{"id":60917,"date":"2026-04-14T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/?p=60917"},"modified":"2026-04-14T22:05:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T18:05:58","slug":"val-sweeting-joins-kayla-macmillan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/val-sweeting-joins-kayla-macmillan\/","title":{"rendered":"Val Sweeting joins Team MacMillan in major curling roster shakeup"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style='background:#f7fafc;padding:15px;'>\n<p><strong>Quick Read<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Val Sweeting has joined Kayla MacMillan\u2019s Victoria-based rink as third after eight seasons with Kerri Einarson.<\/li>\n<li>The move comes shortly after Sweeting helped Team Einarson secure a silver medal at the 2026 World Women\u2019s Curling Championship.<\/li>\n<li>Team MacMillan, currently seventh in the national rankings, expects the veteran&#8217;s addition to make them favorites for the 2027 Scotties.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>VICTORIA (Azat TV) \u2013 In a significant roster shift for the Canadian curling circuit, eight-time Grand Slam champion Val Sweeting has officially joined Kayla MacMillan\u2019s Victoria-based rink. The move, announced Monday, April 13, 2026, marks the end of Sweeting\u2019s highly successful eight-season tenure as the third for Kerri Einarson\u2019s Gimli-based squad.<\/p>\n<h2>A strategic shift for Team MacMillan<\/h2>\n<p>The addition of the 38-year-old veteran to the Victoria Curling Club rink is expected to immediately elevate the team&#8217;s national standing. Currently ranked seventh in the Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS), Team MacMillan sought Sweeting\u2019s extensive experience to bolster their competitiveness. Sweeting, who holds five Scotties Tournament of Hearts titles, will retain her role as third, replacing Brittany Tran on a roster that features second Lindsay Dubue and lead Lauren Lenentine.<\/p>\n<h2>The end of an era with Team Einarson<\/h2>\n<p>The transition follows a silver-medal performance at the World Women\u2019s Curling Championship in Calgary last month. According to reports from the <em>Winnipeg Free Press<\/em>, the separation from the Einarson rink was not entirely unexpected, as rumors had circulated throughout the 2025\u201326 campaign. Despite the difficulty of parting ways after nearly a decade of dominance, Sweeting expressed confidence in her decision, noting that she admired MacMillan\u2019s calm demeanor and shot-making abilities.<\/p>\n<h2>Elevating the Victoria rink<\/h2>\n<p>The MacMillan rink\u2019s ambition is supported by a high-profile coaching staff, including seven-time world champion Niklas Edin. With Sweeting joining a core that includes talented young players like Dubue and Lenentine, industry analysts at <em>TSN<\/em> suggest the team is now poised to become a favorite to represent British Columbia at the 2027 Scotties in Charlottetown. Sweeting concluded her final season with Einarson ranked second among all thirds, boasting an 83.1 percent shooting accuracy.<\/p>\n<p><em>The departure of such a decorated veteran from a championship-caliber team like Einarson\u2019s, coupled with her immediate integration into an up-and-coming squad like MacMillan\u2019s, underscores the aggressive pursuit of veteran leadership as teams look to reset their competitive trajectory following the conclusion of the 2026 Olympic cycle.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eight-time Grand Slam champion Val Sweeting has officially moved to Victoria to join Kayla MacMillan\u2019s rink, signaling a major shift in the Canadian curling landscape following her departure from Team Einarson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":-1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"googlesitekit_rrm_CAow5Nm1DA:productID":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[2697,36817,55147],"class_list":["post-60917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sport","tag-canada","tag-curling","tag-val-sweeting"],"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/val-sweeting-curling-team.jpg","_embedded":{"wp:featuredmedia":[{"id":-1,"source_url":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/val-sweeting-curling-team.jpg","media_type":"image","mime_type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60917\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}