Torrent General Manager, Meghan Turner, spoke with media on June 4 about the three players the team protected as well as the conversations with those unprotected. She also spoke about the future phases and what the focus was for that as well.
As the dust settles on the first phase of the Expansion Player Distribution Process, Seattle Torrent General Manager Meghan Turner spoke with media regarding the team’s three protected players. These players were forward and alternate captain Alex Carpenter, goaltender Hannah Murphy, and defender Anna Wilgren.
Turner stated that she felt these three represented a group that each position could be bult around from forwards to defenders to goaltenders.
“Just wanted to express my real excitement for this core group,” Turner said. “It’s the spine of the roster going forward. There’s a lot of variables that go into these decisions but feeling really good and really excited about the way forward here.”
Overall Thoughts on the Protected Three
It sounded like everything went as well as could be expected for the Torrent in a complicated expansion process. “Just feel really excited about this group,” Turner said. “Alex [Carpenter] is one of the best two-way forwards in the world. Hannah Murphy and Anna Wilgren, we haven’t seen the best of them yet and that plays a big role into the decision here.”
Carpenter was the first signing during this first phase and was signed to a three-year standard player agreement. Veteran leadership and presence on the ice as well as consistency in performance certainly factored into this decision. This was probably the least surprising of the protections for the team.
Murphy and Wilgren caught some off guard when their names were announced, but Turner had some more insight on those decisions as well. “Just really excited to see how these young players can blossom and see them solidify themselves in Seattle,” Turner said. “And how they can bring their game to Seattle and show the broader fan base and the broader league what we believe they can do.”
“You're always considering the veteran status versus the youth. We wanted to make sure we had a good core group that could have some longevity,” said Turner. “Everyone feels the same way that it’s important to have a good balance of experience, but also some young potential.” With the Torrent protecting that experience in Carpenter and the younger players in Murphy and Wilgren, they achieved that balance.
Defense to Help Build the Team’s Identity
“Defense are kind of hard to come by just in numbers,” said Turner. That also aligns with most teams protecting a defender, a couple even protecting two. That’s where Wilgren fits into this base layer. She was a difference maker for the team last season as well, often keeping the Torrent within striking distance of their opponents.
“We want to play a heavy game next year, and we feel that Anna is a heavy D player. She also has that huge offensive upside,” said Turner. “She's young and has that potential. I don't think we've seen what she can really do in this league, and so we're excited to put her in positions to be able to succeed and watch her and help her develop too.”
The team ended at the bottom of the standings last season. They had referenced wanting a team that was competitive and bold before the season started. There were glimpses of that throughout, but change is needed and coming. The defensive core, now heavily dependent on Wilgren, is going to play a big part in those changes and also in the identity building of the team in season two.
“She is not afraid to block shots. She's not afraid to make checks and finish hits. She's not afraid to get into the hard areas of the ice. She’s good at transporting the puck through the neutral zone, and she's got speed, and she wants to get up into the play and be that fourth activation,” Turner said. “That is a big part of the identity we want to have next year is just really playing that that heavy game and keeping teams to the outside and not allowing teams in the middle and then also being relentless in the ozone and smart around our blue lines.”
Goaltending a Big Focus in This Phase
Every existing team protected a goal on their roster except for the Sirens. “The goalie position was certainly a big focus for everyone. If you lose a goalie, if you don't protect the goalie, you're going to have to find one some other way,” said Turner. “There's a lot of teams that need good starting goaltenders. It's probably difficult to wait for the draft where you don't exactly know what's going to fall where.”
Murphy is going into her second year in the professional league and was solid in her rookie season. The Torrent’s other half of the goalie tandem, Corinne Schroeder, played 17 games to Murphy’s 12 and had a 0.915 save percentage over Murphy’s 0.908. The differences in those numbers aren’t necessarily significant enough to make a big case either way.
“We felt good about Murphy's potential and what we saw in Hannah this year,” said Turner. “That was a shared sentiment across the board, so we wanted to make sure that we kept her in Seattle.”
With a Walter Cup continuing to be a focus and at the forefront of the general manager’s mind, it makes sense that goaltending would be top of mind. “A good goaltender who can be the backbone for us, because that is number one. You look at the teams that that are really championship driven and starts from the net out.”
The Unprotected Players
Photo @ Nancy Shields Notably, the Torrent captain, Hilary Knight, was not protected in this first phase. “There's certain players, Hillary being one of them, that probably deserved more of a of an explanation, usually, just out of out of respect,” said Turner. “She's a professional and that's how we approached it. Hillary is a pro in all respects, and it was a very professional conversation and have a ton of respect for her as a player and a person than a leader.”
What went into not protecting the captain? It would have been hard to protect both Carpenter and Knight, but Knight brought so many eyes to the league and the team. She also was able to perform in the big moments for the team as well. Knight was such a heartbeat to the Torrent and so popular among the fanbase that many are still shocked not to see her name on the protected list.
On the overall decisions to protect the three the team did, the complications of the process of adding four new teams played a big part. “This process is difficult. It's long. Last year was a little bit more straightforward. You had the protections, and then you had the draft,” said Turner. “There's more variables at play and those were real factors in the decision making here, including the contract landscape across the board. It doesn't look the same as it did last year, so that's something we certainly took into consideration.”
“I don’t think there’s any one strategy or one variable that drove the decision,” said Turner. “It was a waiting of the supply and demand at each position to what position are harder to fill in the draft and the signing windows upcoming here. What does the rest of the expansion process look like? What are the odds we can keep certain players?”
Next Up
The Expansion Player Distribution Process continues and there are a lot of phases to go and a lot of scenarios to think through. Turner talked about her thought process moving forward.
Turner also has a head coach position to fill before the season starts. “I think we’re close. It’s coming along well. We had a lot of things we could take from last year. We’re close on the coaching search. I feel really good about the candidate pool. I feel really good about some of the reflection that we did and what we’re able to take into next year. Part of that is finding someone who feels the same as I do about playing that game and I think we have a lot of good candidates that came through throughout this process that feel that same way. I think we’re getting close to a decision here.”