On May 3, 2026, I woke up hungover to this news article detailing the 5 phases of the PWHL’s expansion process 😵💫 . Honestly, I gave up on reading it as I was drinking my coffee. WATCH: all of us trying to understand the PWHL expansion process
However, after sitting down to read it and digest it, I finally understand it, and I believe in you to understand it too! 🫵
My goal with this newsletter isn’t to cover every single edge case, but instead to give you the vocabulary, tools, and intuition to be able to follow along with the expansion process.
PWHL expansion is bittersweet for many PWHL fans, as it’s possible that their teams could lose key players in the offseason. Yet, it’s so exciting to welcome new cities to the league and watch the league grow! 📈
Welcome to 365 Hockey School: here’s everything you need to know about the PWHL expansion process. 🧑🏫
Table of Contents
🧑🏫 Expansion process explained
Overview
While the expansion process has not been officially announced by the PWHL, on May 3 some reporting came out regarding a document which was sent to PWHL players detailing the expansion process.
What is the document? It was sent from the PWHLPA (player union) to PWHL players.
How many expansion cities will there be? This document assumes 4 more teams, but so far only Detroit has been confirmed. Hamilton, San Jose, and Las Vegas have been rumored but not confirmed.
What is the timeline? The expansion process kicks off on May 28, and the entry draft is on June 17.
When will we know the other expansion cities? Given that phase 1 of this process kicks off May 28, we can expect to know the cities by then.
Disclaimer: this information is somewhat incomplete because I have not read the original document and the expansion process has not been formally announced by the league. This newsletter will be updated when the rules are officially announced.
Resources
Glossary
Player under contract: This player is signed by a team for the 2026-2027 season
Player on expiring contract / free agent (FA): player not under contract who can sign with any team. (Like an unrestricted free agent in other leagues)
Restricted free agent (RFA): player not under contract but whose rights are still held by a team (from the draft)
Playing rights are held: Only one specific team has the right to sign that player to a contract in the PWHL. Example: Casey O’Brien’s playing rights are held by the New York Sirens because they drafted her
Selecting a player: An expansion team gets the playing rights for that player. (term used in expansion process)
Entry draft: The draft for incoming players to the PWHL. When a team drafts a player, they get their playing rights for 2 years.
Open signing period: Beginning on June 19, free agents can sign with any team
Qualifying offer: In the PWHL, must be the same contract a player had last year, plus the guaranteed 3% increase. A qualifying offer must be extended to an RFA for a team to retain their rights.
Expansion Process at a Glance
Wait, it’s not a traditional expansion draft? The new format has 5 phases of signing windows, but if teams aren’t able to sign players, it falls back to something similar to a traditional expansion draft.
Player protections work differently this year. Both players under contract and free agents must be protected. (Last year, free agents were not affected by expansion)
Why is the format different this year? The new format is intended to protect player choice. However, it is worth noting that some mechanisms in this process, specifically the EFO contracts (see phase 2) may remove autonomy from some free agents. Additionally, so many PWHL players are currently free agents that a traditional expansion draft may not have been effective.
What is the goal of the expansion process? By the end of the process, expansion teams will have built a 10-player core roster.
How many players could my team lose? Teams will lose no more than 4 players currently under contract in the expansion process. However, you team could still look very different due to free agency. Many players are free agents and may choose to go to other markets. Kyle Cushman’s free agency tracker here. See the glossary for definitions of under contract / free agency.
5 Phases of the PWHL Expansion Process Deep Dive
Phase 1: Existing teams protect 3 players
🗓 May 28 - 30
Goal of this phase: existing teams protect 3 players
What is protecting a player? When you protect a player, you make sure that the player will be on your roster for next year.
There are 3 ways to protect a player:
If a player is already under contract, you can protect them
If a player is a free agent, you must sign the player to protect them
If the player is a restricted free agent, the team can extend them a qualifying offer
Additional notes:
This is different from the last time the PWHL did expansion because last time free agents did not have to be protected (free agents were not affected by expansion)
Teams can sign players who were not on their roster last year.
Restricted Free Agents must be extended a qualifying offer (>3% increase in salary from last year)
Existing teams can lose a maximum of one free agent to another existing team
Examples:
Montreal Victoire: Laura Stacey, Marie-Philip Poulin, and Ann-Renée Desbiens are all signed for the 2026-2027. Victoire protects these 3 players.
Seattle Torrent: Cayla Barnes is already signed for 2026-2027, so they protect her. Hilary Knight and Alex Carpenter are both free agents, so Torrent signs them to protect them. (see additional notes #1)
Toronto Sceptres: Sarah Nurse spent last year on the Vancouver Goldeneyes but let’s say she wants to return to Toronto (just for an example…). Nurse is a free agent. Sceptres sign Nurse to protect her. Sceptres players Daryll Watts and Renata Fast are also both free agents so they are signed as well. (see additional notes #2)
New York Sirens: Kristyna Kaltounkova and Sarah Fillier are both under contract; New York chooses to protect them. Casey O’Brien is a restricted free agent, i.e., New York holds her rights from the 2025 draft but she is not under contract. New York must extend her a qualifying offer in order to protect her. (see additional notes #3)
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Phase 2: Expansion teams sign key players
🗓 June 1-4
Goal of this phase: Expansion teams will sign one star player and end with 5 players
TLDR; This phase is like free agency for expansion teams but there are only 2 types of contracts they can offer. Any player not protected in phase 1 may sign with an expansion team.
