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The Ottawa Charge are looking ahead to another offseason full of uncertainty after another loss in the league final.
Yet, the team remains confident that their formula for success will help them endure the potential rebuild as four new teams enter the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL).
After falling to the Montreal Victoire in the Walter Cup final, Ottawa will now turn their attention to maintaining their no-quit culture as they brace for a lengthy expansion process.
“There’s been a great common thread through all three seasons,” head coach Carla MacLeod told reporters during the team’s end-of-season news conference on Friday.
“It’s the fourth time to start something new,” she added, noting that every year the team gets to experiment with a new crop of players.
No expansion draft this time
The term “expansion draft” haunts many Charge fans after the team lost key defenders Ashton Bell and Aneta Tejralová in the first two rounds of last year’s expansion draft.
Luckily for the Charge, the process of arming the league’s four new expansion teams in Detroit, Hamilton, Las Vegas and San Jose will look a lot different.
With many players in need of a new contract, the PWHL’s newest teams will build their rosters through a multi-phase process, according to a memo from the league’s players association.
The first phase kicks off shortly after the post-season ends, with each team able to instantly protect three players, different from last year’s initial two-player protection rule.
During this phase, players on expiring contracts can freely negotiate with any team, but can only sign with their current team.
June will mark the start of the second phase, allowing any player not protected or signed to sign with an expansion team.
Ottawa Charge general manager Mike Hirshfeld talks to CBC’s Emma Weller about how the team made the playoffs after losing several key players in the off-season.
Once this process is complete the expansion teams will submit a list of 20 players they wish to target and can each sign up to five players. Existing teams can only lose a maximum of three players each in this phase.
This is followed by more signing windows, any of which are subject to change ahead of the next season.
Charge general manager Michael Hirshfeld said Friday the front office will be having expansion talks in the coming days.
Where will the Charge play next season?
After a record-breaking playoff at the Canadian Tire Centre, and a ticking clock on their home at TD Place, many fans are wondering if the Charge will move into the much roomier NHL arena in Kanata.
The Charge called Lansdowne Park home for their first three seasons, but its arena will be torn down in the next few years in favour of a new venue with roughly 3,000 fewer seats.
In November, the team announced they would not play in the new Lansdowne arena, with the PWHL’s executive director of business operations saying the move would mean going “backwards.”
Hirshfeld said Friday the team’s home arena for next season has been discussed with the league and will be announced “in the next couple weeks.”
“We have had great experiences in both arenas,” He said. “Whatever happens next season, we know we’ll be in a good spot.”
Regardless of where the team plays next, TD Place will be remembered by players like Emily Clark for its fan-first atmosphere that intimidated visiting teams.
“No matter where this team ends up playing, TD will always have a special place in my heart and in the organization’s history,” Clark said.
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