Charge and PWHL expansion Goldeneyes shake up rosters with league-record 6-player trade

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The Ottawa Charge and the PWHL expansion Vancouver Goldeneyes shook up their rosters by completing a six-player trade on Sunday night.

The trade set a PWHL record for most players involved in one trade for a league that's a third of the way into its third season. And the trade was completed 10 days before the PWHL enters its monthlong Olympic break.

Michela Cava leads the list of additions for the Charge, as the forward was tied for third in Vancouver with five points (one goal, four assists) in 13 games. Ottawa also added forward Brooke McQuigge and defender Emma Greco.

Vancouver added three forwards including rookie second-round pick Anna Shokhina, a three-time Olympian for Russia. The 28-year-old Shokhina is off to a slow start transitioning to the PWHL with a goal and three assists in 12 games.

The Goldeneyes also acquired two-way forward Mannon McMahon and Anna Meixner, a member of Austria’s national team.

Each of Ottawa's new additions have won a Walter Cup with the Minnesota Frost.

Cava is a two-time champion and McQuigge was a rookie on last year’s Frost team that clinched the title by defeating Ottawa in Game 4 of the best-of-five finals in May. Greco won the cup with Minnesota in 2024 before playing for Boston last season.

“Michela Cava is a proven winner,” Charge general manager Mike Hirshfeld said. “We got to know her game extremely well from the PWHL Walter Cup Finals last season.”

The Charge (3-6 with four OT/SO wins) are tied for fifth with Toronto in the eight-team standings. Ottawa had won six straight, including four after regulation, before a 2-1 loss to Montreal on Tuesday.

Vancouver (3-7-2 with one OT/SO win) is seventh in the standings and averaging a league-low 1.7 goals per outing, and rank seventh in allowing 2.6 goals against. The Goldeneyes have dropped three straight and are 1-4-2 in their past seven.

“These players will make an impact at both ends of the ice,” Vancouver GM Cara Gardner Morey said. “We want to compete with grit and speed, and these players embody those qualities.”

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AP women’s hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey