With just a few games left for each team in the 2025–26 season, the conversation turns to who might win the Billie Jean King Most Valuable Player Award. The honour is “awarded to the player considered most valuable to their team’s success throughout the regular season.”

In the league’s short history, the award has been given to Natalie Spooner of PWHL Toronto (2024) and Marie-Philip Poulin of the Montréal Victoire (2024–25). Spooner was responsible for 30% of Toronto’s goals and is still the only player to reach 20 goals in a season. Poulin led the league with 19 goals last season, including six game-winners, to lock the Victoire into first place. Both Spooner and Poulin also won Forward of the Year alongside MVP.

But the award is not simply about who’s the best at their position, though often the two coincide. It’s about who helps their team win games. Who helps them make a comeback? Who comes up clutch in tight moments? What player the team could not survive without.

MVP shouldn’t go to a player on a team full of top scorers. It should belong to someone whose team would fall apart without them.

Who stands out when the whole team’s rolling?

Minnesota on top

Minnesota Frost players take up four of the top five spots in league scoring: Kelly Pannek, Taylor Heise, Britta Curl-Salemme, and Grace Zumwinkle. The Frost have five players with 20+ points on the season; no other team has more than two. If any of them were to get injured, the team would take a hit, but would still be in good shape.

Pannek and Heise have good cases for Forward of the Year honours, both averaging over a point per game. Pannek leads the league in goals, is 57.7% at the face-off dot, and is shooting at 26.4%. She’s not the MVP of the Frost, though, because she’s not carrying the team by herself.

Everyone’s the top line on the Fleet

The Boston Fleet is in a similar boat, with five players at 17+ points: Alina Müller, Jessie Eldridge, Susanna Tapani, Megan Keller, and Haley Winn. All four of Boston’s forward lines have been strong all season. The team isn’t looking for one star player or one top line for all the offence. Keller and Winn also deserve nods for Defender of the Year and Rookie of the Year, respectively, with the impact they have on both sides of the puck. The clear MVP contender for this team, though, is Aerin Frankel.

Montréal’s depth is stepping up

Similarly, Ann-Renée Desbiens is the MVP of the Montréal Victoire, even though players like Laura Stacey and Abby Roque are having excellent offensive seasons. The depth has stepped up since Marie-Philip Poulin’s injury, and the team has been scoring more by committee lately.

Those three teams have already clinched playoff spots. The better “hero” story for MVP would come from one of the teams still fighting to remain in contention.

Who can carry their team to the playoffs?

Fillier and the New York Sirens

While the Sirens boast a number of players having good seasons, Sarah Fillier has put the team on her back recently. On April one against Minnesota, she scored two goals in 14 seconds in the third period to tie the game, then completed the hat trick with her overtime winner.

On April 4, Fillier again scored a game-tying goal, then a shootout goal to help earn the win. She assisted on Maja Nylén Persson’s game-tying goal for a regulation win against Toronto on April 16. With that assist, she reached 50 career points in 56 games, becoming the first player to do so in under two seasons.

Her teammate Casey O’Brien has also been clutch lately. But Fillier’s 10 points in the 10 games since the Olympics and her key role in New York’s earning four points in early April instead of zero have put her firmly in the MVP picture. If the Sirens make the playoffs, Fillier has a good shot at being at least a finalist for this award.

Turnbull, Watts, and the Toronto Sceptres

The Sceptres are struggling, despite the best efforts of Daryl Watts and Blayre Turnbull. Turnbull is having her most offensive PWHL season yet, with nine goals already (compared to five in 2024–25 and three in 2024). Watts, for her part, has three game-winning goals and three first goals on the season. Together, their 18 goals constitute over 36% of Toronto’s league-lowest 49. Goaltender Raygan Kirk has also kept Toronto in a lot of games lately.

But unless Toronto can pull out all the stops for the final three games, I don’t see anyone from this team getting the MVP.

Leslie, Jenner, and the Ottawa Charge

Another key duo has been Rebecca Leslie and Brianne Jenner. With 12 goals, Leslie is tied for second-most in the league, and she has four game-winners. She also has three unassisted goals, which helps the narrative of MVP.

Both Leslie and Jenner have been key to Ottawa’s league-leading seven overtime/shootout wins. Leslie has three overtime goals, and Jenner has a shootout percentage of 57.1% (four goals on seven attempts).

But the fact that they’ve combined for so many of Ottawa’s points weakens their cases. The power seems to come more from the duo than the individual.

Nurse, Jaques, Thompson, and the Vancouver Goldeneyes

For a stretch in the middle of the season, Sarah Nurse was a real MVP contender. She scored three goals in her first two games back from injury. She has also scored the first goal twice this season to help the Goldeneyes get out to a good start.

Defenders Sophie Jaques and Claire Thompson have also contributed significantly to a team that’s had issues with scoring at times. Jaques has eight goals (the most on her team) and 96 shots (second-most in the league).

But the Goldeneyes have struggled, and the MVP award is best suited to someone who helped their team to success.

Who are the most likely contenders?

The strongest arguments are for Frankel and Desbiens—but choosing between them is almost impossible. If Fillier keeps doing what she’s been doing and the Sirens make the playoffs, she has a good chance as well.

Ultimately, I think this award is a battle between Frankel and Desbiens. Tonight’s head-to-head game could be a preview of that showdown.