Looking At The Players Likely To Be Targeted With PWHL Expansion Franchise Offers

On the eve of the PWHL's four new teams in Detroit, Hamilton, Las Vegas, and San Jose getting to sign players for the first time, each of those teams were required to submit not only a 20-player Exclusive Negotiation Target List, but perhaps more pertinently, a four-player Expansion Foundational Offer (EFO) Ranking List.

Each team has four players they've now submitted to the league, ranked in order from the player they most hope to use their EFO on, to their fourth pick. While it wasn't originally the case, EFOs will be mandatory for the four PWHL expansion teams guaranteeing each team signs a player in free agency this week. 

If multiple teams list the same player as their first EFO target, "the player will choose which team they sign with and can further negotiate the terms of their agreement."

If a player however, if ranked first on only one team's list, they will automatically be assigned to the team. Their only choice then, as EFOs are binding contracts, is the term of the contract, which the player can select from 1-4 seasons. 

It gets more complex if a player is ranked first on multiple lists. After that player chooses their destination, the league will move to the second ranked player for the team who did not successfully sign an EFO in the first round. If that player has not already been signed, and is not ranked second by multiple teams in the same situation, they'll be automatically assigned to the team. This process will complete down to the fourth ranked player for a team if they had the identical list to all other teams and missed out on their top three ranked players.

In the end, each PWHL expansion team will have an EFO player signed, with term of the contract selected by June 9 at 12pm EST.

Of the top 20 scorers in the PWHL this season, eight are eligible for EFOs. Those players are Kendall Coyne Schofield, Daryl Watts, Jessie Eldridge, Grace Zumwinkle, Julia Gosling, Jennifer Gardiner, and Abby Roque, and Brianne Jenner.

Jenner ($122,003.00) and Roque ($116,699.00) were two of the top four paid players in the PWHL this season, and to sign either to an EFO, a team would need to be willing to match their salaries, while also risking the additional $20,000 cap hit for a multi-year bonus. It's not enough to rule them out from signing during expansion, but it will certainly be a deterrent to have either listed as the top choice for an expansion team who will enter the draft with fewer signed players than Vancouver and Seattle had last year.

Kendall Coyne Schofield and Daryl Watts will almost certainly find themselves on the EFO lists for at least a few teams. It would not be shocking to see Jessie Eldridge or Grace Zumwinkle, who tied for fifth in league scoring but sat tied for 39th in league salary to see themsleces get a raise to $100,000 from the $84,872.00 they made this season. Neither are likely to be the first name on a list, but no one will be surprised to see them listed by one or more team.

While she was outside the top 20 in scoring due to an injury that cost her nearly half a season, Hilary Knight could be another name to watch. The living legend was a major portion of Seattle's off-ice success this year. After tying for the league lead in scoring in 2024-25, and winning an Olympic gold captaining USA this year, Knight will be looking for a big bounce back. And whatever happened in Seattle, there were plenty of unhappy players and personnel. Julia Gosling is almost certainly leaving Seattle as well, and a team could be willing to bet on her as a young player who is set to get better year over year, but she'd be more likely to arrive deeper on an EFO ranking list. Knight however, could find her way higher up and then choose a shorter term to keep freedom in her career. 

The final two names who could appear on an EFO list are free agent defenders Claire Thompson and Lee Stecklein. Stecklein remains one of the best defenders in the world, primarily for her shutdown capabilities. She has value that supersedes the scoring race, although Stecklein still finished 8th in defensive scoring this season. As a free agent, she could still follow Coyne Schofield or Knight this year to a new home whether it's via an EFO or not. Or she could stay in Minnesota, which is highly likely. Claire Thompson is the highest scoring free agent defender on the market. She was a client of Las Vegas GM Dominique DiDia at CAA Sports, and there's obviously a connection to Troy Ryan through Team Canada in San Jose. There's also Hamilton, where GM Meghan Duggan knows the value of a star defender, and could pitch Thompson to come home. It might take an EFO level contract to keep Thompson in the league at all. Thompson's future remains in question as she, at some point, intends to finish her medical training and become a practicing doctor. Will she continue to play if the salary is right? Or is she moving on regardless? She's one of few defenders on the market who could be in consideration for this, and it might be the level of salary that keeps her in the game for a few more seasons.