dailyloe.com – The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) is set to change its expansion rules, emphasizing player choice. According to an email from PWHLPA Executive Director Malaika Underwood, the league has moved away from a traditional expansion draft model.
This shift aims to provide players with more control during the expansion process. The new method will involve a series of signing windows rather than a conventional draft.
Underwood’s email highlights that the change was implemented to protect player choice. In the previous expansion process in 2025, pending free agents were not protected and could not participate in the draft.
Only players under contract or whose rights were held through the 2025–26 season required protection. Teams could initially protect three players and a fourth after losing two.
Seattle and Vancouver were given an exclusive window to sign up to five players from the pool of unprotected players or free agents. This year, the situation is different with a robust pool of over 120 unrestricted free agents.
The unrestricted free agent list includes notable players such as Kelly Pannek, Taylor Heise, and Hilary Knight. Other prominent players include Brianne Jenner, Kendall Coyne Schofield, and Sarah Nurse.
Some teams, like the Toronto Sceptres and Minnesota Frost, would struggle to protect enough players under last season’s rules. The Sceptres currently have only five players under contract for the next season.
Additionally, they have four players with rights held through the 2026–27 season, which could result in a lack of secured players in an expansion draft.
GM Gina Kingsbury noted that the increase in free agents reflects player preferences. The changes in expansion rules appear to have been influenced significantly by the Toronto Sceptres’ situation.
