Sarah Nurse, Sophie Jaques, and Emerance Maschmeyer are the three players the Vancouver Goldeneyes have opted to protect ahead of Phase 2 of PWHL expansion.
When the PWHL released expansion protection lists for each of the existing teams, Sarah Nurse, Sophie Jaques, and Emerance Maschmeyer were the three names listed for the Vancouver Goldeneyes.
Vancouver was one of only three teams to protect one player at each position, with the Ottawa Charge and Seattle Torrent being the others.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Goldeneyes protected their points-leader, one of their leading goal-scorers, and the goaltender that played in the most games for them. And yet, with the talent pool Vancouver has, there’s still a big chunk of players that the Goldeneyes could have kept in Phase 1 of the PWHL’s expansion process.
So why protect these three at this stage of expansion?
Sarah Nurse’s Return Increases Vancouver’s Centre Depth
For a while, the majority of beliefs seemed to be that Nurse would not return to Vancouver for the 2026–27 season. However, in a surprising twist, Nurse re-signed with the Goldeneyes only a day after the team fired head coach Brian Idalski after his first PWHL season. This made Nurse Vancouver’s first player protected ahead of Phase 2 of expansion.
The case for protecting Nurse feels like a simple one. The Olympic gold-medallist was easily one of Vancouver’s most dynamic players during the 2025–26 season despite only playing in a total of 19 games. She made an immediate impact upon her re-insertion into the lineup in January, scoring three goals and two assists in her first four games back from injury.
One of Vancouver’s struggles this season was securing depth down the middle. That’s something that would have only gotten worse had Nurse departed from the organization via foundational expansion signing. With Hamilton and Detroit being two of the league’s four expansion teams, it feels as though it would’ve been inevitable for one of the two to offer Nurse an Expansion Franchise Offer in Phase 2. The Goldeneyes made the right move in signing her through 2027–28 before other teams could come calling.
Sophie Jaques Will Help Anchor Vancouver’s Blueline
The first defender to hit 50 career PWHL points will be remaining in Vancouver. Jaques led the Goldeneyes in points by the end of this season, putting together a nine-goal, 11-assist effort in 30 games this year. She was also one of the first five players to ever sign with Vancouver during the exclusive signing window last year, inking a standard player agreement that keeps her with the Goldeneyes through the 2027–28 season.
The two-time PWHL defender of the year nominee made a massive mark on her team during Vancouver’s inaugural season and will continue to do-so now that she’s officially been protected. Given the strength of offence on Vancouver’s blueline with Jaques and Claire Thompson, as well as Caroline Harvey potentially on the way, the Goldeneyes needed to protect a defender to keep that core in-tact. With Thompson still unsure of the future of her hockey career past this season, protecting Jaques feels like a no-brainer.
Another thing to consider is how dynamic Jaques’ shot makes Vancouver’s offence. The defender registered a team-high 110 shots on goal this season, with the next highest being Hannah Miller with 77. Having Jaques’ shot consistently ripping down the ice provides Vancouver with a type of offence that, frankly, they can’t give up — especially given their production struggles early on.
Protecting A Goaltender Appears To Be A League-Wide Trend
Good players are hard to find. Good goaltenders are even harder to come across.
Maschmeyer is the third player on Vancouver’s protection list, which doesn’t come as a surprise given that all but one PWHL team (the New York Sirens) protected a goaltender. She started in 19 of Vancouver’s 30 games this season and put together a 2.75 GAA (9th in the league) and .916 SV% (6th). The veteran goaltender’s heroics in net were proven past the stats, however, as she was often the Goldeneyes’ best player on the ice even in difficult games.
One area that may raise concerns when it comes to keeping Maschmeyer is in the injury department. The goaltender missed all but two games during the month of March this season. Prior to joining the Goldeneyes, she’d sustained a season-ending lower-body injury in 2025. With her protection thus far, however, it appears the Goldeneyes are willing to take that risk.
Protecting Maschmeyer over fellow goaltender Kristen Campbell comes down to one thing: consistency. While Campbell proved herself well this season, registering a 2.17 GAA and .913 SV%, at the end of the day, it appears Vancouver felt more comfortable keeping Maschmeyer protected.
Phase 2 of PWHL expansion, the Expansion Team Foundational Signing Period, begins on June 5 at 12:00 pm ET/9:00 am PT and runs until June 8 at 1:00 pm ET/10:00 am PT.
Protected: Sarah Nurse (F), Sophie Jaques (D), Emerance Maschmeyer (G)
Free Agents Exposed: Jenn Gardiner (F), Gabby Rosenthal (F), Izzy Daniel (F), Mannon McMahon (F), Anna Meixner (F), Katie Chan (F), Darcie Lappan (F), Madison Samoskevich (F), Malia Schneider (F), Claire Thompson (D), Mellissa Channell-Watkins (D), Sydney Bard (D), Sini Karjalainen (D), Kimberly Newell (G)
Signed Players Exposed: Hannah Miller (F), Abby Boreen (F), Tereza Vanišová (F), Anna Segedi (F), Ashton Bell (D), Nina Jobst-Smith (D), Kristen Campbell (D)
Rights Retained Exposed: Michelle Karvinen (F), Madison Samoskevich (F), Anna Shokhina (F), Chanreet Bassi (F), Brianna Brooks (F)