PWHL Toronto’s Natalie Spooner out for remainder of playoffs with knee injury

PWHL Toronto announced Wednesday that forward Natalie Spooner has been placed on Long-Term Injury Reserve and will miss the remainder of the playoffs with a knee injury suffered in the team’s Game 3 loss to Minnesota on Monday.

“It’s a big loss for us, obviously Natalie has been an important part of our success all year,” Gina Kingsbury, Toronto General Manager, said in a team statement. “We have no doubt Natalie will continue to have an impact on our team, just in a different way.”

The incident occurred midway through the third period of Game 3, when Minnesota forward Grace Zumwinkle laid a hit on Spooner, causing her fall both hard and awkwardly into the boards. She would crawl off the ice and need help getting to the locker room. She did not return to the game.

The 33-year-old Spooner had a goal and an assist through the first three games of the series.

The team also announced they activated Jess Jones from their Reserve Player list, signing them to a Standard Player Agreement. The forward appeared in five games this season with Toronto.

Spooner finished the 2024 regular season with one of the most dominating single-season performances in hockey history. Scoring a league-leading 20 goals and 27 points, Spooner was recognized as the 2024 PWHL Top Goal Scorer and Points Leader at the end of the season.

She also led the league in a number of other categories. She had the most multi-goal games with six; she had the most power-play goals with seven; she had the highest points-per-game with 1.13 and she led the league in shots with 101.