The Professional Women’s Hockey League’s newest teams, Seattle and Vancouver, filled out their rosters in the league’s first-ever expansion draft on Monday.

Vancouver took defender Ashton Bell from the Ottawa Charge with the No. 1 pick after winning the lottery and getting to choose between drafting No. 1 or second and third in the snake draft format.

The seven-round draft saw 14 players taken from the PWHL’s six existing franchises, including two first-round picks from the 2024 entry draft (Hannah Bilka and Julia Gosling). Eight forwards, seven defenders and zero goalies were taken. Both teams went heavy on youth in the draft, selecting 10 players who are 25 years old or younger. None were over 30.

The full list of players selected is as follows:

PWHL Vancouver

Ashton Bell, 25, Defender (Ottawa Charge)
Brooke McQuigge, 25, Forward (Minnesota Frost)
Abby Boreen, 25, Forward (Montreal Victoire)
Izzy Daniel, 24, Forward (Toronto Sceptres)
Gabby Rosenthal, 25, Forward (New York Sirens)
Denisa Křížová, 30, Forward (Minnesota Frost)
Sydney Bard, 24, Defender (Boston Fleet)

PWHL Seattle

Aneta Tejralová, 29, Defender (Ottawa Charge)
Hannah Bilka, 24, Forward (Boston Fleet)
Jessie Eldridge, 27, Forward (New York Sirens)
Julia Gosling, 25, Forward (Toronto Sceptres)
Anna Wilgren, 25, Defender (Montreal Victoire)
Megan Carter, 24, Defender (Toronto Sceptres)
Emily Brown, 26, Defender (Boston Fleet)

Leading into the expansion draft, each of the PWHL’s six existing teams was initially able to protect three players from being selected in the draft or signing during the pre-draft window. Only players under contract or team control through 2026 could be protected.

Once teams lost two players, either through the signing window or the draft, general managers were permitted to protect one additional player, increasing their protected list to four.

Vancouver and Seattle each signed their maximum of five players during the signing window, including stars Sarah Nurse (Vancouver), Hilary Knight (Seattle), Alex Carpenter (Seattle) and Sophie Jaques (Vancouver).

The draft order was unknown until the league’s broadcast revealed that earlier in the day, the PWHL’s executive vice president of hockey operations, Jayna Hefford, conducted a lottery draw with both teams’ general managers present and only two balls in the hopper. Vancouver won and chose to select first overall, rather than second and third, in what was also revealed to be a snake draft.

Vancouver and Seattle rosters

VancouverSeattle

Claire Thompson (D)

Hilary Knight (F)

Sophie Jaques (D)

Danielle Serdachny (F)

Sarah Nurse (F)

Cayla Barnes (D)

Emerance Maschmeyer (G)

Alex Carpenter (F)

Jennifer Gardiner (F)

Corinne Schroeder (G)

Ashton Bell (D)

Aneta Tejralová (D)

Brooke McQuigge (F)

Hannah Bilka (F)

Abby Boreen (F)

Jessie Eldridge (F)

Izzy Daniel (F)

Julia Gosling (F)

Gabby Rosenthal (F)

Anna Wilgren (D)

Denisa Křížová (F)

Megan Carter (D)

Sydney Bard (D)

Emily Brown (D)

Through the expansion roster-building process, every first-round pick from the 2024 entry draft — save for No. 1 pick Sarah Fillier — has either been drafted or signed with Vancouver and Seattle. Each 12-player roster features athletes of various experience, with longtime veterans like Knight and Alex Carpenter and rookies such as forwards Gosling, Izzy Daniel and defender Anna Wilgren.

Seattle GM Meghan Turner said entering the draft that she was partial to physicality and wanted to lean into drafting a team that can play with speed. Drafting Bilka, a quick and crafty winger, and Gosling, a 5-foot-10 power forward, certainly checks those boxes.

“Selfishly, I’m very excited,” Turner said after the draft. “I think it’s a great roster that we’ve built so far.”

Vancouver general manager Cara Gardner Morey built her team from the back-end out with four puck-moving defenders and several two-way forwards, such as Rosenthal and Křížová.

“I think you’re going to see a lot of interchangeable positions where you might not know who’s the forward and who’s the D on the ice at certain times,” she said. “(We’ve got) some gritty, hard-working players who can also put the puck in the net.”

The PWHL officially announced in April that it would add teams in Vancouver and Seattle, making it the league’s first wave of expansion less than two years after its launch in January 2024. The league’s original six teams were in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Minnesota, Boston and New York.

League executives initially announced in October 2024 that they were preparing for expansion due to the success of Year 1, which included record-breaking attendance and impressive television numbers. The PWHL received more than 20 proposals from interested parties and markets seeking to bring a PWHL team to their city. There was a long list of criteria that the league examined when deciding where to expand, including market size, infrastructure and economic opportunity. Vancouver and Seattle checked off a ton of boxes.

According to a press release, the league has sold more than 10,000 season ticket membership deposits in Seattle and Vancouver combined.

(Photo: Michael Chisholm / Getty Images)