PWHL expansion teams will have plenty to choose from as they stock their rosters

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Have at it, PWHL Vancouver and PWHL Seattle.

The two newest clubs to join the PWHL have a veritable smorgasbord of talent ready to be picked over and made their own over the next six days, now that the existing six clubs have declared their three protected picks.

GMs Meghan Turner and Cara Gardner Morey of PWHL Seattle and PWHL Vancouver, respectively, both suggested finding leadership in the expansion draft process was going to be high on their list of desirables when it came to making their selections.

Well, there’s no shortage of that, starting with Boston Fleet captain and U.S. hockey legend Hilary Knight. Or if you want to stay Canadian there’s the option of Brianne Jenner, the Ottawa Charge captain and a national team mainstay in her own right.

Top-end forwards available include Sarah Nurse, the Toronto Sceptres forward who was one of the team’s three foundational signings when the PWHL came into existence. The New York Sirens have left Alex Carpenter, another U.S. hockey legend, unprotected. Like Nurse, she too was one of her team’s foundational signings.

“Like us, I’m sure all teams had a very difficult time selecting their three players to protect,” Sceptres head coach Troy Ryan said via text. “Gina (GM Gina Kingsbury) had a very thorough process and did a great job getting input from staff. It was not an easy process as we know we have some quality people/players that we were unable to protect. I can only imagine how difficult this period will be for so many of the athletes with their futures unknown.”

There’s a plethora of top-end defenders available as well, starting in Montreal where another long-time national team member in Erin Ambrose was left unprotected. In fact, all of Montreal’s vaunted D corps is there for the taking — at least until they, like all six existing teams, lose two players in the process, at which point each team will be able to protect a fourth player.

Other top-notch defenders there for the taking including Minnesota’s young duo of Sophie Jaques and Claire Thompson, as well as Ottawa’s Ashton Bell, who is coming off a great second season in the league.

As far as goaltending talent goes, there’s going to be plenty to fill both Vancouver and Seattle’s top two spots, should they choose to go that way.

That list includes Minnesota’s Nicole Hensley and Maddie Rooney (free agent), Toronto Kristen (Soupy) Campbell, Ottawa’s Emerance Maschmeyer, New York’s Corinne Schroeder, or even Boston’s highly coveted backup Klara Peslarova.

The league put a premium on parity in this draft process and barring only some rather poor decision-making, both newcomers are being gift-wrapped the opportunity to come in at close to or even to the same level as the six existing teams.

Should the new teams decide to start young and build that way, that route is there for them as well. Up for grabs just from last year’s draft are the Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 picks — Ottawa’s Danielle Serdachny, Minnesota’s Thompson, Boston’s Hannah Bilka, Montreal’s Cayla Barnes and Toronto’s Julia Gosling.

In fact, the only 2024 first-round pick not available in this process is first-overall pick Sarah Fillier and, with her ties to the new GM in Vancouver (Fillier was Gardner Morey’s captain at Princeton) coupled with some tough contract negotiations in New York, that means New York will have to negotiate another deal this off-season or risk losing her after the year. There’s at least the potential for a deal there between Vancouver and New York.

As for surprises on the protected lists, there were a few, though in truth many of the bigger surprises were just confirmation of leaks that trickled out over the past few days.

Leaving Knight and Bilka unprotected in Boston was a surprise given Knight is the team captain and still playing at an elite level, while Bilka has elite potential and is just starting out her pro career.

The two-time defending champs in Minnesota stayed true to its leadership corps knowing they will probably lose at least one of their top goaltending tandem in Hensley and Rooney.

In Montreal, there was very little surprise as it, like Minnesota, went with holding on to what they are built around and that is the duo of Poulin and Stacey, and the world-class goaltending of Desbiens.

It means they are likely going to have to scramble to rebuild a back line in front of Desbiens and say farewell to some coveted pieces, but that goes for all six teams.

New York leaving Carpenter available was a surprise, but it allows them to maintain their more vocal leaders in Shelton and Zandee-Hart while ensuring their own once-in-generation talent in Sarah Fillier, a younger version of Carpenter, doesn’t just leave them.

Both Ottawa and Toronto had some very tough decisions of their own, exposing faces of their respective franchises in Jenner and Nurse. Those can’t have been easy, but nothing about this process, other than knowing expansion means the league is thriving, has been easy for any of the six teams about to get picked over.

In the process, all six teams will lose a total of four players, giving each of the two incoming clubs a 12-player roster.

Following a five-day exclusive window in which Vancouver and Seattle can attempt to sign any of the unprotected players or those on expiring contracts, the two clubs will make selections in the expansion draft (Monday, June 9) until they have reached a total of 12 players each.

The remainder of those two rosters will be filled out when they take part in the annual entry draft. The league has yet to announce where the two expansion teams will choose in the eight-team draft.

The Protected Lists

Boston Fleet: Aerin Frankel (G), Megan Keller (D), Alina Muller (F)

Minnesota Frost: Kendall Coyne Schofield (F), Taylor Heise (F), Lee Stecklein (D)

Montreal Victoire: Ann-Renee Desbiens (G), Marie-Philip Poulin (F), Laura Stacey (F)

New York Sirens: Sarah Fillier (F), Ella Shelton (D), Micah Zandee-Hart (D)

Ottawa Charge: Emily Clark (F), Gwyneth Philips (G), Ronja Savolainen (D)

Toronto Sceptres: Renata Fast (D), Blayre Turnbull (F), Daryl Watts (F)