Frost Recently Signed 5th Round Goaltender Pick Daria Gredzen, Will She Take the #2 Spot in Net?
On August 3rd, the Minnesota Frost of the PWHL signed goaltender Daria Gredzen to a one-year contract. The Frost selected Gredzen in the 5th round of the 2026 PWHL Draft at 57th overall out of Novosibirsk, Russia. The 22 year old spent the past 7 seasons playing for Biryusa Krasnoyarsk of the ZhHL in Russia, where she was named goaltender of the year in 2024-25. Her final season in the ZhHL she played 30 games posting a 2.22 GAA and .928 save percentage. She also had a .942 save percentage in 8 playoff games. Gredzen also became the youngest Russian goaltender to represent the nation at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, playing two games at just 17 years old.
Daria will be joining Maddie Rooney and Marlene Boissonnault in net for the Frost, the latter of which also signed a one-year contract to stay with the team in July. While there is no question that Rooney will continue her role as one of the Frost’s two main starting goaltenders, the question becomes who will join her as the 2nd starter after Nicole Hensley’s departure to Las Vegas.
Some may think Boissonnault is the obvious choice as she has spent 2 years as the 3rd goaltender for the Frost after also spending a year with Montreal, however in that time she has only played one game, a 4-3 overtime loss in Vancouver on April 25th this past season. She may have more experience at the age of 29, however she has played very sparingly since graduating from Cornell in 2019. Granted, she posted very good numbers in her time playing for the Big Red.
This situation presents a difficult question for Frost coach Ken Klee. Does he promote the 3rd string goaltender his team has had for two years already as the new 2nd string, or does he give the young new draft pick and throw her in the deep end at the highest stage. In my opinion, I think you go with the safer option of having Boissonnault as the 2nd starter to Rooney, however I think Gredzen should get at least a start or two sometime this season. The upcoming preseason may help make the decision easier.
