Your essential guide to the first-year defenders you need on your roster
The 2026 PWHL Draft delivered the most talented class of rookie defenders the league has ever seen. Five players in particular jump off the page as immediate fantasy assets — each bringing a unique blend of offensive upside, pedigree, and situational role that makes them must-roster options for the coming season. Here is your definitive ranking of the top five fantasy rookie defenders heading into 2026–27.
#1 — Caroline Harvey | D | Vancouver Goldeneyes | Drafted 1st Overall
The case for Caroline Harvey as the top fantasy rookie defender in the PWHL is not a debate. It is a formality.
Harvey arrives in Vancouver as the most decorated defensive prospect the PWHL has ever seen. She finished her senior season at Wisconsin leading the nation in assists per game at 1.39, posting 18 goals and 46 assists for 64 points in just 33 games — a program record. She won the Patty Kazmaier Award as the NCAA’s top player. She won Olympic gold with Team USA, contributing a tournament-high-tying nine points and being named both tournament MVP and Best Defender. And on draft day itself, she was named the 2026 IIHF Female Player of the Year with more than 77 per cent of the vote — announced hours before she became the first defender ever selected first overall in a PWHL Entry Draft.
Harvey will quarterback Vancouver’s power play from day one on a Goldeneyes blue line that generated the highest rate of offensive production of any team in the league in 2025–26. Sophie Jaques has already said publicly she hopes to be Harvey’s defensive partner. That pairing, on a team trending sharply upward, is the most exciting fantasy blue line development in the league’s history. Harvey is the top rookie fantasy asset of any kind — forward or defender — in the 2026 class. Draft her accordingly.
#2 — Laila Edwards | D | PWHL San Jose | Drafted 4th Overall
Laila Edwards is unlike any other defender in this draft class. At 6-foot-1, she will be the tallest player in PWHL history. She is perhaps the most relevant for fantasy managers — one of the most prolific offensive talents this draft class has produced regardless of position. She will dominate.
Edwards spent most of her Wisconsin career as a forward, leading the nation with 35 goals in her junior season and posting 71 points in 41 games. In her senior year she transitioned to defender and immediately won an Olympic All-Star award at the 2026 Milan Games playing the blue line, registering eight points in seven games. The Score called her “an elite, elite forward who is still making the transition, and yet she could be even better as a defender long term.” The Athletic projected her immediately as San Jose’s best offensive piece upon arrival.
PWHL San Jose will give her top-pairing minutes and power play responsibilities from opening night, making her fantasy production opportunity as high as any rookie defender in this class outside of Harvey. She has an almost unprecedented combination of size, shot quality, and offensive instincts. Get her early.
#3 — Emma Peschel | D | New York Sirens | Drafted 7th Overall
Emma Peschel may be the most pro-ready defender in this entire draft class, and for fantasy managers that translates to one thing above all else: she will play, and she will play important minutes, from her very first game.
The Ohio State co-captain finished her four-year Buckeye career with 108 points in 151 games, ending on the strongest note of all — career highs of 10 goals, 29 assists, and 39 points as a senior while earning All-WCHA First Team honours. She was a two-time All-WCHA selection and the backbone of an Ohio State programme that reached the Frozen Four championship game in four consecutive seasons. She quarterbacks the power play, plays with controlled physicality — she cut her penalty minutes in half between her junior and senior seasons — and brings a compete level that made New York GM Pascal Daoust’s decision straightforward.
The Sirens had a glaring need for an offensive defender after expansion stripped their blue line depth. Peschel steps directly into that role on a New York team with strong forward talent already in place around her. When the power play is clicking and the ice is tilted, Peschel will be the one driving it from the blue line. A 15-point rookie season is a realistic floor. Her ceiling in the right situation is considerably higher.
#4 — Nelli Laitinen | D | PWHL Hamilton | Drafted 6th Overall
Nelli Laitinen made history on draft night as the first-ever pick in PWHL Hamilton franchise history — and as the first international player selected in the 2026 draft. For a 24-year-old Finnish defender who captained the University of Minnesota for two seasons and served as alternate captain for Finland at the 2026 Olympics, the moment felt entirely earned.
Laitinen’s game has been steadily evolving in exactly the right direction. After arriving at Minnesota with a reputation as a defensively reliable but offensively limited defender, she spent four seasons expanding her game under coach Brad Frost — posting a career-high 30 points in 33 games in her final season, which tied for fourth nationally among all defenders. Her plus-minus at the NCAA level was a staggering plus-32 in her senior year, and plus-24 the year before. She captained her team, wore an A for her national team, and was named a top-three finalist for WCHA Defender of the Year.
The fantasy case for Laitinen hinges on opportunity, and Hamilton will give her plenty of it. As a cornerstone of a new expansion franchise building its culture and system from the ground up, she will be handed a featured role, top-pairing minutes, and power play time that a defender of her calibre on an established team might not see for years. She is an ascending player on a team that needs her to be its blue line leader from day one. That combination is fantasy gold.
#5 — Sara Swiderski | D | Minnesota Frost | Drafted 9th Overall
Sara Swiderski lands at number five on this list, but make no mistake — landing the ninth overall pick in any draft on a team that just appeared in the Walter Cup playoffs is not a disadvantage. It is an extraordinary opportunity.
Swiderski’s path to this moment was unconventional. She spent two seasons at Clarkson before transferring to Ohio State, and her offensive numbers did not truly announce themselves until her senior season — career highs of eight goals, 19 assists, and 27 points in 33 games, with a remarkable plus-40 rating and 30 blocked shots. She is a gritty, right-handed Canadian defender who plays with pace, compete level, and the physical edge that Minnesota GM Melissa Caruso specifically cited as the reason she was the Frost’s target on draft night.
The fantasy ceiling for Swiderski is rooted in situation. Minnesota lost defensive depth to expansion but retained alternate captain Lee Stecklein — and Caruso has drawn an explicit parallel between Swiderski’s development path and that of Kendall Cooper, last season’s standout rookie defender who led all first-year blueliners with 17 assists. Swiderski will be mentored by Stecklein, play in a championship-calibre system, and benefit from a Frost team that knows how to develop defenders. She is the safest bet of the five for steady, reliable fantasy production from behind a strong team.
The Bottom Line
This is the deepest rookie defender class the PWHL has ever produced, and all five of these players project as immediate contributors. Harvey and Edwards represent the most explosive offensive upside at the position. Peschel is the safest bet for immediate impact on an established team. Laitinen and Swiderski offer compelling situational cases on franchises that will lean on them from day one.
In PWHL fantasy drafts, defender scoring is a premium commodity. These five are the ones to target.
– The Add List +
Draft information and statistics sourced from the PWHL official records, The Hockey News, Daily Faceoff, The IX Hockey, OurSports Central, and university athletics departments, June 2026.