The busiest PWHL off-season yet will begin next week, as the league prepares to welcome four new teams ahead of next season.
The existing eight teams can begin negotiating with players on Monday, and with a significant portion of the league on expiring contracts, your favourite team’s roster is about to be thrown in a blender.
High-profile players across the league who are about to hit free agency include Taylor Heise (Minnesota Frost), Sarah Nurse (Vancouver Goldeneyes), Kendall Coyne Schofield (Minnesota Frost), Renata Fast (Toronto Sceptres), Daryl Watts (Toronto Sceptres), Brianne Jenner (Ottawa Charge), Hilary Knight (Seattle Torrent), Lee Stecklein (Minnesota Frost) and Kelly Pannek (Minnesota Frost), just to name a few.
It will all shake out through a complex, six-phase process, which was outlined by the league on Wednesday, after weeks of negotiation with the PWHL Players Association.
Montreal Victoire players and staff say their fans helped propel them to their first PWHL title, despite a season filled with adversity.
“When we set out to build the expansion roster distribution process, our priorities were clear: to give players a meaningful voice throughout the process while maintaining competitive balance across the league for all 12 teams,” Jayna Hefford, the PWHL’s executive vice president of hockey operations, said in a statement.
“We believe this framework accomplishes both goals and reflects the collaborative and forward-thinking approach that has helped shape the PWHL since day one. Expansion is a major milestone for our league, our players, and our fans, and we’re excited to welcome Detroit, Hamilton, Las Vegas, and San Jose as we continue building for the future.”
Here’s how it will go down:
Phase 1
Each existing team will be able to protect three players from signing with expansion teams during the first phase of the league’s process.
The eight existing teams will each submit a list of 10 free agents that the teams are interested in signing. That can include free agents from their own team or other teams.
They can start signing players to contracts on June 2 at 12 p.m. ET, and those players will count toward the three protected players. Existing teams can only lose one free agent during this phase.
Teams must submit their list of three protected players by next Wednesday at 5 p.m. ET.
Watch as Montreal Victoire captain Marie-Philip Poulin lifts the Walter Cup, after Montreal became the first Canadian team to win the PWHL championship title.
For some teams, that list of three is clear: Montreal Victoire GM Danièle Sauvageau told reporters on Wednesday that Montreal will protect Marie-Philip Poulin, Laura Stacey and Ann-Renée Desbiens, according to Radio-Canada Sports. Those three are under contract through the 2027-28 season.
After the protection lists are submitted, expansion teams can get in on the action.
Phase 2
GMs of expansion teams must submit a list of 20 players they’d like to target during the second phase.
Each of the four new teams will get be able to give one free agent an “expansion foundational offer,” which is a contract up to four years in length and worth at least $100,000 US per year. It’s a binding contract that the player has to sign.
Expansion teams can also hand out non-binding “foundational player offers,” which are two years in length at minimum.
Expansion teams can sign up to five players each during this phase. Existing teams can’t lose any more than three players each during phase two.
Phase 3 and beyond
All unsigned and unprotected players are free to negotiate with all 12 teams during phase three, which begins on June 10.
Expansion teams can only add three more players each during phase three, for a total of eight. Existing teams, meanwhile, can protect an extra three players.
There will be another window for expansion teams to sign additional players beginning on June 14, followed by a phase that will allow existing teams to re-sign more of their own free agents.
It all leads up to the entry draft on June 17, where there’s plenty of top talent available. The Vancouver Goldeneyes will have the first pick, with American defender Caroline Harvey the top player available on the draft board. The rest of the order has yet to be determined.
The 236 players that have declared for the likely six-round draft give Hefford confidence the league can maintain its level of play while adding four teams.
“The top end talent coming through the draft this year are players who are going to immediately impact this league in a significant way across multiple markets,” Hefford told CBC Sports earlier this month. “So from a depth of talent perspective, we’re really confident that we can support that.”
Big changes for players
For general managers, it will be a busy few weeks of navigating contract negotiations, all while making sure their team has an average cap hit of just over $60,000 US, something required by the collective bargaining agreement.
Many GMs will watch players they drafted and developed just last season head to expansion teams, for the second year in a row.
“In the environment that we’re in with where the league’s at and the expansion, it feels like we’re serving up some players on a silver platter,” Boston Fleet GM Danielle Marmer said earlier this month.
For players, it’s the second summer of upheaval. It will provide big opportunities for some players. With four extra teams, there will be more jobs and ice time to go around.
On the other side of the coin, teams like the championship-winning Montreal Victoire won’t look the same next season.
But players went into the season knowing things were about to change, Montreal forward Laura Stacey told reporters at the Victoire’s locker cleanout day on Wednesday.
“I think coming into this year, we knew this was potentially a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, a team that is only going to be around for one year,” Stacey, who is also the president of the PWHLPA’s executive board, told reporters. “Hopefully after winning a championship, a lot of people want to be in Montreal and stay in Montreal. But with that being said, I think we’re all really excited for this league to continue to grow and to see how big it can get.”
Players’ salaries from this past season were published on the PWHL Players Association’s website on Tuesday.
That wasn’t coincidental timing. The union wanted the figures out in the public realm before the expansion signing period begins, with players facing important negotiations, Stacey said.
“I think it just helps a lot of players figure out what their next steps are, and be able to see other people’s contracts and determine what theirs should look like,” she said.
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