The New Teams Assemble

The two new PWHL teams joining the circuit next season were tasked with selecting players to help fill out their rosters tonight as the PWHL Expansion Draft took place. For west coast hockey fans, the addition of teams in both Vancouver and Seattle should hopefully bring some excitement and growth for women's hockey, but it should allow west coast hockey fans to see some of the bigger stars in women's hockey more often than once in a lifetime. With a pile of big names still available to be selected by both teams following each franchise signing five key players, the chance to have both Vancouver and Seattle competitive right out of the gate is high. Tonight, we got to see how each franchise will look to play the game based on the players chosen in the PWHL Expansion Draft.

Let's not waste any time here. The charts below are the depth charts for both teams right now based on those initial signings and the players selected tonight. Players in yellow were the initial signings while the remainder are the expansion draft selections.

PWHL Expansion Teams

PWHL Vancouver	PWHL Seattle
D Claire Thompson (MIN)	F Hilary Knight (BOS)
D Sophie Jaques (MIN)	F Danielle Serdachny (OTT)
G Emerence Maschmeyer (OTT)	D Cayla Barnes (MTL)
F Sarah Nurse (TOR)	G Corinne Schroeder (NYS)
F Jennifer Gardiner (MTL)	F Alex Carpenter (NYS)
D Ashton Bell (OTT)	D Aneta Tejralová (OTT)
F Brooke McQuigge (MIN)	F Hannah Bilka (BOS)
F Abby Boreen (MTL)	F Jessie Eldridge (NYS)
F Izzy Daniel (TOR)	F Julia Gosling (TOR)
F Gabby Rosenthal (NYS)	D Anna Wilgren (MTL)
F Denisa Křížová (MIN)	D Megan Carter (TOR)
D Sydney Bard (BOS)	D Emily Brown (BOS)

Both teams have stars who will help to push and find offensive chances, and both sides have goaltenders who will provide good, if not great, netminding when needed. The top-four defenders for Vancouver will be their immediate strength while Seattle will have some excellent forwards to create offence whenever they cross the blue line. Neither side has an immediate advantage that I can see, but the PWHL seems to be proud of their parity among the current six teams so why not spread that to eight teams, right?

It should be noted that neither team looks like they'll struggle for large parts of the season. Like the recent NHL expansion teams, both Seattle and Vancouver should be able to find points and stay in the playoff races until late in the season. Depending on who they add via the PWHL Entry Draft, we could next season's Rookie of the Year come from one of these two teams based on the players they currently have added. Might that be enough for a playoff berth?

While we wait to see who these two teams name as head coaches and for the PWHL to announce some sort of schedule, the initial rosters of the two newest teams look fairly good. More talent will be added and there could be a trade or two at some point, but west coast women's hockey fans should be excited for the new additions to the PWHL!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!