2025 Top 25 Under 25: Danielle Serdachny (12), Abbey Murphy (11)

12: Danielle Serdachny

by Elisha Côté

Few players in women’s hockey have a knack for showing up in big moments like Danielle Serdachny. The 24-year-old forward has been a proven scorer at every level, from her record-setting years at Colgate to her golden goal for Team Canada at the 2024 World Championship. In her first year as a professional, she added another chapter to her resume, continuing to show why she belongs among the best young players in the game.

2024-25 Season

Serdachny made her PWHL debut with the Ottawa Charge, appearing in 30 games. While the transition to the pro level brought challenges offensively (finishing with two goals and six assists for eight points), she found ways to contribute beyond the scoresheet. Her size and work rate made her a useful presence along the boards and in front of the net, giving Ottawa some much-needed grit.

🚨 Danielle Serdachny (2)
🍎🍏 Victoria Bach pic.twitter.com/wY7MSpwjKC

— Ottawa Charge (@PWHL_Ottawa) January 8, 2025

Her international season was stronger. At the 2025 Women’s Worlds, Serdachny registered two goals and two assists in six games, playing meaningful minutes for Team Canada and reaffirming her ability to rise in international competition. Whether it’s overtime on the world stage or the middle of a grinding PWHL season, she continues to make herself useful in whatever role she’s given.

Past and Future

Serdachny’s path to the PWHL was built on dominance at every prior stage. From her Pursuit of Excellence days in British Columbia, to her time captaining Colgate, she was always a standout. She graduated as Colgate’s all-time leading scorer with 239 points in 174 games, including a monster 71-point campaign in her fourth year.

Internationally, she’s carved out a growing role with Team Canada, highlighted by her golden goal against the United States in 2024 and strong showings at the 2024 and 2025 World Championships. At 5’9”, she brings a physical presence that Canada can lean on, whether screening goaltenders or creating space for her linemates.

DANIELLE SERDACHNY SCORES THE GOLDEN GOAL AND CANADA ARE WORLD CHAMPIONS! 🇨🇦🥇

(🎥: @TSN_Sports) pic.twitter.com/9MIltHu2n4

— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) April 15, 2024

Now set to join PWHL Seattle for the 2025–26 season, Serdachny has a fresh opportunity to expand her offensive game. If she can bring the finishing touch from her college and international days to the pros, she has the tools to take a big step forward.

Ranking

After debuting at number five on last year’s list, Serdachny lands at number 12 in 2025. The drop reflects her modest production in her rookie pro season, but her long-term potential remains undeniable. With her blend of size, vision, and proven clutch play, she’s the kind of forward who could break out next season.

11: Abbey Murphy

by Emma Sullivan

In the NCAA this past season, it’s hard to find a better all-around player than Minnesota Golden Gopher captain Abbey Murphy. 

Across 42 games in 2024-25, the 23-year-old forward registered 65 total points, fourth most in Division I. She was also the only non-Wisconsin player to crack the top-five in scoring altogether, and came in second overall in goals scored with 33 behind only Laila Edwards. 

Her senior season was her most productive to date, although not by much. In her third season with Minnesota she registered an additional 62 points, and is operating at a 1.4 point per game pace over her 140 career games (195 points combined). 

She’s also been lights out for the US national team for the better part of a half decade, with one Olympic and four World Championship appearances dating back to 2021. This past year, with six points across seven games, she finished in a tie for third in scoring on the US team, including a goal against Canada in the gold medal game. 

What causes Murphy to stand out is how electric she can be on either side of the ice. Not only does she play with a lot of skill, as evident by her productivity, she’s also fearless. There’s no space Murphy doesn’t insert herself into during game play, and she’s never been afraid to throw a hit or put her body on the line to block a shot when it comes to it. 

That willingness to put herself on the line does get her into trouble from time to time. Like I said last year on our Top 25 list, Murphy often finds herself in the penalty box. With 38 penalties taken this year, Murphy once again led Division I in PIMs with 87 total. Not only was she over 60 minutes ahead of her next closest teammate (Peyton Hemp who had just 25), she was 20 minutes ahead of Tessa Janecke, the second-most penalized player in the NCAA. Her style of play has certainly created some pretty intense moments on the ice over the last few years, and it's led to her becoming one of the more controversial players in the game.

Though she finished her fourth season at Minnesota in the spring, Murphy has opted to return to the Golden Gophers for a fifth and final year to close out her NCAA tenure. While I could see her making an immediate impact for a PWHL team if she had declared for the draft following the 2024-25 season, I think returning to St. Paul for 2025-26 makes a lot of sense too. It gives her a little bit more time to develop at the NCAA level, while also providing a familiar environment to prepare for the Olympic season at the same time. 

It’s funny to see that Murphy is in the exact same place this year as she was a year ago in our 11th spot. And that’s not to say she hasn’t gotten better over the last 12 months, because she certainly has, but her staying just outside of the top-10 isn’t entirely a surprise either. There are just other players who had slightly more impactful years, and that’s what kept her from the top-1o this time around. 

I do believe we see a lot from her this year both in college and internationally, so much so that keeping her at 11 is going to seem absurd this time next year. 

Who knows, maybe she’ll lead the Gophers to a national championship, or claim an Olympic gold medal in Milan. There’s a lot of time and space for her to impress this upcoming season, and if there’s one thing I know about Murphy, it’s that she always impresses.