New PWHL teams waste little time loading up on league talent
Expansion process takes big bite out of Toronto Sceptres lineup with Sarah Nurse off to Vancouver
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Turns out that five-day exclusive signing period for the two expansion PWHL teams may have been a few days too long.
Both newcomers to the PWHL jumped into the process head first Wednesday with some franchise-altering signings.
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Locally, the biggest impact was the Toronto Sceptres losing Sarah Nurse to Vancouver, which got the day’s proceedings off in lightning fashion striking first to get Minnesota defenders Sophie Jaques and Claire Thompson on its roster.
The latter two are both Toronto natives while Nurse is technically a Hamiltonian — though Toronto has been claiming her for a little while now.
The loss of Nurse is a big blow to the Sceptres. The heavily decorated Canadian National team player was a foundational selection for the Sceptres and a big part of their culture through the first two seasons. An injury at the Rivalry Series games on the East Coast set Nurse back a bit and cost her 10 games in the regular season. She was just beginning to return to form when the playoffs ended for the Sceptres in that four-game first-round loss to Minnesota.
Vancouver rounded out Day 1 by signing a fourth Canadian, this time dipping into the goaltender pool and grabbing Ottawa Charge netminder Emerance Maschmeyer. Vancouver later finished its five-player pickup by signing Montreal Victoire forward Jenn Gardiner.
Maschmeyer, a Calgary native, was left unprotected after an injury opened a door for rookie Gwyneth Philips, who quickly established herself at worst as a co-No. 1 with Philips in the Ottawa net, taking the Charge to within two wins of a Walter Cup. The Charge opted to protect the younger and less expensive Philips over Maschmeyer.
In Seattle, the other expansion market, the signings were equally eye opening.
PWHL Seattle signed Boston Fleet captain Hilary Knight and two of the top selections in last year’s entry draft, Ottawa Charge forward Danielle Serdachny (second overall) and Montreal defender Cayla Barnes (fifth overall).
There were rumblings that Seattle was on the verge of rounding out their five picks allotted to them in that exclusive five-day window by signing Knight’s teammate Hannah Bilka as well as New York’s Alex Carpenter.
It would not be a surprise if Vancouver’s fifth selection in this part of the process — if they make a fifth — winds up being North Vancouver native Hannah Miller from the Sceptres.
With Minnesota, Ottawa, and Montreal having already lost two players, those teams are now in a position to protect a fourth player. Minnesota used its fourth protection on polarizing forward Britta Curl-Salemme. Ottawa protected forward Gabbie Hughes, and Montreal protected defender Erin Ambrose.
All in all, it made for a very entertaining opening to the expansion process, which will continue with the exclusive window signing period until Sunday at 5 p.m. (or until Seattle reaches five players) and then commence again with the expansion draft beginning Monday, when the two new teams will select up to seven more players each or until they have a roster of 12.
The remainder of the rosters will be filled out during the annual entry draft on June 23 in Ottawa.
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