2 Contract Types:
Please see The Hockey News for the full details of the contract types; only highlights are included here
Expansion Franchise Offer (EFO): really nice contract for a ONE star player that the player MUST sign
Salary no less than $100k or player’s 2025-26 salary, whichever is greater
Player who signs for multiple years gets $20k upfront payment
Player decides the length of the contract, between 1-4 years
Player must sign with the team offering an EFO
Only one EFO per expansion team
Foundational Player Offers (FPO): nice contract for up to 4 more players, players don’t have to sign
Salaries have to be a minimum of $80,000 for Year 1, and $82,500 for Year 2
Contracts have to be for a minimum of 2 years
Player doesn’t have to sign in phase 2 but will become relevant in phase 3
Why do free agents have to sign an EFO? Doesn’t that defeat the point of free agency? Honestly, I was kind of wondering this too. Overall this process allows players a decent amount of autonomy, but it seems weird that free agents HAVE to sign the EFO, even though they are compensated very well. As an expansion team GM, I wouldn’t extend an EFO to a player that truly did not want to be in the city long-term.
What happens if a team cannot sign 5 players to EFO / FPO contracts?
Expansion teams will submit a 20-player Exclusive Negotiation Target List (ENTL)
Expansion teams may select players to get up to 5 players.
Expansion teams may select unprotected players with contracts or whose rights are held by existing teams. Selecting a player means that the team gets the playing rights for that player (kind of like an expansion draft).
How many players can an existing team lose in phase 2? Existing teams may lose a max of 3 players under contract in phase 2. (This doesn’t include free agents).
What is the point of ENTL? This is a target list of players that a team really wants to prioritize signing in phase 2 and 3 (players from ENTL cannot be signed in phase 4).
Example: (please not that these examples are meant purely to demonstrate the expansion process and are not my predictions of what may occur)
PWHL Detroit: Abby Roque left unprotected by the Montreal Victoire in phase 1. PWHL Detroit offers her an EFO and she has to sign it. Detroit extends FPOs to Hannah Murphy (Torrent), Hannah Bilka (Torrent), Shiann Darkangelo (Victoire), Micah Zandee-Hart (Sirens).
Roque, Murphy, and Bilka sign their contracts, so Detroit now has 3 players. Detroit now selects Hayley Scamurra (Victoire) and Elle Hartje (Sirens) from their ENTL. (Their playing rights are now held by PWHL Detroit). Hartje and Scamurra are both eligible for the ENTL because they are under contract by existing teams.
Detroit now has 5 players at the end of this phase. Roque, Murphy, Bilka, Scamurra, and Hartje.
Phase 3: ALL teams can sign players
🗓 June 6-9
Goal of this phase: Existing teams protect 3 more players (total of 6); Players who received an FPO must sign
TLDR; This phase is like free agency for ALL teams. Existing teams get the opportunity to protect some more players.
Existing teams: Can protect 3 more players, either by protecting signed players or signing free agents, for a total of 6 protected players
Expansion teams: Can sign up to 3 more free agents
FPOs from phase 2: Player who received an FPO in Phase 2 has to sign with any team by the end of Phase 3. They can sign with another team, but it has to be 90% of the FPO baseline salary ($73,125)
Edge case I am not sure about: I don’t actually have access to the expansion document. So, in the case where a player who is currently under contract is offered an FPO by an expansion team, but the original team chooses to match it, I am not sure if this counts as a protection.
Example:
Montreal Victoire: Protect Kati Tabin (already under contract), sign Natálie Mlýnková (RFA), sign Mariah Keopple (free agent from Seattle Torrent)
Victoire’s final 6 protections: Poulin, Stacey, Desbiens, Tabin, Mlýnková, Keopple
PWHL Detroit: Shiann Darkangelo decides to sign the FPO with Detroit. Zandee-Hart decides to stay with New York. Detroit signs Brooke McQuigge, a free agent from the Ottawa Charge.
Detroit now has 7 players at the end of this phase. Roque, Murphy, Bilka, Scamurra, Hartje, Darkangelo, and McQuigge.
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Phase 4: Expansion teams complete 10-player roster
🗓 June 11 - 12
Goal of this phase: Expansion teams complete their 10-player roster
TLDR; Expansion teams sign / select unprotected players
Expansion teams may sign any unprotected player who was not on their ENTL from phase 2
If a team cannot reach 10 players, they may select unprotected players with contracts or whose rights are held by existing teams
Why would an expansion team not be able to sign 10 players? Ideally I think a team would want to be able to sign 10 players, but there is a lot of negotiation that goes into signing a player: selling the player on the market, working out exact financial details, etc. Being able to select players and obtain their playing rights serves as a backup process to reach a full 10-player roster, but it removes player autonomy.
Example:
PWHL Detroit: Signs Mellissa Channell-Watkins (free agent from Vancouver) and Anna Segedi (under contract in Vancouver), reaches 9 players. Cannot sign any more players, decides to select Emma Greco (currently under contract in Ottawa) as their tenth player.
Detroit now has 10 players at the end of this phase. Roque, Murphy, Bilka, Scamurra, Hartje, Darkangelo, McQuigge, Channell-Watkins, Segedi, and Greco.
Phase 5: Existing teams may re-sign players
🗓 June 13 - open signing period (June 19)
Goal of this phase: Existing teams re-sign players
Free agents can sign with their current teams. Note that they may also wait until after the entry draft (June 17) to re-sign.
Existing teams must extend qualifying offers to restricted free agents (from 2025 draft) to keep their playing rights
Example:
Seattle Torrent: Free agent CJ Jackson chooses to re-sign with the Torrent
New York Sirens: Sirens extend a qualifying offer to RFA Dayle Ross who they selected in the 2025 draft. This is so that they can retain her rights during the open signing period.
Congratulations on making it to the end of this guide! 👏
Did I miss anything? Email your question to [email protected] and I will update the web version of this post with an answer.
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