The PWHL's expansion process is officially underway. Teams, including the league's four expansion cities, may begin negotiating with free agents in the 24-hour negotiation window.
The PWHL's expansion player dispersal has officially begun. For the first time, beginning at 12pm EST on June 1, teams will be eligible to speak to free agents from across the league. This includes the PWHL's four new teams in Detroit, Hamilton, Las Vegas, and San Jose.
It's the beginning of what the PWHL has dubbed the Preliminary Negotiation Window. It's a 24-hour period before the first signing window opens at 12pm on June 2. The first signing window lasts 27 hours, allowing only pre-existing teams to sign, while expansion teams can continue negotiating with pending free agents, albeit without the opportunity to sign them, yet.
The culmination of Phase One is the end of the signing period on June 3 at 3pm, followed by the submission of each existing team's three-player protection list at 5pm.
When Phase 2 opens, expansion teams will begin adding players. Like last year, that could include notable names from across the league.
Did Some Teams Take A Head Start?
Some teams will be making their first calls at noon on June 1...while other teams have been talking for days. The PWHL put out explicit verbiage regarding potential consequences for "tampering" if a team is caught speaking to players outside of specific windows, or players not on their negotiation lists. According to multiple sources within the league, however, it hasn't stopped some teams from getting a head start. Agents are making calls as well.
There were more than a few upset teams in the PWHL when they learned via their own players, or their agents, that other teams had expressed interest.
Some teams are doing it through more informal channels, others have straight up set up meetings and calls with agents for the purpose of negotiating. Others however, are playing it by the books and following all the rules.
Will The Stars Actually Move Again?
It seemed almost unbelievable last season to watch Hilary Knight, Sarah Nurse, Alex Carpenter, Sophie Jaques, Emerance Maschmeyer, Claire Thompson, Cayla Barnes and others signed one after the other, after the other in Seattle and Vancouver. What happened when free agency opened following the expansion draft was perhaps even more incredible seeing how many players chose to move west. Almost all of those signings however, were built during the PWHL's exclusive signing window, where the expansion teams not only negotiated with the five players they each signed during the window, but with most of the players they ended up signing later as well. It didn't work out on the ice in year one, but on paper, it was an impressive bit of roster building.
There's been talk that Kendall Coyne Schofield is going to look at Detroit as a possibility for next season, and some believe Brianne Jenner may be a popular call this week. Coyne Schofield and Manon Rheaume are well connected, and whether or not there's a deal to get done, it would be surprising for them not to connect this week. It's also possible those calls don't go well, and the two founding captains stay where they are in Minnesota and Ottawa, respectively.
Since Phase One only involves pending free agents, and existing teams can only talk to the 10 players on their negotiation list, the chance of stars moving during Phase One is very low. During Phase One, some players will be re-signed by their teams as part of their three protections, and the groundwork for many future signings will also be laid.
Goaltending Will Be At A Premium
Vancouver alluded to the idea they'll protect a goaltender, likely Emerance Maschmeyer with one of their three slots. Ottawa is going to protect Gwyneth Philips, Boston will protect Aerin Frankel, and Montreal has already stated they will protect Ann-Renee Desbiens.
Goaltending is at a premium, and for teams who leave a starting calibre goalie unprotected, there is a very good chance they'll lose them. Whether it's Raygan Kirk (Toronto), Maddie Rooney (Minnesota), Kayle Osborne (New York), Kristen Campbell (Vanvouver) or Corrinne Schroeder and Hannah Murphy (Seattle), leaving a top goalie unprotected could cause a jump. The free agents on the market including Kirk and Nicole Hensley are going to be popular people this week, but the choice will be there's as no goaltender in this league has been paid the $100,000 that comes with an Expansion Franchise Offer, so neither is expected to have to sign this week unless they want to.