PWHL Hamilton signs Nicole Gosling to three-year contract
One of the game’s premier young blueliners is changing provinces.
On Saturday, PWHL Hamilton announced that it has signed defender Nicole Gosling to a three-year contract. The deal, which begins next season, will carry through the 2028-29 campaign.
Gosling joins a pretty solid core already signed by the new team in Southern Ontario. On Friday, Hamilton signed goaltender Kayle Osborne and former Ottawa Charge captain Brianne Jenner, with the team also announcing earlier on Saturday that it has signed former Boston Fleet forward Alina Muller.
Gosling has made an immediate impact in her first season with the Montreal Victoire, the team’s first-round pick from the 2025 PWHL Draft. played top-pair minutes alongside Erin Ambrose for most of the season. After a slow start offensively, the London, Ont. native quickly became one of the league’s most exceptional two-way players. In 30 games, Gosling scored three goals and 16 assists for 19 points, finishing tied for second in rookie scoring, while leading the Victoire with an average of 21:17 of ice time during the regular season. She added another three points in the playoffs, helping Montreal clinch the franchise’s first Walter Cup.
Gosling’s play put her in the running to be a finalist for defender of the year, and though she came up short in that regard, she was named one of the final three candidates for Rookie of the Year, alongside Fleet defender Haley Winn and New York Sirens forward Casey O’Brien. Yet, it wasn’t enough to sway Victoire general manager Daniele Sauvageau, as she elected to protect Marie-Philip Poulin, Laura Stacey and Ann-Renee Desbiens for the second year in a row.
Gosling also has a solid international pedigree. While she did not play for Team Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics, she played on the gold medal-winning team at the 2024 IIHF Women’s World Championship. The Clarkston University product also won gold and silver at the 2019 and 2020 IIHF Under-18 Women’s World Championship, respectively.
Hamilton has fuur of the five roster spots filled for Phase 2 of the Expansion Player Distribution Process. The second phase ends on June 8 at 1 p.m. ET.