Wisconsin is bringing back two key pieces from their championship roster.
The defending national champion Wisconsin Badgers will endure a little less roster turnover than we thought, with both Lacey Eden and Marianne Picard announcing their intent to return for the 2025-26 season.
Eden, a redshirt senior last year, and Picard, a redshirt junior, both participated in the senior day festivities at the February 8th home game against Minnesota, which typically signals an end to a player’s collegiate career. In Eden’s case, she joined the Badgers during a significantly shortened 2020-21 season due to COVID-19, playing 15 games before redshirting the following season and resuming play in 2022-23 as a redshirt sophomore.
The NCAA’s rules regarding eligibility are often murky and selectively enforced, but Eden is part of the last group that can benefit from additional COVID eligibility. In theory, a student-athlete is supposed to have five years to play four. In Eden’s case, she played four seasons over five years, but her COVID-shortened freshman campaign falls under the blanket of extra eligibility offered to student-athletes whose sports were affected in 2020.
Picard’s case is a bit more straightforward—she made six appearances in 2021-22 and took a redshirt year, so that season did not count toward her eligibility. Picard returned as a redshirt freshman in 2022-23 and has only played three seasons, despite finishing four years as a student at the University of Wisconsin. She will be returning for her fourth year of athletic eligibility in five years.
The importance of veteran leadership cannot be overstated, and the Badgers were already bringing back plenty before Eden and Picard announced their returns. Eden is a three-time national champion at Wisconsin, while Picard has two titles to her name.
Eden has also been a mainstay on the top line for some of the most productive offenses in the history of NCAA women’s hockey. She has notched 50+ points in each of the last two seasons and has a chance to eclipse the 100-goal mark if she matches her output from either of those years. She sits at 169 career points and is likely to become a 200-point scorer at some point next season. That’s a lot of valuable experience returning to the locker room.
Picard doesn’t necessarily jump out on the scoresheet, but she has been a steady depth piece whose role increases with each year. She’s appeared in 40 or more games in each of the last three seasons and averaged 20 points per season over the last two years.
A huge area of importance for Picard is the faceoff circle, where she won 314 draws at a rate of 64 percent in 2024-25. That’s a higher faceoff win percentage than all-world forward and last year’s Patty Kazmaier recipient, Casey O’Brien, albeit a lower volume. The Badgers are excellent at scoring off the faceoff, whether it be offensive zone, neutral zone, or starting a breakout from the defensive zone. Taking possession off the dot is paramount to Wisconsin’s quick-strike offense, making Picard’s return a welcome bit of news for the Badgers.
With Eden and Picard returning, Wisconsin will have a relatively small turnover from a dominant championship-winning team last season. Losing Casey O’Brien is obviously huge, but the Badgers have plenty of returning star power in Kirsten Simms, Laila Edwards, Caroline Harvey, and Ava McNaughton in net. It’s hard to see anybody but the Badgers being the favorite to repeat in 2025-26.