The PWHL two newest teams in Seattle and Vancouver will get their last boost from the league's existing, signed player pool tonight at the 2025 PWHL Expansion Draft. Beginning at 5:30 PST / 8:30 EST, the expansion draft will add to the five players each team signed during the exclusive signing window that concluded yesterday at 5pm EST.
Vancouver signed Sarah Nurse (Toronto), Claire Thompson and Sophie Jaques (Minnesota), Jennifer Gardiner (Montreal) and Emerance Maschmeyer (Ottawa).
Seattle signed Hilary Knight (Boston), Danielle Serdachny (Ottawa), Alex Carpenter and Corinne Schroeder (New York), and Cayla Barnes (Montreal).
Here's What To Expect At The 2025 PWHL Expansion Draft
First, each team will get to make seven selections bringing their rosters to 12 players each. While the five initial signings all had the opportunity to re-open their contracts, players selected tonight will join Seattle and Vancouver on the terms of their current contracts. In the signing window, some players like Sophie Jaques, Cayla Barnes, and Emerance Maschmeyer added extra years to their deals, while others like Sarah Nurse, Hilary Knight, and Alex Carpenter kept their term the same.
The PWHL has yet to announce publicly which team will select first tonight in the PWHL Draft.
Four teams - Ottawa, Minnesota, Montreal, New York - have already seen their fourth protection activated with Ottawa protecting Gabbie Hughes, Minnesota protecting Britta Curl-Salemme, Montreal saving Erin Ambrose, and New York locking down Maja Nylen Persson.
The remaining teams from the PWHL's original six - Boston and Toronto - will each get to protect a fourth player after their first player is selected in tonight's draft. Those selections might come quickly as each team has at least one player whose name has come up frequently in discussions over the weekend.
Who will be picked from each PWHL team?
With 10 players already on the move, 14 additional players from across the league will tonight learn they're heading to the west coast. Each player selected tonight is currently under contract for at least next season, meaning PWHL Seattle and PWHL Vancouver will not be naming any pending free agents like Hannah Miller, Tereza Vanisova, Kati Tabin, Susanna Tapani, Natalie Spooner, Jincy Roese, Jesse Compher, or Maddie Rooney.
With both teams already locking in netminders, neither is expected to pick a goalie, although some believe a late round pick could be used to pluck Raygan Kirk or Kayle Osborne if the expansion teams see them as the best available options. That however, remains unlikely.
This weekend, the rumour mill continued to swirl with general managers from both Seattle and Vancouver circling the same group of players in discussions with teams and agents. The most common names that arose over the weekend were Julia Gosling (Toronto), Hannah Bilka (Boston), Ashton Bell (Ottawa), Shay Maloney (Boston), Brooke McQuigge (Minnesota), Grace Zumwinkle (Minnesota), Abby Boreen (Montreal), Ally Simpson (New York), and Anna Wilgren (Montreal).
The wildcard in that discussion, however, is the order of selection, positional needs, and who Boston and Toronto choose to protect when their next slot is activated.
Both Seattle and Vancouver still have room to add at least one more top end salary, which would include a player like Ashton Bell and Grace Zumwinkle who were two of the inaugural players signed to a three-year deal worth at least $80,000. Others with those more expensive contracts who could be on the move tonight include Emma Maltais (Toronto), Jaime Bourbonnais (New York), Jessie Eldridge (New York), or perhaps even Savannah Harmon (Toronto).
Expansion Teams Might Have Other Deals In The Works
If Seattle or Vancouver start picking up more affordable players sooner than anticipated, it could be because the team feels they have a deal in principal with one of the pending free agents. Hannah Miller is expected to listen to offers from both Toronto and Vancouver, and likely other teams across the league as one of the most sought after players on the market, but Seattle and Vancouver both put in calls to a number of free agents. Each team could be saving money to sign multiple free agents whenever a league wide signing period opens (yet to be announced by the PWHL).
Draft Order Isn't Public
When the exclusive signing window opened, PWHL general managers were yet to be informed as to where in the PWHL entry draft they'd be selecting. There's no indication if teams have been informed of this order yet, but it if they were, it could also impact who Seattle and Vancouver selects tonight. If for example, both teams knew they were picking second and third, they could potentially target different players knowing that three of Kristyna Kaltounkova, Haley Winn, Casey O'Brien, and Nicole Gosling, who are all projected as top six forwards or top four defenders can be added later. If they don't know and are operating under the assumption they could be picking seventh and eighth at the draft, both teams might take more of a "best available" approach.
The Hockey News will have a Live Blog running through the duration of the PWHL expansion draft and post draft press conferences with Seattle and Vancouver's general managers.