The league’s six-phase roster building process officially opened on Tuesday. The existing eight teams can sign and protect three players from being poached by an expansion team. Steph Chambers / Getty ImagesJune 2, 2026 2:03 pm EDT Updated The Professional Women’s Hockey League is expanding to Detroit, Hamilton, Las Vegas and San Jose. Now it’s time for the league’s four new franchises to start building their inaugural rosters.The league’s six-phase roster building process officially opened on Tuesday. The existing eight teams can sign and protect three players from being poached by an expansion team.The protection lists are due on Wednesday at 5 p.m. ET, but some signings will be announced ahead of that deadline because unlike last year, should a team want to protect a player on an expiring deal, they must be signed to a new contract before the end of Phase 1 (June 2-3).Players on expiring contracts may sign with any existing team during this phase, and any signed player automatically counts as one of the existing team’s three protections.
This story will be updated as signings are announced.Seattle TorrentAlex Carpenter, forward, three-year contractSeattle locking in Carpenter should be no surprise — even though I inexplicably left her exposed in my own projections on Monday. But that was mainly because a player of Carpenter’s ilk — aka one of the best in the world — would be highly desirable on the open market.Carpenter, who signed as one of Seattle’s foundational players in June 2025, paced the Torrent with 12 goals — a new career-high — and 20 points this season. Her 440 faceoff wins were 99 more than the next best skater, and her 745 faceoffs led the league by 170. Carpenter also won an Olympic gold medal with Team USA at the 2026 Milan Olympics in February.With six points in seven games, Carpenter finished the tournament tied for fifth all-time in U.S. Olympic women’s hockey scoring.Carpenter has good speed, an excellent shot, sees the game incredibly well, and has consistently been one of the best offensive players in the PWHL since its launch in 2024. Only Marie-Philip Poulin (67) and Taylor Heise (65) have more career points than Carpenter (63).No matter what happens through the expansion process, Carpenter gives the Torrent a true franchise center whose game has yet to slow down in her thirties.
