Fast, Knight, Poulin up for PWHL MVP
Published
Toronto Sceptres defender Renata Fast, Hilary Knight of the Boston Fleet and the Montreal Victoire's Marie-Philip Poulin are the three finalists for the PWHL's Billie Jean King MVP Award.
All three women have been previously nominated for hardware earlier this spring.
A nominee for PWHL Defender of the Year, Fast is the first defender to be nominated for MVP. She led the league in average ice-time at 24:39 a night and cumulative ice-time at 739:45. A 30-year-old native of Hamilton, Ont., Fast had six goals and 16 assists in 30 games this season. Her 22 points tied her for first among defenders and eighth overall in league scoring. Her 13 power-play points were an all-time league record. Internationally, Fast has won an Olympic gold medal and three IIHF World Championships with Canada.
Knight, 35, had a bounce-back season from her first PWHL campaign, tying for the league lead in points at 29. It was an improvement of 18 points from 2024. Her 666:26 of cumulative ice-time led all forwards. The Sun Valley, ID native became the first forward in league history to score at least 15 goals and add at least 10 assists. One of the greatest international players in history, Knight has won an Olympic gold medal and 10 world championships with the United States. Knight announced earlier this week that next year's Winter Olympics will be her last.
It's a second straight MVP nomination for the 34-year-old Poulin. Helping lead the Victoire to the league's best record, Poulin notched 19 goals and added seven assists in 30 games. Poulin led the league in both game-winning goals with six and multi-goal games with five. The 2022 Northern Star Award winner as Canada's athlete of the year, the Quebec City native has won two Olympic gold medals and four world championships representing Canada. Like Knight, Poulin was previously nominated for the Forward of the Year Award.
Sceptres forward Natalie Spooner was the inaugural PWHL MVP in 2024.
The 2025 PWHL Awards will be handed out on June 25 in Ottawa.