PWHL unveils expansion draft, signing rules for newest teams in Vancouver and Seattle

Member of the Vancouver Angels girls ice hockey team help announce that the PWHL will be expanding to Vancouver during a press event in Vancouver, on Wednesday April 23, 2025. The new team will begin play in the 2025-26 season. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Rich Lam

TORONTO — The Professional Women’s Hockey League’s newest expansion teams in Vancouver and Seattle will get their start on building their rosters June 4.

The league announced key dates and rules on Monday for the upcoming exclusive signing window and expansion draft that will precede the 2025 draft on June 24.

The six inaugural teams -- Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Minnesota, Boston and New York -- will have to submit player protection lists by noon ET on June 3 to determine three players they intend to keep from the expansion process. Those teams will be able to protect a fourth player once they lose two from their rosters.

The exclusive signing window will run from June 4 to 8, with Vancouver and Seattle being able to add up to five players each. Any unprotected player or any player on an expiring contract is eligible to be signed.

The expansion draft will take place June 9, with Vancouver and Seattle allowed to select a minimum of seven players to reach a 12-player roster. If one of them enters with fewer signed players than the other, they will be given additional picks to reach the 12-player mark.

Players eligible to be chosen must be those who are unprotected and under contract for the 2025-26 season or those whose playing rights are held through next season. The order of the selections will be revealed at a later date.

The draft will be held on June 24 with six rounds and all eight teams able to select players. New York will pick first but the order of the draft will be revealed later on. Free agency will follow the draft.

The league is soon to close its second season with Ottawa and Minnesota set to square off in the best-of-five Walter Cup final series beginning Tuesday.

Vancouver and Seattle were chosen as the PWHL’s first expansion teams a week apart in April.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 19, 2025.