The best prospect in PWHL history, Caroline Harvey is ready for her next chapter

If this was a normal off-season, Caroline Harvey would already be back on the ice, her summer skating underway in preparation for another season at Wisconsin. But there’s nothing ordinary about the off-season ahead for Harvey, and she’s pacing herself accordingly. “I’m taking a good break,” says the star defender. “I’ve never really done this, honestly. It feels weird. I’m someone to just be like, ‘Let’s go, let’s go.’”

That always-moving mindset has seen the 23-year-old win more hardware in the past three months than most hockey players can dream of taking home across an entire career. In February, she helped lead Team USA to Olympic gold, pacing all players in Milan in assists and points, and being named tournament MVP in the process. In March, her Badgers hoisted their second straight National Championship trophy, and the third in Harvey’s four-year collegiate career. And in between, she won the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award as college hockey’s top player. 

“It’s been a crazy year, in the best way,” she says. “It’s been a lot of fun.”

Harvey’s just as excited about what’s to come. About a month after she crosses the graduation stage in May to officially close her college chapter, she’ll be walking up the steps of the PWHL’s draft stage. Harvey is projected to go first overall — and has been since before her senior season got underway — the elite two-way defender as pro-ready a player as it’s possible to be. It’s not an exaggeration to say Harvey is the most talented prospect the PWHL has ever seen. The New Hampshire native is already one of the game’s greats, and she hasn’t even taken her first strides in the pros. 

Harvey’s game brings no questions, only statement-making plays. The only uncertainty now is where she’ll land. But with the final day of the PWHL season arriving on Saturday, the hockey world will finally get the answer.

Harvey has spent her entire hockey life knowing exactly where she’s going. Even as a tot, bundled into the stroller to watch her older brother’s practices and games, she knew she’d get to be out there soon, too. Actually, she demanded it.

“My dad would bring me to the rink, he’d push me in my stroller and face me towards the ice, and pretty much as soon as I could talk and walk, I was like, ‘I want to be on the ice,’” says Harvey, who laced up figure skates at age three and by four was enrolled in hockey. 

Harvey played soccer, softball and basketball as a kid. She also did some gymnastics, and ran track in high school, excelling in the longer sprint distances where she could really hit her stride. All the while, though, her dreams remained deeply rooted at the rink. She rose quickly through the development ranks at prep schools before getting noticed by USA Hockey. At 16, she made her debut with the U.S. under-18 squad. At 18, she suited up for her first world championship at the senior level. 

The following season, she deferred her arrival at Wisconsin to join Team USA’s centralized training ahead of the 2022 Olympic Games. She’s been a mainstay on the American blue line ever since.

Watch her play now and there’s a lightness to Harvey’s game, evident in her smooth stride, her swift zone entries and end-to-end rushes reminiscent of a certain other wearer of sweater No. 4. But that ease didn’t always come naturally to her. It was learned. She credits that first USA hockey camp, and her first Olympic Games in ’22, with helping her harness the mindset that has propelled her ever since. 

“Initially, joining the national team at a young age, I was really scared and, like, nervous, and gripping my stick tight,” she says. The veterans took notice, recognizing in her the same nerves they’d had in their first camps, and lent advice and encouragement at every turn. 

“Having the presence of Hilary Knight, Lee Stecklein, Megan Keller, Kelly Pannek, all these veterans — Kendall Coyne … I could go on and on. Just listening to them and their experience, [hearing that] they’d been in that position before, they would definitely calm the nerves,” she says.  

Playing on hockey’s biggest stage before ever setting foot on the college circuit meant she could hit the ground running at Wisconsin, forgoing any freshman nerves and focusing on embracing the whole process and the joy of the game. 

“Having that experience, I feel like I kind of got that [nervous] feeling out of the way, and then I was able to enjoy [playing] more,” she says. She’s carried that perspective with her ever since. “I was like, ‘It’s just a game, why am I so scared? Everyone out here — [whether] it’s a gold-medal game or a Rivalry Series game, first collegiate game, whatever — everyone’s a bit nervous, in some aspects. So, don’t put that extra pressure on yourself.’”

She’s shared that mindset with her Badgers teammates over her four years in Wisconsin, helping cultivate a special culture. 

“We have so much fun. Like, we’re unserious in a good way — we’re playing loose and we’re playing confident, [as though] there’s nothing to lose, so we’re just having fun out there,” says Harvey. 

On a roster built around tight bonds, Harvey feels lucky to have played alongside teammates who are also her best friends off the ice, including fellow USA Hockey standout and top PWHL prospect Laila Edwards, her roommate in Madison. 

Since the PWHL launched in January 2024, Harvey and Edwards have tuned in every chance they get. Their favourite evening pastime is cooking dinner together and then settling in for a night of PWHL action. “The growth and the fan support, just everything within the league, it’s unbelievable to watch from an outside perspective, so we’re so eager to get into it,” she says. 

And the hockey world is eager to see where they’ll both land. 

As the PWHL approaches its final day of action, there are two teams left in the running to secure the top draft pick through the league’s Gold Plan, an attempt to incentivize strong finishes over tanking. The Seattle Torrent and Vancouver Goldeneyes, having both been eliminated from playoff contention, are now in a battle, effectively for Harvey, with a single point separating them. (The also-eliminated New York Sirens can’t earn enough Gold Plan points to pass the expansion clubs.)

Recent dinnertime conversations between Harvey and Edwards always shift to speculation about where they might end up. Humble as they both are, Harvey isn’t making any grand proclamations about where either of them will be selected, but she and Edwards know their draft worth. They also know any chance of landing in the same market is restricted to daydreams, but that doesn’t stop them from musing about it anyway. (As things stand now, the closest they may get is Vancouver and Seattle — a thought they’re both excited about, should the draft spots fall that way.)

“That’s why it’s so exciting, it’s fun, there’s a lot of anticipation leading up to it because you’re like, ‘Where will we all be?’ Like, it’s just so cool, and like nothing we’ve ever done before,” says Harvey, beaming as she talks. 

Whichever team earns the opportunity to draft her will be just as giddy. 

Tailor-made for big moments, Harvey has modeled her game after some of hockey’s best on both the men’s and women’s side. A Bruins fan growing up, she loved watching Zdeno Chara and admired the grit and stamina with which he played. In her offensive skillset, you can see the influences of Erik Karlsson. She’s always watching Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes. On the women’s side, she’s soaked up every opportunity to learn from Kacey Bellamy and Megan Keller. 

“I like to be calm and poised, and I like to be creative out there. I like to be deceptive on the blue line,” she says. “I feel like that’s my game. I try to play with pace and progress the puck fast, and then also take away the other team’s transitions. So, trying to gap up, being aggressive and then put our team on the attack.”

Harvey hasn’t skated since her final celebratory victory lap around the rink with her Badgers teammates, but her off-ice training is well underway as she works to strengthen her foundation and ready herself for what’s next.

“I want to feel like I’m hitting the ground running when I get back [on the ice]” she says. 

A month without lacing up her skates has her antsy to return to the rink. 

“You wanna get to a point where you miss it. It’s good,” she says. 

In the meantime, as she learns to pace herself in the long and exciting off-season ahead, she’s got papers to finish, a graduation to attend, family time to soak up, and a draft to prepare for. The league has yet to unveil details of the event, but Harvey will be there with her family, excited to take on the next challenge. 

“It’s a new chapter, a clean slate, fresh beginning,” she says. “I’m just excited for wherever it may be.”