Notable dates for PWHL Seattle ahead of their inaugural season
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - The official news of the Professional Women’s Hockey League granting the city of Seattle an expansion team has come and gone, and the excitement is still sky high for those in the state of Washington that now get to call a professional women’s hockey team their own. With the announcement at Climate Pledge Arena and unveiling of the official logo and merchandise under the “PWHL Seattle” moniker, until a name and branding are revealed at some point, many fans will want to know the next steps for the franchise ahead of puck drop on their inaugural season. Here’s an outline of key dates and check points to look forward to following the big announcement and as the foundation is laid for Seattle’s PWHL franchise and as passed along by the league early this May morning.
Sights from the PWHL’s official press conference to announce the leagues expansion to Seattle, held at Climate Pledge Arena, on Wednesday, April 30th, 2025. (Photos by Liz Wolter for Circling Seattle Sports)
Filling out the front office
With the expansion of the league to Seattle and Vancouver being announced, the main objective now is to fill out the infrastructure of the team in terms of front office and then the coaching staff, of course. As can be found online by clicking here, the franchise is already looking for a few positions just as General Manager, Director of Team Business Operations, Media and Community Relations Manager, and Social Media Manager. With the next few key events on the board after this step, a general manager is obviously going to be crucial for Seattle to make the decisions necessary to fill out this teams inaugural season roster through the upcoming expansion and entry drafts. We still await the information on who the general manager, and many other positions, role will be filled by for our team that will call Climate Pledge Arena home. I would expect to see that sort of announcement come soon, at least ahead of the expansion draft steps start to take place such as this next step.
Player protection lists due: June 3rd at 9AM Pacific Time
The first real step in figuring everything out for the expansion draft and the process for how Seattle will build out it’s inaugural season roster, the player protection lists are going to play a part in determining who Seattle can sign in the exclusive signing window and take in the following draft. Each of the six inaugural PWHL teams will have the opportunity to initially protect three players from selection in the Exclusive Signing Window and the Expansion Draft. After an inaugural team has relinquished two players - whether through that Exclusive Signing Window we’ll talk about next or the Expansion Draft - that team will be permitted to protect one additional player, increasing their protected list to four players. Players eligible to be protected must either be under contract for the 2025–26 season or the team must hold their playing rights through the 2025–26 season.
Exclusive signing window: June 4th through 8th
Following the submission of those aforementioned protected player lists, the expansion teams will be granted a five-day exclusive window to sign a maximum of five players to help begin building their inaugural rosters. There is no required minimum number of players who must be signed during this window, so teams can essentially take a pass if they don’t want to put pen to paper with the players available during this period which specifically lasts from June 4th, 6AM PT to June 8th at 2PM PT. Any unprotected player or any player on an expiring contract is eligible to be signed.
Expansion draft: June 9th at 5:30PM Pacific Time
The big event we’re seemingly all waiting for, the expansion draft that will decide the majority of Seattle’s roster for their inaugural season. This Expansion Draft will obviously feature feature Seattle and Vancouver, as they’ll both select a minimum of seven players each until each team has reached a 12-player roster. If one of the teams enters the Expansion Draft with fewer signed players than the other, that team will be granted additional selections to reach their 12. Players eligible to be selected in the Expansion Draft consist of unprotected players under contract for the 2025–26 season or those whose playing rights are held through the 2025–26 season. For that latter option about players with playing rights that are held through the 2025-26 season, please note that a player’s playing rights are with their team for a minimum of two years after entry draft selection. The order in which teams will make their selections will be determined at a later stage. Each of the six inaugural teams in the PWHL will relinquish four players from their 2024-25 roster throughout the entirety of this process, including players signed during the aforementioned exclusive window and those selected in the expansion draft. The standard PWHL roster is 23 active players. Get excited for this one, as this is how we’ll get to know the players that define the early years of Seattle’s existence in the league.
More details about this, including how we’ll be able to watch it, to come. This process is something that is all structured to promote competitive balance and provide the two new PWHL teams with the opportunity to build a strong foundational roster, something the PWHL has stated clearly from the jump. They want Seattle and Vancouver to come in and add more competition, not struggle early like so many expansion teams have around sports when they first join.
Here is a list, by team, of the players eligible for the expansion draft.
