Seattle’s Hilary Knight, Minnesota’s Kendall Coyne Schofield, Boston’s Alina Muller, and Ottawa’s Brianne Jenner headline a group of stars eligible to be signed by the PWHL's four expansion teams, after the league released its protected player list on Wednesday.
Meantime, MVP finalist Kelly Pannek and Frost teammate Taylor Heise are staying put in Minnesota after each signed three-year contracts. And the Toronto Sceptres locked up defender Renata Fast
and goalie Raygan Kirk with three-year deals, while also protecting defender Ella Shelton.
Each of the PWHL’s eight existing teams had until Wednesday to determine their three-player protection lists, and that included re-signing players on expiring contracts.
It’s now the four new teams’ turn to begin stocking their rosters in the three-day Phase 2 of the expansion process opening Friday.
The new markets in Detroit, Las Vegas, San Jose and Hamilton, Ontario, will sort through the unprotected list to sign five players each to so-called foundational contracts. The eight existing teams can lose no more than three players each during the phase.
Knight heads the list of available players a year after the U.S. national team captain agreed to leave Boston to sign with the expansion Torrent.
Knight is USA Hockey’s most decorated player and coming off a gold-medal win at the Milan Cortina Games in February in what she said was her fifth and final Olympic appearance. At 36, Knight intends to continue her PWHL career, and will have a major say in whether she intends to stay in Seattle, which is the league's nearest market to her offseason home in Idaho.
Seattle chose to protect forwards Alex Carpenter and Hannah Murphy, and defender Anna Wilgren.
Coyne Schofield’s three-year stint in Minnesota could be over with the Frost captain having the opportunity to return to her former home base in Detroit. Though from the Chicago area, she’s married to Michael Schofield, a former NFL offensive lineman who played professionally with the Lions and collegiately at Michigan.
The two-time Walter Cup champion Frost rounded out their protection list with goalie Maddie Rooney.
In Boston, Muller’s tenure is in question after three seasons. The Fleet protected defenders Megan Keller and Haley Winn, and goalie Aerin Frankel.
From Switzerland, Muller is a two-time Olympic bronze medalist and has spent her entire adult career in Boston after playing collegiately at Northeastern.
The 35-year-old Jenner could be on the move following three seasons as Charge captain. Ottawa protected forward Rebecca Leslie, defender Ronja Savolainen and goalie Gwyneth Philips.
The New York Sirens protected their young core of forwards made up of Sarah Fillier, Kristyna Kaltounkova and Casey O’Brien.
The newly crowned champion Montreal Victoire are keeping their veteran core intact by protecting forwards Marie-Philip Poulin and Laura Stacey and goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens.
Vancouver protected forward Sarah Nurse, defender Sophie Jaques and goalie Emerance Maschmeyer. The Goldeneyes also have the benefit of owning the No. 1 pick in the draft, with U.S. national team defender and Olympic MVP Caroline Harvey projected to go first.
In re-signing Pannek, the Frost retain the 30-year-old who led the PWHL this season with 16 goals and 33 points. She joins Desbiens and Frankel as the three finalists for the Billie Jean King MVP award.
Pannek also joins Heise and Jenner as finalists for PWHL forward of the year honors. The 26-year-old Heise finished second in the PWHL with 30 points and tied for fourth with 13 goals last season.
The 31-year-old Fast has spent all three seasons in Toronto and was the league’s 2025 defender of the year.
The 25-year-old Kirk had a breakthrough season in taking over the starting duties in her second PWHL campaign. With an 8-8-6 record and three shutouts, she ranked third among PWHL goalies with an 1.87 goals-against average and .934 save percentage.
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AP women’s hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey
