One-On-One: Will PWHL Expansion Teams Struggle Again, Or Can They Reverse Last Year's Fate?

Last season expectations for the league’s two expansion teams, the Seattle Torrent and Vancouver Goldeneyes, were sky high. 

Most, including The Hockey News, predicted the teams would finish at or near the top of the PWHL regular season standings, and most predicted one or both would find themselves in the Walter Cup finals. 

That, however, is not how things turned out. Both missed the playoffs despite pillaging the rest of the league to create rosters stacked with talent. 

It was a lesson in chemistry, and the added burdens of not having off-ice logistics figured out, having markedly more demanding travel schedules, and facing an extremely short preseason for players and staff still learning the league.

This season, four new expansion teams will look to buck the expansion curse and find their way to the playoffs.

Can they? The Hockey News' Cee Benwell and Ian Kennedy discuss.

Ian Kennedy: I’ll admit, I got it wrong last year. That’s why I’m far more skeptical, and far more hesitant to pick Detroit or Hamilton to be contenders. The value of chemistry, established systems and protocols, it was all more than I anticipated. Detroit is constructed very similarly to how Seattle was built, as a top-heavy team with very little offense on their blueline. Hamilton spent big at the top, but with a little more diversity in their skill set, and more established role players deeper in the lineup. If there’s a major difference for these two compared to Seattle and Vancouver however, it’s coaching. Both teams have veteran PWHL coaches in reigning Coach of the Year Kris Sparre in Hamilton and Josh Sciba, a former assistant with the New York Sirens and Team USA in Detroit. What are your expectations Cee?

Cee Benwell: I agree: we all have some residue of the shock of how poorly Seattle and Vancouver played last season. So yes, we’re skeptical of how teams look ‘on paper’ for good reason. I wonder if this year’s expansion teams learned that chemistry is more important than talent. Detroit has those three players from Seattle who are certainly familiar with each other from Team USA – of course, it didn’t help Seattle when Knight and Bilka were both injured for periods of the season. But that Team USA connection is going to work in Detroit’s favor, no question, with Britta Curl-Salemme and even Jesse Compher sharing that history. It looks like out in San Jose, they’re building around some New York Sirens’ chemistry. Do you think that approach will work?

Ian Kennedy: San Jose is kind of the antithesis to last year’s expansion teams. Everything they’ve built looks like a team that should finish near or at the bottom of the standings. They also, however, have a mix of players with outstanding upside who could enjoy breakout seasons. Anne Cherkowski looked like she was about to pop last year in New York, Natalie Mlynkova could flourish with more ice time, but they need pretty much everyone to have a career year to find their way into the playoff mix. As you said, Detroit has the biggest boom or bust potential. Hamilton feels like the safest bet because of their balance. They have three very well balanced forward lines, six PWHL-calibre defenders, and a solid crease. While only Kayle Osborne has PWHL experience in net, there’s a lot of chatter that Sandra Abstreiter might end up in Hamilton, which would give them one of the better 1-2 groups in the league with Emma Sofie-Nordstrom there as a viable option to push for backup time. Vegas is an interesting one to me. So much youthful talent. What do you think of how Las Vegas has built?

Cee Benwell: Las Vegas is a conundrum for me. I look at the list of names and I have a hard time picturing them all on the ice together. If there’s a theme to this roster, it’s simply the solid top four defenders and those two top five draft picks up front. I can’t wait to see Tessa Janecke and Lacey Eden pair up against pro defenders, although I don’t think they can carry this team on their own offensively. Hayley Scamurra is obviously a crucial presence to help stabilize the forwards, and Erin Ambrose (who will likely be captain) will do that for the blue liners. But the mix of players after that is a little confusing. GM Dominique DiDia signed four players from the bottom-ranked Seattle Torrent, and probably has the weakest goaltending pair right now, Nicole Hensley and Saskia Maurer. But then there’s the defensive pairing of Kendall Cooper and Mae Batherson, which is automatically Las Vegas’ top pair. And both Issy Wunder and Josefin Bouveng are solid draft picks. What are your thoughts - which expansion team will surprise us?

Ian Kennedy: I think Hamilton looks the most solid top to bottom. They’ve got six PWHL defenders, they’ll have a good trio in net, they’ve got a mix of speed and compete up front. Detroit’s forward group is exciting. San Jose has so much upside, but I have a hard time envisioning them competing with the big teams offensively. They just weren’t successful in getting the same calibre of players. If there’s a team who might underperform in a surprising way, it’s Detroit. If there’s a team who might overperform in a surprising way, it could be Las Vegas. Vegas might struggle early, but with Janecke, Eden, Wunder, and Bouveng up front, they’re only going to get better as the season goes on. We learned last year that what these rosters look like on paper doesn’t matter. Although I’d wager that Vancouver will be a contender this season, and Seattle won’t be a bottom dweller either. Expect the unexpected.