Rebecca Leslie’s breakout season left the Ottawa Charge with a new kind of problem: figuring out how much of it was Leslie, and how much of it was Brianne Jenner.
That question matters now more than ever. Ottawa is staring at the challenge of replacing both Jenner and Emily Clark up front, and the organization has already signaled where it sees Leslie in that puzzle.
After acquiring her as a depth forward in 2024-25, the Charge protected the Ottawa-born winger in this year’s expansion draft rather than re-sign Jenner or protect Clark. With the team also searching for a new captain, Leslie’s name has come up often this offseason.
It’s a big spotlight for a player who has only one elite PWHL season on her résumé. Last year, though, she was impossible to ignore.
Skating on the top line with Jenner and Sarah Wozniewicz, Leslie finished with 23 points in 30 games, second on the team behind Jenner’s 26. The trio combined for 33 goals, and with Ottawa scoring 71 goals overall, that first line accounted for 46% of the team’s offense.
The production was a massive jump from Leslie’s earlier numbers. She had nine points in her first PWHL season, then three in her second, before exploding for 23 points and 14 goals at age 29.
On paper, that kind of leap raises eyebrows. A lot of the goals also came from the kind of plays that start with Jenner making the final pass and Leslie cashing in close to the net.
Still, there’s more to the story than just easy finishes. Leslie’s shooting percentage climbed to 14.1% last season, up from 5.6% in her first year and 3.3% in her second.
That’s a sharp rise, but not so extreme that it screams fluke on its own. It was the fourth-highest mark on the team, and the bigger point is that she was getting chances and putting pucks on goal.
The shot volume backs that up. Leslie had 99 shots on goal, fourth in the league and first on the Charge. HockeyStats also had her as the league leader in individual expected goals, a sign that she wasn’t just riding luck - she was driving offense and getting herself into dangerous spots.
That fits the player Ottawa saw all season: a hard-working winger who can move the puck up ice, shoot it well, and find the right place at the right time. Some of her best goals came from exactly that mix.
On one, she carried the puck into the zone, got the shot on net, then drove to the crease while Jenner worked the zone and tipped it in. On another, she set herself up for a Jenner pass and finished the play from close range.
Before the PWHL, Leslie wasn’t exactly a household name. She represented the national team only once, at u18s in 2014. She was a very solid point-per-game player at Boston University and in her one season with the Calgary Inferno, but she wasn’t viewed as a superstar, which helps explain why she was a 12th round pick in the draft.
There’s also a broader theory for why the leap happened now. Leslie spent years playing hockey while working full time, and the PWHL finally gave her the chance to focus entirely on the game. If that extra time and training helped unlock the version Ottawa saw last season, it would make sense.
The real test is what happens without Jenner feeding her. Ottawa doesn’t have a clean replacement at first-line center, and while some of the forwards the team drafted are listed at both center and wing, their fit in the PWHL is still an unknown. Michela Cava is probably the best remaining center, but she’s usually more of a depth player than a true top-line playmaker.
That’s why Leslie’s next step feels so important. She showed last season that she can finish, get to dangerous areas, and produce at a high level.
But the Charge may not be able to count on another Jenner-type setup artist being there to make everything easier. If Ottawa can find another high-end talent to put around her, Leslie has a real chance to keep building on what she did in 2025-26.
If not, the question of whether she can drive a line on her own will come back fast.
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