A brand that once thought unwavering, can Poulin Eclipse the record of Canadian points of Wickenheiser?

When you think of excellence in Canadian women’s hockey in much of the 2000s, Hayley Wicknheiser comes to mind.

Saskatchewan’s working star was the main scorer and MVP of the tournament in 2002, when Canada won his first Olympic gold medal in female hockey. She repeated those exploits again four years later in 2006.

For more than two decades with the ARCE sheet, Wickenheiser accumulated 379 points for his country.

While Alex Ovechkin pursues the goals of the NHL of Wayne Gretzky that many thought it was insurmountable, there is no direct equivalent in female hockey.

Records are an important measure of greatness and a large part of the preservation of history. But the female hockey leagues have gone and come over the years, which makes it more difficult to capture, measure and compare how the best of the best accumulates.

In Canada, Wickenheiser points in a Canadian shirt could be the closest to an untouchable record. Its 379 points include all the games in which the Canadian team played, including non -international games of the ice hockey federation, such as the rivalry series. (When you look only at the IIHF game, American Hilary Knight owns most points, 111 and goals, 65, according to the most recent IIHF record book).

The next on the list of points in a Canadian shirt is Jayna Hefford (291) and Caroline Ouellette (242). Both have retired from playing.

But there is an active player who has been climbing the list: Marie-Philip Poulin. The Canadian captain is in 220 points after overcoming Danielle Goyette in November.

It will not be a surprise for anyone that Poulin has not been paying attention to his place in the record book.

“Hayley is another level,” Poulin said when asked about the registration.

Poulin has an steep hill to climb. To overcome Wickeheiser at number 1, he needs 160 points.

But those who have played with and against it do not tell it.

“As it is difficult to compare an ovechkin with a Gretzky, it is difficult to compare when there used to be a world championship every two years and then I could play in one every year, and now there are more games,” said Hefford, who is the executive vice president of Hockey operations in the PWHL.

“So it is difficult to do that. But at the same time, I certainly recognize Marie-Philip Poulin can be the best player he has played. He may or may not defeat those albums. I mean, I would put my money on her to (do it).

Wickenheiser was not available for an interview about his album.

A changing game

The female game has grown jumps and limits since Wickenheiser began his career with the national team in the early 1990s. There are more girls throughout Canada playing hockey, and players from outside North America are improving every year.

Poulin’s teammate in Montreal Victoire, Erin Ambrose, is not ready to tell her captain.

“That girl could probably play forever, and not only play forever but be a first -line center forever,” he said.

But the depth in the national team today, and the growth of talent worldwide, could make the search more challenging, said the defender.

“It is not beaten in Wick and what it did,” said Ambrose. “It is also just where our game arrived. There are many (less) 12-0 games than before.”

It was a goal from Wickenheiser in the first Knight World Championship that was a reminder of how high is the level of skill when you play for your country.

She remembers Wickenheiser walking on the blue line and the album quickly found her way under the crossbar.

Knight has also played with and against Poulin, whom she describes as a generational player.

“She is very misleading with the place where she releases the album and the amount of power she can put behind him and delicacy at the same time,” said Knight, who has one of the best photos in the game, about Poulin during the camp of PWHL training.

It is that shot, along with the implacability of Poulin, the intellectual coefficient of high -end hockey and clutch’s ability, which has seen “Captain Clutch” score more goals in gold medal games than any other player, man or woman .

And although Poulin is still far from Wickenheiser’s points in a Canadian shirt, another record is in a surprising distance in the 2026 Olympic Games: Poulin has 17 Olympic goals, only one behind the Wicknheiser record. Leader scorer of any country.

The evolution of dynamic players

Carla Macleod played with Wickenheiser for several years and saw how hard she worked for each goal and assistance. As Pwhl Ottawa Charge’s coach, Macleod also sees what Poulin can do every day.

“We are seeing the evolution of only dynamic players,” Macleod said.

“In our time, there are certainly dynamic players, Hayley is the pinnacle of this. But I think what is really exciting and what has really been on stage in this league is that it is not one. Not everyone from Canada, no They are all from the United States, it is worldwide. “

A new league like the PWHL will take years to build the type of records that the NHL has compiled for more than a century.

But Hefford can see a day in which the records of the national team are not the only pinnacle. Sitting in the stands in a PWHL preseason game in November, Hefford was already impressed with some of the European talents that the League added in the last season out of season.

That was one of the objectives of creating the PWHL: obtaining the best talent in the world under an umbrella and playing each other every day, not only in world championships and Olympic Games.

Leave Hefford excited for a day when people speak of Pwhl Records and to see who can appear constantly at the highest level of play against the best in the world.

“History is important, but I think there is much more to write for us,” he said.

Regardless of where Poulin lands in the record book, Ambrose believes that his captain is the best to play the game.

There is no measurement, nor number, which can accurately capture what Poulin has done for hockey so far in his career.

“I think there is nothing untouchable for her because it’s so great,” said Ambrose. “There cannot even be a rushmore mountain of the female hockey. It’s just Pou.”