As the PWHL’s regular season comes closer to a dramatic conclusion, it’s become easier to pinpoint players who are having remarkable campaigns. Arguably, none are as remarkable as those of Ann-Renée Desbiens and Aerin Frankel. The net minders are the consensus front-runners for the Billie Jean King MVP award, with razor-thin statistical margins between them that seem to flip with every start.

An Olympic showdown ending in gold for Frankel and Team USA has already marked the rivalry. So has the recent 1–0 goalie duel at TD Garden that saw Desbiens and the Montreal Victoire steal the show in the Fleet’s debut at Boston’s premier hockey arena.

When all is said and done, which one of these incredible goalies has the final edge to win MVP?

Here’s what the stats have to say.

Neck-and-Neck Numbers

Through 27 games of the Victoire’s season, Desbiens started 23 games with a record of 17–4–2 and seven shutouts. In 16 starts, she has allowed one goal or fewer. Her goals against average sits at 1.08. She has made 543 saves for a save percentage of .956.

Through the same sample size of Fleet games, Frankel made 24 starts with a 18–4–0 record. She has also recorded seven shutouts. At one point, she had three of these shutouts consecutively and went 236:45 without allowing a goal, setting a PWHL record. Her goals against average sits at 1.19, with 584 total saves and a .953 save percentage.

With these numbers being so close, it’s impossible to say that one of these goalies is definitively better than the other. However, there are a few points that mean one of them has an edge over the other.

The Deciding Factors

One-Goal Games

Ann-Renée Desbiens has made five starts in which Victoire won a game by a margin of one goal. Aerin Frankel has made nine such starts.

When determining something like value to a team (as is, in theory, the goal of an MVP award), such things must be taken into account. These one goal games represent a concrete account of games that a team is much less likely to win without the performance of their goalie.

Expectations

It’s also worth considering the context in which the Montreal Victoire and the Boston Fleet came into this season.

In 2024–2025, the Montreal Victoire were the first seed in the playoffs. While they were a first round exit, they retained core pieces such as Marie-Phillip Poulin, Laura Stacey, and Erin Ambrose. At the same time, they improved their offensive depth through the acquisitions of forwards Abby Roque and Hayley Scamurra, among others.

There was a clear reason to believe that the team could, and should, continue to perform.

In the same season, the Boston Fleet narrowly missed the playoffs. They lost captain Hilary Knight during expansion, as well as Hannah Bilka, who had a short but promising rookie campaign. Head coach Amanda Kessel would leave the role in the offseason. She was replaced by Kris Sparre, who had no prior experience with women’s hockey. 

There was real concern about the team’s ability to win, with perceived gaps in the forward core and overall culture.

It’s one thing for a goalie to continue to win with a winning franchise. It’s another thing entirely for them to perform in front of a team going through shifts in its identity and be a core piece to bring them to a heated battle for the first seed in the playoffs.

While both Desbiens and Frankel are putting up unprecedented numbers for goaltending in the PWHL, these differences between their seasons may give Frankel the slightest advantage in the MVP category.