With expansion planned for the 2025-26 PWHL season, the PWHL will be looking into ways to make their new teams competitive. Could an expansion draft be in the works?
With expansion planned for the 2025-26 PWHL season, the PWHL will be looking into ways to make their new teams competitive. Could an expansion draft be in the works?
When the Golden State Valkyries enter the WNBA in 2025 as the league's 13th franchise, they'll do so with a roster primarily composed of players acquired through an expansion draft. It's the WNBA's first expansion draft since 2008, and with the PWHL recently announcing plans to expand by up to two teams ahead of the 2025-26 season, the top women's hockey league on the planet will certainly be watching the WNBA's expansion closely.
For the WNBA's expansion draft, each team will be able to protect six players.
When the NHL expanded to 32 teams bringing in the Seattle Kraken, teams had two options for protection. They could either protect seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender, or eight skaters (forwards/defensemen) and one goaltender.
Where things got more interesting at the NHL level, was the stipulations of who each team must expose. The NHL required each team to expose "one defenseman who is a) under contract in 2021-22 and b) played in 27 or more NHL games the prior season OR played in 54 or more NHL games in the prior two seasons; two forwards who are a) under contract in 2021-22 and b) played in 27 or more NHL games the prior season OR played in 54 or more NHL games in the prior two seasons; and one goaltender who is under contract in 2021-22 or will be a restricted free agent at the expiration of his current contract immediately prior to 2021-22."
With how new the PWHL is as a league, and the league's willingness to take novel approaches to rule adaptations, something completely new could emerge, but the league also has to find a balance.
What will be the salary cap impact?
When the PWHL was founded, the collective bargaining agreement mandated that each team sign six players to three year guaranteed contracts worth at least $80,000. These contracts constitute the bulk of the salary cap and are how teams reached the $55,000 per player average the CBA required. Most players in the league however, are making less than $40,000 per season. Expansion teams could reach the average by signing the bulk of their roster to deals between $45,000 and $65,000, which would be enough to entice mid-level free agents to jump ship. But it's likely almost all of those contracts, aside from top draft picks, would be one year deals. One way to not only make the expansion clubs more competitive, but also to help alleviate cap constrictions a year earlier for all teams in the league, would be to require each PWHL team to expose 1-2 of the players originally signed to three year deals, and to mandate the expansion teams select at least one of those players from each of the original six teams. This would open up money for each team to sign new players a year earlier than would otherwise be possible, and it would also help the expansion teams. It's a prospect some teams would welcome, while others, like the Toronto Sceptres, would certainly be less open to losing one of their original six three-year players.
How many players would be selected?
In the WNBA, selecting one player from each team gives an expansion club 12 players, which is enough, particularly with the draft, to field a team. In the NHL, selecting 30+ players not only allows a team to ice a full roster, but also to bolster their farm system. If the PWHL expands by two teams, it's reasonable to believe new teams could select two players each from the existing six clubs. It would mean every team in the league would lose four players, a number that can easily be replaced through the draft, while giving the new team(s) 12 signed players to begin building around.
What free agents will be available?
If the league decided not to go with an expansion draft, they could give the expansion teams added picks at the top of the entry draft. The other option would be to force the new teams to build primarily through a combination of the entry draft and free agency. Currently there are 44 players across the league slated to become unrestricted free agents following this season. That number will balloon as teams sign players at training camp. There is no shortage however of quality players who will be hitting free agency following this season. In Toronto, that list includes players like Natalie Spooner, Jesse Compher, Maggie Connors, Hannah Miller, Victoria Bach, and Kali Flanagan. From Ottawa it's a list that includes Hayley Scamurra, Tereza Vanisova, Jincy Roese, and Zoe Boyd. From New York Chloe Aurard, Elizabeth Giguere, Brooke Hobson, Jill Saulnier, and Jade Downie-Landry will hit the market, while Montreal's list includes Kennedy Marchment, Claire Dalton, Dominika Laskova, Kati Tabin, Mariah Keopple and netminder Elaine Chuli. From Minnesota, Maddie Rooney, Natalie Buchbinder, Maggie Flaherty, Michaela Cava, and Liz Schepers will hit the market, and finally from Boston, the list of pending free agents includes Emma Soderberg, Jessiva DiGirolamo, Sidney Morin, Sussana Tapani, Loren Gabel, Theresa Schafzahl, Taylor Girard, Lexie Adzidja, and Emma Greco. It would be hard to claim a competitive team could not be forged from this list, but many of those players will also re-sign with their current teams.
How else could the PWHL ensure parity?
Part of the league's year one success came from the level playing field each team experienced. While New York and Ottawa were inevitably the teams to miss the playoffs, the gaps were small. One item the league has yet to alter is PWHL Draft eligibility. If the league set an age or experience limit for players entering the draft to make it more of a true entry draft. In the NHL, the limit generally 21. While the PWHL is unlikely to be that restrictive given many players do not graduate from NCAA hockey until they are 22 or 23, or in the case of Europeans, often 24, the league could implement a limit at 25-years-old. This would open up free agency to veteran players in Europe who could step in immediately and make an impact in the PWHL such as Michelle Karvinen, Michaela Pejzlova, Jenni Hiirikoski, Lara Stalder, Petra Nieminen, Jenniina Nylund, Hanna Olsson, Emma Bergesen, Lindsay Agnew, and Skylar Fontaine, to sign with an expansion club for better salaries. It would be a route to make the expansion clubs competitive, and to entice all of the world's top players to the league.