Daryl Watts expected to leave PWHL’s Sceptres

Toronto's leading scorer chose not to re-sign with the team

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Published Jun 04, 2026  •  Last updated 3 minutes ago  •  4 minute read

Toronto Sceptres forward Daryl Watts. Photo by Heather Pollock /PWHL

The good news, if you are a Toronto Sceptres fan, all came Wednesday.

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Now the fanbase has to buckle up and prepare itself for more growing pains similar to the offensive drain they suffered about this time a year ago in the PWHL’s first round of expansion.

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Sceptres general manager Gina Kingsbury confirmed what pretty much everyone already knew when she told a handful of media on a conference call that her efforts to re-sign leading scorer Daryl Watts were not successful. The skilled winger is expected to be with a new club next season as Phase 2 of expansion, with the four new teams permitted to sign players, plays out.

Watts informed Kingsbury of this on Monday afternoon, leaving the Sceptres GM about 24 hours to re-think her three-player protected list, which initially was going to include Watts.

It’s obviously not great news when a team that already was offensively challenged winds up losing its biggest producer, but Kingsbury pivoted. The GM protected two defenders — recently re-signed assistant captain Renata Fast, and last year’s big draft day deal prize Ella Shelton — and goaltender Raygan Kirk, who also signed an extension Wednesday.

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It leaves players such as captain Blayre Turnbull, Day 1 centre and fan favourite Emma Maltais, and the team’s third leading scorer Jesse Compher unprotected for the time being. Toronto will be able to protect three more athletes in Phase 3 of the expansion process.

Kingsbury said Turnbull has been a part of all the decisions she has made in the past couple of weeks including the initial three-player protection list that did not include Turnbull. Kingsbury remains confident that she will be retained and come back to lead this team as she has done over the first three seasons.

“She’s been part of the strategy that we are moving forward with,” Kingsbury said. “Blayre wants to be in Toronto at all costs. And together, mutually, we felt that this was the best place to be as an organization. We feel confident she will be a Toronto Sceptre moving forward … We’re looking forward to keeping her in Toronto.”

The rumour mill has Watts winding up in Detroit, though that has yet to be confirmed.

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Kingsbury said that right up until their meeting late Monday afternoon, she fully expected Watts to re-sign with Toronto and was surprised when that didn’t turn out to be the case.

“Leading up all the way into the last day, we were pretty confident that we were going to have an agreement with Daryl, and that changed and obviously that’s professional sports.

“Players have the opportunity to decide what’s best for them and she felt that another market was better for her.”

Again the decision surprised Kingsbury but she said she fully understands and supports Watts’ right to make that decision.

Kingsbury was successful in signing Fast, who returns as the backbone of the Toronto defence along with Canadian national team teammate Shelton.

Those two, who spent the majority of 2025-26 season as the Sceptres’ top defensive pairing, will once again play in front of Kirk who, like Fast, signed a new deal with the team on Wednesday and became the third and final protected member of the Sceptres’ protected list.

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“If you have a good goalie in this league, and we’ve seen it, you’re typically in a good position,” Kingsbury said. “So holding on to Kirky was really important for us. Not only has she proven herself as being a very good goaltender in this league, she’s young and she’s got a lot of growth in her as well.”

Kirk was one of seven starting goaltenders protected by the eight teams tasked with a protection list. The only team that did not prioritize goaltending was New York, which protected three forwards in Sarah Fillier, Kristyna Kaltounkova and Casey O’Brien.

The hope is that the Sceptres can somehow address their offensive shortcomings either from within or in the draft.

Kingsbury noted the draft is a generational type of draft in that the front end is loaded with elite performers. The league, though, has yet to inform the teams where the newcomers will draft. Toronto, based on its regular-season finish and before the expansion teams were officially announced, were slated to draft fourth but they could be bumped as low as eighth if the league opts to let the expansion teams pick ahead of the existing clubs.

“We don’t know when we are drafting so that is still a bit of a mystery,” Kingsbury said. “We won’t know until the rosters are a little more set after this (expansion) process. We’ll adjust once we know what order we are selecting.”

Also on the agenda is the naming of a new head coach to replace Troy Ryan, who left the organization to take on the dual roles of GM/head coach of the expansion club in San Jose.

Kingsbury said the new bench boss will be named in the very near future.

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