Newly appointed General Managers, Gardner Morey and Turner, of PWHL, positively anticipate constructing the expansion teams' rosters commencing next week.
Cara Gardner Morey and Meghan Turner, the newly appointed general managers for the PWHL's expansion teams in Vancouver and Seattle, have begun the process of shaping their respective rosters. After being hired last week, the duo has been busy setting priorities and embarking on a coaching hunt, in addition to building their support staff.
Gardner Morey, who previously coached at Princeton, started brainstorming potential recruits for Vancouver's expansion roster even before securing the GM position. "I started thinking about it on the very first phone call," she said during a Zoom session on Friday. "Watching all the games, you're like, 'Ooh, who would be great in this spot?'"
Expansion teams can start adding players during a four-day exclusive signing period that begins on June 4. This window will allow Seattle and Vancouver to sign up to five players from existing teams. Following this signing period, there will be an expansion draft on June 9. Each team will select players alternately, aiming to end up with at least 12 players on their roster.
The remaining roster spots will be filled out through subsequent processes, such as additional signings or the PWHL draft on June 24. To ensure the new expansion teams are competitive while maintaining the competitiveness of existing teams, the league has put a limit on the number of protected players each team can have.
Seattle's GM, Meghan Turner, is confident that this process will enable her team to compete for a championship in their first year. Turner, who has spent the past two seasons as the assistant general manager of the Boston Fleet, believes her experience working under GM Danielle Marmer will be invaluable. Turner also draws on her background as a risk assessment consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, which she believes has equipped her to handle the transition into the sports industry and to build successful teams.
As they build their teams, both GMs are mindful of establishing strong leadership cultures and assembling rosters that combine speed and strength, a necessity in a league that has introduced checking to women's hockey. The two expansion teams, situated a two-hour drive apart, are expected to fuel a natural geographic rivalry.
In a hint of the friendly competition to come, Gardner Morey mused, "Maybe there'll be some, I don't know, trash-talking here and there to make sure we get this rivalry going." This rivalry could be particularly spirited, as Gardner Morey's former teammate in the National Women's Hockey League, PWHL executive vice president of hockey operations Jayna Hefford, is part of the league's decision-making process.
The expansion draft process for the PWHL, also known as the Professional Women's Hockey League, ensures both Vancouver and Seattle are built fairly and maintain the competitiveness of existing teams. Each of the original six teams must submit a list of protected players and is allowed to protect a minimum of three players. In the draft itself, each expansion team must select at least seven players to reach a target roster size of 12 players. This process, structured over several stages, aims to balance the league and foster a competitive atmosphere for all teams.
- Gardner Morey, now in Vancouver, has already begun considering potential recruits for the expansion team, expressing her enthusiasm for building the roster.
- The new GM of Seattle, Meghan Turner, draws on her experience as assistant general manager of the Boston Fleet and her background in risk assessment to confidently approach the task of building a competitive team.
- Both Gardner Morey and Meghan Turner are aware of the importance of establishing strong leadership cultures and assembling balanced rosters, combining speed, strength, and a competitive edge, particularly in light of the rivalry between the Vancouver and Seattle expansion teams.