BOSTON FLEET (14):
Sydney Bard (D)
Hannah Bilka (F)
Hannah Brandt (F)
Emily Brown (D)
Hadley Hartmetz (D)*
Aerin Frankel (G)
Megan Keller (D)
Hilary Knight (F)
Shay Maloney (F)*
Ilona Markova (F)*
Alina Müller (F)
Daniela Pejšová (D)
Jamie Lee Rattray (F)
Sophie Shirley (F)
MINNESOTA FROST (15):
Mae Batherson (D)*
Kendall Coyne Schofield (F)
Britta Curl-Salemme (F)
Taylor Heise (F)
Nicole Hensley (G)
Klára Hymlárová (F)
Sophie Jaques (D)
Katy Knoll (F)*
Denisa Křížová (F)
Brooke McQuigge (F)*
Kelly Pannek (F)
Dominique Petrie (F)*
Lee Stecklein (D)
Claire Thompson (D)
Grace Zumwinkle (F)
MONTRÉAL VICTOIRE (14):
Erin Ambrose (D)
Cayla Barnes (D)
Abby Boreen (F)
Amanda Boulier (D)
Ann-Renée Desbiens (G)
Jennifer Gardiner (F)
Dara Greig (F)*
Amanda Kessel (F)*
Lina Ljungblom (F)
Maureen Murphy (F)
Kristin O’Neill (F)
Marie-Philip Poulin (F)
Laura Stacey (F)
Anna Wilgren (D)*
NEW YORK SIRENS (17):
Lauren Bernard (D)*
Jaime Bourbonnais (D)
Alex Carpenter (F)
Jessie Eldridge (F)
Emmy Fecteau (F)
Sarah Fillier (F)*
Elle Hartje (F)
Paetyn Levis (F)
Maja Nylén Persson (D)
Kayle Osborne (G)
Abby Roque (F)
Gabby Rosenthal (F)*
Corinne Schroeder (G)
Ella Shelton (D)
Allyson Simpson (D)*
Noora Tulus (F)
Micah Zandee-Hart (D)
OTTAWA CHARGE (15):
Ashton Bell (D)
Emily Clark (F)
Gabbie Hughes (F)
Brianne Jenner (F)
Jocelyne Larocque (D)
Stephanie Markowski (D)*
Emerance Maschmeyer (G)
Mannon McMahon (F)*
Anna Meixner (F)*
Kateřina Mrázová (F)
Gwyneth Philips (G)
Ronja Savolainen (D)
Danielle Serdachny (F)
Aneta Tejralová (D)
Madeline Wethington (D)*
TORONTO SCEPTRES (16):
Kristen Campbell (G)
Megan Carter (D)
Izzy Daniel (F)
Renata Fast (D)
Julia Gosling (F)
Savannah Harmon (D)
Raygan Kirk (G)
Anna Kjellbin (D)*
Emma Maltais (F)
Allie Munroe (D)
Noemi Neubauerová (F)*
Sarah Nurse (F)
Anneke Rankila (F)*
Blayre Turnbull (F)
Daryl Watts (F)
Emma Woods (F)
Team lists represent players under contract for the 2025-26 season and players whose playing rights are held by the team through the 2025-26 season, as denoted by *.
Entry draft: June 24th
While the expansion draft will obviously build out the majority of PWHL Seattle’s inaugural season roster, the entry draft is where the future of the franchise can be built and if things go as they normally do for an expansion franchise, they (and Vancouver, of course) will have a high pick in the first round to add immediate impact. This entry draft consists of six rounds and allows all eight teams to select eligible players from a pool of talent, including recent collegiate graduates and/or players from other professional leagues. The New York Sirens will pick first in the 2025 PWHL Draft based on the ‘Gold Plan’ system. To be held at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. Full order of selection for the 2025 PWHL Draft will be confirmed at a later stage, so it’ll be fascinating to see where Seattle and Vancouver will be picking in the draft. The “Gold Plan” system was proposed in the late-2000s by statistician Adam Gold, the ‘Gold Plan’ is also known as ‘Draft Order of Selection by Mathematical Elimination.’ The PWHL’s adaptation of the system rewards team success upon elimination from playoff contention.
Instagram: @CirclingSeattleSports Twitter: @CirclingSports Threads: @CirclingSeattleSports Tiktok: @CirclingSeattleSports Facebook: Circling Seattle Sports BlueSky: @circlingseasports.bsky.social
〰️
Instagram: @CirclingSeattleSports Twitter: @CirclingSports Threads: @CirclingSeattleSports Tiktok: @CirclingSeattleSports Facebook: Circling Seattle Sports BlueSky: @circlingseasports.bsky.social 〰️
Check out our previous PWHL Seattle articles here.
Check out our previous articles with writing by Charles Hamaker here.
Check out previous articles with photos by Liz Wolter here, and her portfolio here
Support the work of Circling Seattle Sports by checking out our merchandise!