taylor Girard, but I worry I’m stereotyping Michigan-born Lindenwood alumni by doing so.

5. Lyndie Lobdell

RD · Penn State University · Age 22 · United States

Summary: Lobdell is Penn State’s program leader for points by a defender, having spent 168 games there and accumulating 84 points. Standing at 5’7”, she is a well-rounded defender who also has U18 National Team experience, winning gold with Team USA in 2020.

Why teams should draft her: While she’d likely play a third-pair shutdown role in the PWHL, she does have offensive upside due to her great pass placement and leveraging her skating abilities to collapse into the zone from the blue line to create scoring opportunities. Lobdell’s able to take risks in the offensive zone in part due to her ability to win pucks back and force turnovers. The overall skating capabilities of Lobdell make her stand out, and she’s a more physical player than some of her contemporaries who will fall to the later rounds. One small but important strength of Lobdell’s is how fluidly her feet stay in motion when passing and shooting, which helps her move across the blue line well in offensive situations.

Why she might fall: Teams worked fast to get defense spots filled in free agency, and the few remaining spots will go to the top available defenders like Guilday and Gosling first. Lobdell’s best chance is likely as a seventh defender, and teams may not want to use draft capital on that.

Best fit: Minnesota is the team with the most defense spots available, and her style of play fits in well with what they’ve valued in defenders over the years

Plus One: Emma Bergesen

Emma Bergesen declared for the draft last year as well, and as such was able to be signed by Ottawa before the draft. She was originally my top player in this article, and I already wrote this, so you can see what I wrote with the additional context that she is already signed!

LHD · SDE HF · Age 25 · Norway

Summary: Bergesen is Team Norway’s #1 defender who entered the draft last year, but went unselected and joined the SDHL to play for SDE. If she didn’t sign in Sweden, she likely could have gotten a training camp invite, but decided to go for the guaranteed contract instead and work on her game. With SDE, she joined one of the SDHL’s strongest defense cores and learned from veterans Kayleigh Hamers and Lotti Odnoga. Bergesen finished the season with three goals and 16 assists (tied for fifth most points in the SDHL by defenders), as well as a goal and an assist at Norway’s first top division World Championship appearance since the 90s.

Accolades for Bergesen include 2023 Norwegian player of the year, 2023 USports Champion, 2024 USports First team, and 2022 World Championship D1A best defender. She also scored the championship-clinching goal for Mount Royal University in 2022.

Why Someone Should Draft Her: I think the two most important baseline skills a player needs to be elite at for a smooth transition into the PWHL are physicality and skating. It’s a faster, tighter league than anywhere else on earth, and the ability to keep up the pace and create space raises the floor of a player. Bergesen excels at both. While she won’t be in the upper echelon of fastest players, her edge work and ability to quickly transition into backwards skating would make any coach trust her to eat minutes. Compared to how she looked last year coming out of USports, Bergesen’s physical game has improved a lot and was on full display during the World Championship. She’s extremely good at playing the body and tying opposing skaters up while not drawing penalties (she only had four penalty minutes in the SDHL this year) and stands out for her ability to backcheck and clear bodies netfront.

Why she might fall in the draft: I do not expect the offensive side of her game to carry over into the PWHL, which limits her ceiling. Her path in hockey is a bit more “untraditional,” as she came from a lower-ranked national team, played USports instead of NCAA, and then went to the SDHL, which may make teams view her as more of a risk.

Best fit: Toronto is a team whose defense core is mostly set, but may be looking for an affordable left defender option, and has had success with USports players (she’ll be great in Ottawa, too!)

Comparable players for production/deployment: The floor probably looks like PWHL-era Anna Kjellbin, while the ceiling is Jessica Digirolamo