Phase 1 of the PWHL expansion process is primarily about existing teams securing the assets you have, and laying the groundwork for future signings with high priority players. But there is the off chance that one existing team could poach a superstar from another.
Last year during the PWHL's first wave of expansion, teams had to protect three signed players on their roster. This season, with an abundance of free agents hitting the market, too many to make a traditional expansion draft feasible, the PWHL did something different. The league has created a six phase process featuring various signing waves.
The first of those, the Phase One Negotiation Window, involves the opportunity for all teams, including the four expansion teams, to negotiate with players, although existing teams are restricted to their 10-player negotiation list.
Then on June 2, a 27-hour window opens where only existing teams can sign any free agent on their 10-player list. That includes, and is expected to primarily focus on members their own roster from the 2025-26 season...but there's the possibility that another team could attempt to poach one of the league's superstars.
What it would mean however, is that any team signing a player from another team, would only be able to protect two players from their existing roster, as the newly signed player would count as one of three protections.
Would an existing team be willing to sacrifice one of their own top three players, for the chance to perhaps sign a top ten player in the league?
Seven of the PWHL's top ten scorers from 2025-26 are entering Phase 1 as free agents.
Kelly Pannek, Taylor Heise, Brianne Jenner, Jessie Eldridge, Grace Zumwinkle, Kendall Coyne Schofield, and Abby Roque are those ten players.
Some of that group are expected to re-sign with their own teams as one of their three protections. In Minnesota, having to choose between Pannek, Heise, Zumwinkle, and Coyne Schofield, as well as Britta Curl-Salemme up front alone, and Lee Stecklein and starting goalie Maddie Rooney in their own zone, it's an agonizing decision. Minnesota will certainly attempt to sign Taylor Heise, but beyond that, it's anyone's guess.
Kelly Pannek was the PWHL's leading scorer this season, and is a finalist for the Billie Jean King MVP award and the PWHL's Forward of the Year. But Minnesota didn't protect her last year, and they might not again. Does another team feel she can find similar chemistry on their top line to what she had in Minnesota? It could be worth the conversation. Taylor Heise is likely staying put in Minnesota, but she's a player competing at a level that perhaps one or more of the more daring GMs might consider a call to inquire by using a spot on their 10-player list.
Toronto's Daryl Watts and Renata Fast weren't in the top 10 in scoring, but they are two of the best in the world, and if a general manager thinks they'd have a shot at securing either, it could alter the direction of their own team making it worth the risk. Fast in particular could take over as the number one defender on multiple teams in the PWHL, and that could be enough to at least float an offer.
The other question remains, is there a team willing to make such a drastic move at this stage, knowing it means losing one of the top three players from their roster? Looking at the bottom of the PWHL standings, Seattle could make a call, and so could Vancouver if they feel like they missed in the mark in expansion. Montreal has already announced their protections, and Boston has a four player pool that they won't veer from. Toronto will look to re-sign their own top players first, and considering a few of the top free agents in the league are on their roster, it will be enough work to secure them, and Minnesota is in the same boat. Ottawa is going to watch a few of their free agents go into the expansion process, but they can get a start on free agency and negotiate with those players. Finally, New York has their three young star forwards to lock in, and letting any one of those walk for free isn't in the cards.
What's more likely is that general managers use the 27-hour window to talk to the players and agents on their 10-player list to attempt to lay the groundwork for as many signings as possible, particularly from their existing roster. They'll make three protections and/or signings, but most if not all will come from their own roster.
Overall, Phase 1 of the PWHL's expansion process, set to open on June 1, is more about protecting what teams have, than trying to acquire what they don't have.