A multitude of scenarios could’ve played out. Just one game remained to decide their fate.
The Fleet entered the last contest of the regular season with prospects of finishing as high as third or as low as fifth. With the former, they would secure the No. 3 seed for the playoffs, while the latter would remove them from the postseason picture entirely.
What followed was a disaster of unprecedented proportions in franchise history.
Boston dropped its 2024-25 finale to Minnesota last Saturday, and in suffering a larger margin of defeat than ever before, surrendered the most goals it ever had.
“We were in third place heading into the final game of the regular season, and we worked incredibly hard to put ourselves in a position to control our own destiny,” said general manager Danielle Marmer. “That’s why this hurts as much as it does.”
The team shared sentiments of high parity and competitiveness all season long regarding the PWHL – only in its second year of play. And that showed in the standings when the dust had settled.
Boston wound up in a three-way tie with Ottawa and Minnesota at 44 points apiece. The Fleet won more games than the Charge, and as many games as the Frost.
But the group carried nine regulation victories against Ottawa’s 12 and Minnesota’s 10, ultimately getting the shortest end of the stick.
“This is just your final indicator (that) you can’t afford to give up games or ties that go into overtime with two minutes left in the game,” said coach Courtney Kessel. “I think we did that a few times this year, and it cost us.”
Ottawa, Canada – February 20th: the PWHL regular season game between the Boston Fleet and the Ottawa Charge at the TD Place Arena on February 20th, 2025 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada – (Photo by: Josh Kim / Ottawa Charge)PWHL
Boston claimed four of 10 contests to open its inaugural season before eventually reaching the finals of the PWHL Playoffs and falling in five games to Minnesota.
Starting out 2024-25 in the same manner, the Fleet found their groove in the middle of the season. The team notched nine wins in 12 tries from Jan. 31 to March 18 – five triumphs coming in regulation that accounted for 34% of their end-of-season point total.
At the heart of success was a major turnaround by forward Hilary Knight.
She was one of the first three players signed by Boston, but the captain produced 11 points across the 2024 regular season. That tied for fourth-most on the team and barely qualified as top 30 in the league.
This year, Knight’s 29 points on 15 goals and 14 assists were matched only by New York forward Sarah Fillier as the PWHL’s best.
“There’s no doubt that Hilary is going to be our leader this year, next year and (for) years to come. She’s a tremendous leader off the ice and on the ice,” Kessel said. “With a summer of healing her body and refreshing and getting some training sessions in, she looked a little bit faster. She got her shot off. There was more confidence in her play.”
Boston’s Hilary Knight singles out a fan to give some gear to before the Boston Fleet vs. Montreal Victoire PWHL hockey game at Agganis Arena in Boston, Mass. on March 8, 2025.Katie Morrison-O’Day
Backing her resurgent effort were forwards Alina Müller – the No. 3 overall pick in the 2023 PWHL Draft – and Susanna Tapani with 19 and 18 points, respectively.
Boston again relied heavily on Aerin Frankel between the pipes. The starting goaltender for Team USA at the 2025 IIHF World Championship produced a 2.28 goals against average for Kessel and Co. following a mark of 2.00 in 2024. Despite that decline, she ranked second in wins with a record of 12-8-3-0 in net.
When the time came for the playoff push, though, the Fleet were at their worst.
They won just one of their final six games. In four of them, they secured zero points. The trio of Knight, Müller and Tapani combined for two goals and four points in that final stretch.
Frankel, meanwhile, was pulled from two outings after getting the hook just once prior in her career with Boston.
“As a staff, we need to figure out how we can get this group ready when the puck drops, and that’s on us,” Kessel said. “We need to close. We had opportunities to close on our playoff hopes before the Worlds break came, and we didn’t.”
Boston’s Lexie Adzija makes a pass in front of the net during the Boston Fleet vs. Montreal Victoire PWHL hockey game at Agganis Arena in Boston, Mass. on March 8, 2025.Katie Morrison-O’Day
Rather than entering a race for the Walter Cup, the Fleet step into a realm of uncertainty.
Frankel, Knight and Müller are all entering the final year of their respective three-year contracts. Not only is the June 24 entry draft fast-approaching, but after the announcement of additional franchises in Vancouver and Seattle, an expansion draft is inevitable.
In theory, the Fleet will only be able to protect their most-valued players, leaving many others up for grabs. Details on that front are yet to be announced, though.
“I’m still waiting to hear,” Marmer said. “I think these conversations are happening between the league and the players’ association, but we GM’s have not heard how it’s going to affect our rosters yet.”
Marmer also said the team does not know if it will return to the Tsongas Center in Lowell – its primary venue for the past two seasons – or try to secure a new home in Boston.
A fan holds up a sign during the Boston Fleet vs. Montreal Victoire PWHL hockey game at Agganis Arena in Boston, Mass. on March 8, 2025.Katie Morrison-O’Day
Then there’s the question of scheduling. Boston suffered injuries to forward Hannah Bilka at the Canada-USA Rivalry Series and to both Frankel and Müller at the IIHF World Championship, losing key pieces amid its fight for the postseason.
If the PWHL follows its own precedent, there will be multiple multi-week breaks in the 2025-26 regular-season schedule. The Winter Olympics and IIHF World Championship would both draw attention from the league’s premier international talents.
The Fleet aren’t exempt from such a dilemma.
“It’s hard because these players who play with their national teams, they have contracts. The IIHF has sort of a plan that they see makes sense for what they’re trying to accomplish,” Marmer said. “I don’t know how much leverage – if any – the league has, or the willingness for them to change their schedule.”
Instead of tabling a myriad of concerns for after the postseason, Boston faces them now.
“Hockey is a cruel sport, and we obviously wish we were still playing,” Marmer said. “But now it’s time to turn the page and figure out how we can be better.”
