'It is emotional': Hockey icon Marie-Philip Poulin to undergo knee surgery in July

Marie-Philip Poulin fought endorse tears th as she radius nearly the long retrieval ahead, but said she remains determined to return to the ice.

Poulin battled through a torn anterior cruciate ligament and torn meniscus in her right knee while leading the Montreal Victoire to a Walter Cup championship this past spring. The Victoire captain will undergo surgery in late July and be out for an undetermined amount of time.

"It is emotional. Hockey, it is my life," a choked-up Poulin said during a virtual press conference. "It's the journey of an athlete where you give your 100 per cent every day, things can happen, and that's part of it.

"Not that I'm looking forward to it, but I am looking forward to (stepping) up in that recovery room, in that training room, to go one day at a time and come back."

General manager Daniele Sauvageau said the Victoire will provide updates as they become available, adding the team is very confident Poulin will return to play "in due time."

Poulin first injured her knee in preliminary-round play against Czechia at February's Milan Cortina Olympics before suffering a more serious re-aggravation on March 15 against the Boston Fleet.

The 35-year-old from Beauceville, Que., missed the next 10 games but returned to lead the Victoire to their first Walter Cup title, earning playoff MVP honours with two goals and six assists in nine games.

"I won't lie, yes, it was painful. Mentally and physically, it was difficult," Poulin said. "It was hard, but to be honest, I knew the team we had was very special. I knew we were in a position to put ourselves in a very good spot to win the Walter Cup. It was one of our goals, and it was one of my goals. It was worth it.

"I knew all the risks, what was for it and what was against it, and what I had to do. At the end of the day, I was 100 per cent committed. And I was very happy to lift that Cup at the end of the day."

Hockey icon Marie-Philip Poulin provides update about her health

The surgery will presumably rule Poulin out of the women's world hockey championship in Denmark this November, but Sauvageau would not say whether her captain would miss the 2026-27 PWHL season. The typical recovery timeline for ACL surgery is nine to 12 months.

Knowing Poulin would miss time, Sauvageau has bolstered the Victoire's offence this off-season, signing forwards Jessie Eldridge and Emma Maltais in free agency and adding centre Petra Nieminen at the draft.

There is, however, no replacing the Victoire captain, whose jersey will remain hanging in her dressing room stall as she works her way back.

"And when the time is right, that jersey will be exactly where it belongs — ready for her return," Sauvageau said.

Poulin is widely regarded as one of the greatest women's hockey players of all time. She has won three Olympic gold medals, scoring the winning goal in all three of those gold-medal games to earn the nickname "Captain Clutch."

A five-time Olympian, Poulin is also the Canadian women's team's all-time leading goal scorer at the Winter Games with 20.

Poulin is the PWHL's all-time leading scorer with 38 goals and 67 points in 70 games since the league began play in 2024. She was named league MVP in 2025.

This past season, Poulin recorded nine goals and nine assists in 19 games.

"I don't think there's any words to describe Marie, to start with, and what she had decided following this injury. It was not a `for sure' to be back during the playoffs," Sauvageau said. "To go through this process, not knowing if it's gonna work, it was unbelievable to watch … This is what Marie-Philip is all about, a person of [few] words, but so much more action. And this is how she leads.

"[The goal] is to be back as long as possible. We love watching her, we love having her around, she's bigger than the sport itself and the sport needs her."

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