On the eve of the Walter Cup final opener between the Ottawa Charge and the Minnesota Frost, the Professional Women’s Hockey League announced the dates, rules and procedures surrounding the 2025 expansion draft.
Rather than keeping the focus on the league’s showcase event, players and coaches were being asked about expansion and free agency. However, that didn’t change the priority and focus for Ottawa head coach Carla MacLeod.
“Obviously, what we’re doing is our priority and our only focus,” said MacLeod. “So, at the end of the day I can’t control those variables. All we can do is control what we’ve been doing.”
MacLeod admitted that obviously her players are aware of what’s going on, but she and her coaching staff will continue to ensure the focus remains on the series considering how hard they worked to get there.
Minnesota coach Ken Klee had much of the same mindset.
“You know, it’s just one of those things,” said Klee. “Again, we’re here to play.”
Creating competitive teams
The expansion process, to ensure Vancouver and Seattle can be competitive in 2025-26, includes a player protection phase, an exclusive signing window, the expansion draft and the 2025 PWHL Draft.
Each of the six original PWHL teams will ultimately lose four players from their current rosters during the multi-stage process, which starts with teams submitting a list of protected players by June 3.
Beginning June 4, the expansion teams will have a five-day exclusive signing window to sign up to a maximum five unprotected or expiring-contract players. This will be followed by the Expansion Draft on June 9, where Seattle and Vancouver will alternate picks to build 12-player rosters, selecting from remaining unprotected players under contract or whose rights are held for the 2025—26 season.
The full order of selections and additional signing windows will be announced in the coming weeks.
“Obviously, it’s information, you know, we’ve been hoping to have, and you want to know what’s going on in the future,” said Minnesota defender Lee Stecklein. “But it is the future at this point and these games are right in front of us. So, it’s nice to be able to talk to each other and sort of, again, kind of, have some questions answered.”
No. 3 vs No. 4 showdown
Ottawa punched its ticket to the final with a 3-1 series win over the top-seeded Montreal Victoire in their best-of-five semifinal, while Minnesota beat second-seeded Toronto by the same margin, setting the stage for a championship showdown between the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds.
Minnesota, which enters the series as the defending Walter Cup champion, will present a different challenge for the Charge.
In their semifinal against Montreal, the Charge focused on containing the Victoire’s top line. Against Minnesota, the challenge will be far more difficult.
The Frost, who led the league in scoring during the regular season, boast impressive depth, with 11 different players finding the back of the net in their opening series. They scored 18 goals in the first round compared to Ottawa’s eight.
“We take pride in playing good defensively and not giving them many chances and, obviously, Gwyn (Philips) played outstanding that series so we’ll definitely rely on her a lot,” said Ottawa defender Ashton Bell.
“I think just our structure and where we’re at in our play is definitely something that speaks a lot about how we limited their top line to not many, zero, if any goals. So, we’ll definitely use that going into this next series.”
Philips’ play in goal had a significant impact on Ottawa’s success, whereas the Frost split duties between Nicole Hensley and Maddie Rooney.
“We know we need both,” said Klee. “Both are going to be involved. They know, their mentality is I’ve got to earn my next start and that’s kind of served us pretty good.”
The series gets underway Tuesday in Ottawa.