By: Alexis Caines | Follow me on Twitter/X @alexiscaines_
On Monday night, the Boston Fleet announced that they had acquired Jessie Eldridge from the Seattle Torrent for Theresa Schafzahl. Eldridge, a Barrie, Ontario native, made her debut just the next day for the Fleet’s first home game since the Olympic Break. Seattle and Boston met on March 11th, where the Torrent handed the Fleet one of their three regulation losses of the entire season, falling 3-2. The two teams will also be meeting on Saturday at 4pm, so neither Schafzahl nor Eldridge had to wait long to see their former teams.
On paper, the statistical side of the trade is puzzling from a Torrent perspective. Eldridge was tied for second in team points with seven goals and six assists in 19 games. She’s tied with Alex Carpenter and sits just below Julia Gosling, who has 15 points. For the last few games, she was playing on Seattle’s top line on the right wing, with Gosling on the left wing and Carpenter centering. She will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, meaning she can sign with any team, including potential expansion teams.
In return for one of their most reliable players, the Torrent are getting Schafzahl, who has been a member of the Fleet crew since the inaugural season. She notably scored the first-ever goal in the PWHL Boston franchise history. In her three seasons with Boston, she has 17 points and has matched her career high in a season with six, this season coming in with three assists and three goals.
There is some hope for Torrent fans as Schafzahl recorded an assist in her debut, where Seattle fell 4-1 to Montréal. Her seven points marked a career high. In a top-line role with the Torrent, she should be able to connect with her linemates and raise that point total.
The Fleet’s last 12 of 13 games have been decided by either one goal or have gone into a shootout. On Tuesday night, they nearly made it 13 in a row, but a last-minute empty netter made it a 2-0 loss. The addition of Eldrige is likely to attempt to generate some more offense. Fleet General Manager Danielle Marmer echoed this in her first comments by saying, “Jessie has been a proven goal scorer at every level and continues to produce throughout her time in the PWHL.” On the Fleet roster, Eldridge sits third in team scoring, underneath Megan Keller and Allina Müller.
Eldridge jumped right into the mix, making her debut just under 24 hours after her trade was announced. She’ll be wearing #18 for Boston. Fleet Head Coach Kris Sparre announced that Eldrige will be playing on a line with Alina Müller, first reported by Emma Healy of the Boston Globe. She slotted into the second line at right wing, centered by Müller and Ella Huber at left wing.
In her Boston debut, she was immediately put onto the first power-play unit. They were unable to capitalize on their three chances of the night. Eldridge recorded one shot, one hit, and a -2 in her Fleet debut. Her time on ice was 20:36, fourth on the team for the game. The Fleet fell 2-0 to the Toronto Sceptres.
The Fleet have been the most consistent team in the PWHL this season, only dropping out of first place once, a direct result of their loss on Tuesday night. They’ll need to focus on generating more offense to help out their star goaltender, Aerin Frankel. There are just ten games remaining in the season, and with the playoff race getting tighter, they’ll need to fix sloppy mistakes that are costing them three points.
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