The PWHL will not have a traditional expansion draft when it adds new teams this offseason. Instead, the process will include multiple signing windows, according to a document obtained by The Athletic, which will give players more autonomy through the process.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, the PWHL Players Association sent its members a guide to the expansion roster-building process that assumes the league will add four teams for 2026-27. The expansion process includes five different phases, the first of which is tentatively set to begin May 28.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been told the league intends to move forward with a four-team expansion,\u201d PWHLPA Executive Director Malaika Underwood wrote Sunday in an email to members.<\/p>\n
While the league is steadfast on expansion ahead of the 2026-27 season, it has yet to announce any final decisions on the number of teams or the cities where they will be located. Should the league add fewer than four teams, the process outlined in Sunday\u2019s document could change.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing is finalized at this time,\u201d the PWHL said in a statement to The Athletic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in the process of working through expansion roster-building plans in close collaboration with the PWHLPA,\u201d the statement read. \u201cOur approach has been thoughtful and player-focused, and we\u2019ll share more details at the appropriate time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last year, the PWHL expanded for the first time, adding the Vancouver Goldeneyes and Seattle Torrent. During the expansion draft, the league\u2019s original six teams were initially allowed to protect just three players, which meant there was plenty of top-end talent available to Seattle and Vancouver \u2014 including U.S. star Hilary Knight and five of six first-round picks from the 2024 draft. Both teams were stacked on paper but struggled in their inaugural seasons, finishing in the bottom of the PWHL standings and missing the playoffs.<\/p>\n
This year, the league is switching things up in an effort \u201cto protect as much player choice as possible throughout the process,\u201d according to an email Underwood sent to players on Friday. The new process, Underwood wrote Sunday in a subsequent email, \u201cis a significant change that gives players more opportunity to participate in the process through negotiation and choice.\u201d In the circumstances where a free agent\u2019s options are narrowed, she said, \u201cthe framework includes meaningful financial protections and incentives for that player.\u201d<\/p>\n
So how might this all work? Here\u2019s what the player guide tells us.<\/p>\n
Phase 1<\/p>\n
First up: Player protection.<\/p>\n
Similar to last season, the PWHL\u2019s existing franchises will get to protect three players from the expansion process. But there is one major change.<\/p>\n
Last year, free agents were exempt from being selected in the expansion draft, which meant players on expiring deals, such as Susanna Tapani (Boston Fleet) and Natalie Spooner (Toronto Sceptres), didn\u2019t need to be protected to stay with their clubs.<\/p>\n
This time around, existing franchises will need to sign their top free agents to protect them from expansion. The Sceptres, for example, would need to sign star defender Renata Fast during Phase 1 to protect her. The same goes for \u201crestricted\u201d free agents, such as the New York Sirens\u2019 Casey O\u2019Brien, whose rights belong to the Sirens until the end of next season.<\/p>\n
Phase 2<\/p>\n
This year, incoming expansion teams will each submit an \u201cExclusive Negotiation Target List\u201d of players the team has legitimate interest in signing. Each list will include 20 players who are either on expiring contracts or were left unprotected in the expansion draft. Players will be notified if they are on a team\u2019s list, and they can be offered two different types of contracts.<\/p>\n
The first is an Expansion Franchise Offer \u2014 think of this like a franchise tag in the WNBA or NFL.<\/p>\n
Expansion teams are permitted to use just one \u201cfranchise offer\u201d on a player with an expiring contract. This specific offer is a guaranteed tender, meaning if a player is offered an EFO, they are required to sign. This deal comes with several incentives laid out in the document.<\/p>\n
For example, the player\u2019s salary will be no less than $100,000 or the player\u2019s 2025-26 salary, whichever is greater. The player will also get to determine the length of the contract, between one and four years \u2014 the first time the PWHL has offered four-year deals. Players who sign for multiple years will receive an additional $20,000 up front. The deal will also be fully guaranteed.<\/p>\n
If multiple expansion teams offer EFOs to the same player, that player can choose which team to sign with.<\/p>\n
Expansion teams may also issue Foundational Player Offers to players on expiring contracts during Phase 2. A player who is offered an FPO is not required to sign with the expansion franchise, but if she rejects the offer, that player must sign a new contract by the end of Phase 3.<\/p>\n
An FPO contract must be at least two years in duration and worth $80,000 in Year 1 and $82,500 in Year 2, according to the guide sent to players.<\/p>\n
Expansion teams will be permitted to sign five players in Phase 2. If any team is unable to reach five players by the end of the window, it will be allowed to select unprotected players \u2014 either under contract or with their rights held by existing teams \u2014 from its exclusive list. If a player is selected, her rights will be retained by the expansion team.<\/p>\n
Existing teams can lose no more than three players under contract in Phase 2.<\/p>\n
Phase 3<\/p>\n
This phase will largely serve as a reset for existing teams, allowing all eight current franchises to protect or sign three more players, for a total of six protected players throughout the process. Players on expiring contracts can sign with any team in Phase 3, not just their current roster.<\/p>\n
Last season, once teams lost two players, either through the signing window or the expansion draft, general managers were permitted to protect one additional player, increasing the protected list to four.<\/p>\n
Expansion teams will also be able to sign up to three more players on expiring deals during this phase. And any player who rejected a Foundational Player Offer in Phase 2 must sign a new contract, with any team, at an average annual value no lower than 90 percent of the FPO base salary.<\/p>\n
Phase 4<\/p>\n
In this phase, expansion teams will sign the remaining number of players they need to reach a total of 10. At this point, any player not protected or signed in the first three phases can sign with an expansion franchise. However, expansion teams cannot sign players who were previously on their \u201cExclusive Negotiation Target List\u201d from Phase 2.<\/p>\n
Should an expansion team be unable to reach 10 players, it will be allowed to select unprotected players who are under contract or whose rights are held by existing teams. The details of this process have yet to be announced.<\/p>\n
By the end of Phase 4, existing teams will have lost no more than four players under contract.<\/p>\n
Phase 5<\/p>\n
The final phase will permit pending free agents to re-sign with their current team \u2014 or wait for the leaguewide signing period to open on June 19, according to the PA\u2019s document. Teams must extend qualifying offers to players with their rights held before the start of the signing period.<\/p>\n
Expansion teams will also have the opportunity to build their rosters through the entry draft, which is tentatively slated for June 17, according to the document. The Vancouver Goldeneyes won the No. 1 pick \u2014 and the right to draft star defender Caroline Harvey \u2014 last month. The rest of the draft order is still to be determined by the PWHL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The PWHL will not have a traditional expansion draft when it adds new teams this offseason. Instead, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[462],"tags":[1471,5,1765,2337,1766,4,465,466,3105,44123,273,1472,44372,1581],"class_list":["post-566523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl-draft","tag-boston-fleet","tag-hockey","tag-minnesota-frost","tag-montreal-victoire","tag-new-york-sirens","tag-nhl","tag-nhl-draft","tag-nhl-entry-draft","tag-ottawa-charge","tag-seattle-torrent","tag-sports-business","tag-toronto-sceptres","tag-vancouver-goldeneyes","tag-womens-hockey"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116515669547843659","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}