Who Would The Utah Mammoth Protect Under PWHL Expansion Rules?

The PWHL is adding both Vancouver and Seattle, and with that, the league dropped its expansion rules — and yeah, they’re pretty wild.

Here’s how it works: the six original teams can protect three players going into both the Exclusive Signing Window and the Expansion Draft. Once two players are taken from a team, they’re then allowed to protect one more, bringing their final list to four players.

Since this setup is nothing like the NHL’s, I thought it’d be fun to apply it to the Utah Mammoth and see who they might protect.

Starting with the obvious, Clayton Keller is locked in as the first name on the list. After that, the next two spots would probably go to Logan Cooley and Dylan Geunther.

Now for the tricky part — trying to predict who gets taken in the expansion draft. There are a few ways this could go, but I’d bet Karel Vejmelka and Mikhail Sergachev are the two taken.

According to the rules, once two players are picked — either during the Exclusive Signing Window or the draft — the team gets to protect one more. So, the fourth slot would likely go to Sean Durzi. 

Here’s how the Mammoth’s protection list would look:

It’s a huge change from how the NHL handles expansion, where teams can protect either seven forwards, three defensemen, and one goalie — or just eight total skaters and a goalie. The PWHL’s format definitely leaves a bigger pool of talent for the new teams to choose from.

Would you like to see this style of expansion draft rules come to the NHL?

What would your protection list look like? Drop it below.