Hilary Knight led the PWHL in points in the 2024–25 regular season. On Tuesday, the league announced the Boston Fleet did not protect her from the two new expansion teams, meaning Vancouver or Seattle could immediately build their franchise around the forward.
Knight, a reigning MVP finalist and 35-year-old captain of both the Fleet and the U.S. Women’s National Hockey Team, is not the only PWHL star who could be on the move. Toronto’s Sarah Nurse and Minnesota’s defender of the year finalists Claire Thompson and Sophie Jaques are some of the other biggest names left unprotected, plus core players from each of the six existing franchises.
The PWHL expansion rules permitted teams to initially protect only three players. Starting Wednesday, a five-day open signing period begins where Vancouver and Seattle can sign up to five players each. Once an existing franchise loses two players, it can select a fourth to protect. The expansion draft will follow Monday night, where the new teams will bring their squads to 12 apiece. The entry draft on June 24 will fill out the rest of the expansion teams’ rosters.
The PWHL’s protection rules are tilted more towards letting expansion teams become quickly competitive compared to most leagues. The WNBA added its first expansion team since 2008 this season, and the league allowed teams to protect six players each. The PWHL’s three-and-one rule inevitably means existing superteams will be broken up, and dynasty hopes would be threatened for the back-to-back champion Minnesota Frost.
But the rules also mean Vancouver and Seattle will be more than a novelty from the first puck drop. Any team that signs a superstar like Knight or Nurse will instantly catch the eye of the hockey community, a smart play for marketing and building a fanbase. With so much talent on the table, building around a Knight or Nurse-type player should instantly place both teams on solid footing for early success.
The PWHL made stops in Vancouver and Seattle during its nine-city “Takeover Tour” this season, which drew larger crowds than many regular season games. In Vancouver, a whopping 19,038 fans packed Rogers Arena, though the new team will play in the slightly smaller Pacific Coliseum. In Seattle, 12,608 fans showed up to Climate Pledge Arena, which will be the new team’s home base. The new franchises mark the league’s first on the West Coast, with Minnesota being the only team in the Midwest.
