How does Wisconsin women's hockey handle Laila Edwards' injury?
With one of the best players in the country injured, who needs to step up for Wisconsin women's hockey?
When Wisconsin Badgers standout Laila Edwards exited Saturday’s matchup with the No. 4 Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs, it was easy to imagine the worst. As the Wisconsin women’s hockey star limped toward the locker room, a senior season for the nation’s reigning goal-scoring champ hung in the balance.
Early returns indicate, despite initial appearances, Edwards avoided the worst.
With Edwards sidelined for the third period of Game 1 and the entirety of Game 2 against the Bulldogs, the Badgers (6-0-0, 4-0-0 WCHA) still managed to secure a series sweep. While Wisconsin managed to survive one bruising series, it can ill afford to be without one of its five best players for even more time than it already expects this season.
Laila Edwards injury update, evaluation timeline
After colliding with UMD defender Grace Sadura in the closing minutes of the second period on Saturday, Edwards struggled to return to the Wisconsin bench under her own power. When the horn sounded at the end of the frame, the 2024-25 AHCA first-team All-American walked back to the locker room with a noticeable limp.
Wisconsin goaltenders coach and color commentator for the Badgers’ radio broadcast, Mark Greenhalgh, said when he returned for the third period that Laila Edwards “sustained a little something to her left MCL.” He added, the Badgers’ training staff believes it is “maybe a second degree MCL” injury.
Saturday afternoon, Edwards was ruled out for Sunday’s series finale. She was seen with her team pre-game, walking with crutches and struggling to put significant weight on her injured leg.
Following Game 2, UW head coach Mark Johnson had no additional updates on Edwards’ status. He said his alternate captain would be “evaluated more thoroughly probably in the early part of the week. We’re hoping Tuesday or Wednesday.”
“She’ll be okay. Like, just take your time and she’ll be back soon enough,” Wisconsin captain Caroline Harvey said of her injured teammate.
A resident doctor that spoke with Badger Breakaway speculated that Edwards’ timeline to return could be approximately one month.
Wisconsin women’s hockey lineup, power play changes after Edwards’ injury
With Edwards out, a pair of young Badgers defenders step into the lineup. Rookie Mackenzie Jones and sophomore Grace Bickett had been rotating appearances as Wisconsin’s extra skater, with each playing in two of UW’s four games before this past weekend. Both appeared in Game 2 against Duluth. Bickett appeared in six games as a rookie, recording one assist.
The exact ripple effects of Edwards’ absence are difficult to pinpoint because of her positional versatility. Last season, as a forward, the Ohio native was a top-three finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award, the highest individual honor in women’s college hockey. Due in part to how USA Hockey views her potential role on the U.S. National Team at the upcoming 2026 Olympics, she has appeared on defense in five of her six games this season for Wisconsin.
If Johnson opted to add another forward to the lineup, rookie Nicole Gorbatenko could make her Wisconsin women’s hockey debut.
Needless to say, the Xs and Os impact a potential medium or long-term loss of Edwards has on the Badgers, as impactful to Wisconsin fans and the national women’s college hockey landscape it would be, pales in comparison to her Olympic hopes. The Bishop Kearney Selects Academy product appears poised to make her Olympic debut at the 2026 Games in Milan. If that were to be derailed by injury, there is no telling what her chances, as good as they project to be, would ultimately be of making the roster in 2030. Four years is a long time in hockey.
Presuming she makes Team USA, Edwards is already slated to miss a month’s worth of games with the Badgers to compete in the Games. Injury is now cutting her time on the ice in Madison even further.
Where Edwards’ presence will perhaps be missed the most is on UW’s top power play unit. In addition to leading the country in goals overall, Edwards was not far behind the national lead of ten power play goals last season with her Badgers-leading eight. Wisconsin boasted the best power play in women’s college hockey in 2024-25, converting over 35% of its opportunities on the advantage, and returned four of the five players on its top unit.
Now, in addition to replacing Casey O’Brien with Adéla Šapovalivovà, Johnson called up Badgers defender Laney Potter the top unit.
“Her ability when she gets the puck to go downhill. You know, can she make a play, she’s got a good shot, can she get it to the net?” Johnson said of why Potter was featured with Wisconsin’s first power play group after Edwards’ injury. “You know you got [UW forward Lacey] Eden in traffic in there. [Potter] works our second group, so you gotta find somebody, and her being left-handed helps out in that scenario.”
Although Edwards is right-handed, Potter’s left-handed shot perhaps complements righty winger Kirsten Simms on the opposite side of the PP1 more naturally. Given Simms’ right-handed shot, she could flip sides to where Edwards had been playing on UW’s 1-3-1 power play system. That would allow Potter to backfill the typical left-handed shooter’s position previously-held by Simms.
That was not, however, what Johnson opted for this past weekend. Potter slotted directly in to Edwards’ spot and Simms stayed put. With UW’s first power-play unit, Potter played on the side opposite where she had been playing with the second group. Flipping Simms and Potter could be a schematic change to watch for, but the top unit as now currently constructed scored four power play goals in four periods against Duluth, so there is plenty of success to build upon.
The opportunity comes for Potter at a time the junior is finding her shot early in the season. She has scored three goals through six games, matching the total from her sophomore campaign. The Pennsylvania native averaged only 1.6 shots on goal per game last season, but has more than doubled that number so far with 3.7 per game.
In a press conference after Wisconsin women’s hockey swept the Maine Black Bears, a series in which Potter amassed 12 shots on goal, the defender said Badgers associate head coach had emphasized UW’s defenders need “to get shots through,” and avoiding having shots from the point blocked by opponents.
Whether its at five-on-five or on the power play, Wisconsin has a plethora of options on its loaded roster.
“We’ll look at what it looks like and see what - everybody wants to be on it, so I got a lot of people that have their hands up,” said Johnson of finding the right fit for his team’s power play.
