2025-26 PWHL Season Preview: Seattle Torrent

Seattle didn’t spend the summer leading to its inaugural season whispering its way into the league. The Torrent arrived with a full identity: a water-driven name, a fast aesthetic, and a home base in the heart of the city’s hockey ecosystem. The newest addition to the Seattle sports community will play at Climate Pledge Arena, giving them a headline stage from day one, and the Kraken Community Iceplex has been humming through camp with a roster trying to carve out its shape.

The sense around the rink is that Seattle is not a typical expansion franchise learning to walk. They’re already moving, already pulling in the current of a hockey city that’s been waiting for a women’s team to call its own.

A bench built for a long season

If you stand at the rail during a Torrent practice, the team’s intended personality comes through long before the players speak — it comes from the bench staff. Seattle’s inaugural season rests heavily on the chemistry of three coaches who general manager Meghan Turner called a “holistic coaching staff.” 

Head coach Steve O’Rourke runs his skates with purpose, and it’s obvious the staff around him is aligned on what they’re trying to build. Christine Bumstead and Clayton Beddoes balance each other out, according to Turner.“Clayton is a little quieter, Christine is a little bubblier,” she said. “But they just have really cool backgrounds. Their diversity of experience…both of them just bring a lot of great knowledge of the game.”

Together, the three coaches give Seattle alignment. O’Rourke provides the vision. Through training camp, the coaching staff already felt like the most synchronized part of the franchise. And for a team trying to build an identity from scratch, that cohesion behind the bench may end up being their biggest competitive edge.

A roster trimmed into focus

With a short training camp and even shorter pre-season, the Torrent didn’t hesitate to make cuts that signaled their intentions. On Nov. 18, Seattle released Olivia Wallin and Lily Yovetich from the camp roster — two players with points in back-to-back preseason scrimmages days before who were ultimately edged out as Seattle narrowed toward the group it wants to trust on opening night.

Their departures clarified what remains: a roster anchored by star power up front, exemplified by the powerful Knight–Carpenter–Bilka line tested during training camp and the first scrimmage in Vancouver, supported by mobile defenders with the likes of Aneta Tejralová and Cayla Barnes, and stabilized by a goalie group capable of winning the kind of low-event games expansion teams tend to play early. With veterans setting tone and rookies already pushing for minutes, the Torrent’s lineup looks more layered than chaotic.

And within that group, a few names stand out immediately.

Three players who could tilt the season

• Hilary Knight being a player to watch is almost as obvious as her being named the first captain of the Seattle Torrent. Knight doesn’t just drive play; she defines how teammates move around her. Every session has at least one moment where she takes a puck on the half wall and dictates the tempo all by herself. Though the team was left off the scoresheet while she was in the lineup during the first scrimmage in Vancouver, Kight has already shown her impact in the early 2025-26 Rivalry Series, where she recorded a hat trick in Team USA’s 6-1 win against Team Canada on Nov. 8. What makes Knight a player to watch isn’t just her scoring or leadership, though, but how she sets the pace for the team, elevates teammates, and defines Seattle’s identity on the ice from shift one. 

• Cayla Barnes represents stability and poise on the blue line: Seattle inked her to a three-year deal knowing she’s a steady, puck-moving defender with international experience. In the preseason scrimmages, she logged key minutes (she was in the lineup in both games), helping anchor defensive pairs under early-game stress. Her presence will be vital in Seattle’s transition game and in dialing down mistakes, especially early as the roster gels.
• Jenna Buglioni made an immediate impact in her second scrimmage, scoring just 20 seconds after Grant‑Mentis to help jump-start Seattle’s offense in the 4–2 win over Vancouver.  That kind of quick-strike potential, combined with her college track record of two-way play, makes her a likely contender for important middle-six minutes, and possibly more, if she keeps turning heads in camp.

A style tailored to who they are

Seattle’s early practices have shown a clear priority: speed, win the middle of the ice, win the transition game, and turn simple plays into repeatable offense. Nothing is flashy for the sake of flash. The Torrent want quick retrievals, layered support and a tempo that forces teams to chase.

Three predictions for the season:

• Team MVP: Knight, with Corinne Schroeder making it close. Knight’s scoring and leadership set the ceiling, but don’t be shocked if by midseason the MVP conversation includes the goalie keeping them afloat in tight games.
• Special Teams: penalty kill will be the early edge. Seattle’s two preseason scrimmages were notable for a higher number of penalties, highlighting that the team will need to be sharp shorthanded from the start. Expect the PK to be the area where Seattle sets its early identity and maybe even finds their footing in tight contests.
• Final record: just under .500, with a late-season surge. November and December will feel like learning months, but by the second half of the season this team should stabilize into a hard-out every night. Missing the playoffs is more likely than not for the Torrent, but they’ll finish close enough to make Year Two expectations very real.

What the opening weeks will reveal

In the first ten games, watch the gaps between Seattle’s forwards and defense. If they shrink quickly, this team will surprise early. Pay attention to how the goalies are rotated and track Buglioni’s minutes: if she’s on the power play by game five, Seattle’s scoring outlook changes immediately.