Seattle Torrent GM Meghan Turner discusses roster choices, leaving Hilary Knight unprotected for expansion

Seattle Torrent general manager Meghan Turner could only protect three players during the first stage of the PWHL's expansion process, which led to hard choices over whom those three would be.

And it meant leaving U.S. hockey legend and team captain Hilary Knight as one of those unprotected players.

"I think every decision with a player who's not protected is difficult," Turner said. "I think there's certain players, Hilary being one of them, that really deserve more of an explanation, usually, just out of respect. She's a professional, and that's how we approached it. But yeah, like I said, this process is difficult."

Turner elected to protect one player from each area of the team as the PWHL gets ready to welcome in four new franchises to the league in San Jose, Las Vegas, Detroit, and Hamilton, Ontario. Seattle re-signed center Alex Carpenter to a three-year deal, and protected goaltender Hannah Murphy and defender Anna Wilgren to round out their list of three players.

"It was a weighting of the supply and demand at each position to what positions are harder to fill, both in the draft and in the signing windows upcoming here," Turner said. "What is the rest of the expansion process look like? Like, what are the odds we can keep certain players? Because of the way this is structured, it was a weighting of all those variables together."

Seven of the eight teams across the PWHL used one of their three protections on a goaltender, including the Torrent with Murphy.

"The goalie position was certainly a big focus. I think for everyone," Turner said. "If you lose a goalie or if you don't protect a goalie, you're going to have to find one some other way, right? There's a lot of teams that need good starting goaltenders, and it's probably difficult to wait for the draft, where you don't exactly know what's going to fall where. So we felt good about Murphy's potential and what we saw in Hannah this year, and I think that was a shared sentiment across the board, so we wanted to make sure that we kept her in Seattle. But I think the goaltender position was something that many GMs were really considering."

Meanwhile, Wilgren was a priority as a defender due to her style matching the way the team wants to play moving forward.

"We want to play a heavy game next year, and we feel that Anna fills that," Turner said. "She's a heavy D player, she also has that huge offensive upside, and then you know she's young and has that potential and like I said, I don't think we've seen what she can really do in this league, and so we're excited to put her in positions to be able to succeed and watch her and help her develop too."

The 36-year-old Knight is clearly the most notable player not protected by Turner and the Torrent, though forwards Hannah Bilka, Julia Gosling and Danielle Serdachny, and defenders Cayla Barnes and Emily Brown are also notable.

Knight said in April after the Torrent's first season came to a close – and before expansion and the rules of that process were set in place – that she wanted to be back in Seattle next season. Many of the players spoke glowingly about their first year in Seattle, despite the team finishing with the worst record in the league.

"Obviously, we're all at the mercy of this expansion and what those rules look like," Knight said at the time. "Everybody wants to come back, and I think that's going to be the hard part, right, is figuring out what that looks like. But you know, I think for me personally, like, I want to be here in Seattle, and hopefully I can find my way back here. It's something that, you know, is top of mind and has been back of mind for a handful of weeks, as expansion rumors have come out. So yeah, just we'll see what happens." 

Whether Knight will be able to stay with the Torrent next season won't be fully under her control.

The next stage of the expansion process will have the four incoming teams able to add five players to their roster through a handful of pathways. Each team can submit a list of four players for an "Expansion Foundational Offer (EFO)," which is a binding offer that a player must accept. As a trade-off, a player named as an EFO gets to dictate the length of the contract (from 1-4 years) and favorable salary terms, starting at least $100,000 a year.

Beyond any EFO player, expansion teams will submit a list of 20 players they intend to pursue during this phase of expansion. These are the only names the expansion teams will be able to acquire players from during the phase. Unlike an expansion draft, players aren't necessarily required to join a new team and players not under contract can decline to sign with expansion teams. However, if the teams are unable to reach five players signed through this process, then a more traditional selection of players under contract with existing teams will occur to fill out the roster spots on the expansion rosters.

Bilka, Serdachny, Lexie Adzija, Jenna Buglioni, Mikyla Grant-Mentis and goaltender Corinne Schroeder are players under contract for next season who could be selected to join expansion teams.

Existing teams cannot lose more than three players under contract during this phase.

Once the five players are in place for the four expansion teams, existing teams will be able to protect an additional three players under contract. Unsigned players then become free to sign for all 12 teams.

As a player not under contract, Knight could be selected as an EFO for an expansion team and be forced to move to another franchise. However, if she's not named as an EFO, she can choose not to sign with any of the four incoming teams and try to return to the Torrent.

Knight, Gosling, Brown, Theresa Schafzahl, Natalie Snodgrass, and Aneta Tejralová are among Seattle's group of players not under contract for next season, who could sign with new teams.

Seattle Torrent Roster Outlook:

Signed through 2028-29: Alex Carpenter*

Signed through 2027-28: Cayla Barnes

Signed through 2026-27: Lexie Adzija, Hannah Bilka, Jenna Buglioni, Mikyla Grant-Mentis, Hannah Murphy*, Corinne Schroeder, Danielle Serdachny, Anna Wilgren*

Expiring contracts: Emily Brown, Brooke Bryant, Megan Carter, Gabrielle David, Julia Gosling, Carly Jackson, Mariah Keopple, Hilary Knight, Sydney Langseth, Theresa Schafzahl, Natalie Snodgrass, Aneta Tejralová, Marah Wagner, Emily Zumwinkle

Expiring contracts (rights held): Lily Delianedis, Jada Habisch, Lyndie Lobdell

*Denotes protected player.

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