What’s next for the Boston Fleet? With expansion on deck, the roster could look dramatically different next season.
With the Fleet out of the playoffs following their Game 4 loss to Ottawa in the Walter Cup semifinals, the players face an uncertain future.
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The PWHL already has added three teams for the 2026-27 season — Detroit was added earlier this month, Las Vegas and Hamilton (Ontario) on Wednesday — and there is a fourth to come, which means significant changes to existing rosters.
“I’d love to have every player on our team back next year so we could go at this again,” coach Kris Sparre said after Sunday’s loss. “But [that’s] the challenge of expansion.”
Unlike last year, when the PWHL added Vancouver and Seattle, the league won’t have an expansion draft this time, but rather multiple signing windows aimed at giving players more choice in the process, according to Hailey Salvian of The Athletic.
The process isn’t finalized and is subject to change based on the final number of expansion teams.
Existing teams can protect three players in the first phase of the expansion process. But unlike last year, when players on expiring deals were exempt from being selected in the expansion draft, teams will need to first sign their top free agents before protecting them.
Boston has eight players under contract through next season: forwards Alina Müller, Liz Schepers, Ella Huber, and Shay Maloney; defenders Megan Keller, Haley Winn, and Daniela Pejsova; and goaltender Aerin Frankel.
Sparre told the Globe there’s “a zero percent chance” the team would leave Keller unprotected, so that’s at least one guaranteed returner. Frankel also seems like a lock, and Müller and Winn have made cases for protection.
The Fleet also could try to sign and subsequently protect one or more of their pending free agents. Among that group of potential sign-and-protect targets are forwards Susanna Tapani and Jessie Eldridge.
Incoming expansion teams will then have the opportunity to sign up to five players who are on expiring contracts or were left unprotected using two types of contracts: Expansion Franchise Offers and Foundational Player Offers.
Teams can offer one EFO — similar to a franchise tag in the NFL — to a player on an expiring contract. A player who receives an EFO, which comes with significant financial incentives, is required to sign with that team. Eldridge, for example, could be a candidate for an EFO if left unsigned and unprotected.
A player offered an FPO contract is not required to sign with the expansion franchise, but if she rejects the offer, she must sign a new contract by the end of Phase 3.
The eight existing franchises can then protect or sign three more players for a total of six. Expansion teams also will be able to sign up to three more players on expiring deals.
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Expansion teams will then sign players — anyone not protected or signed in the first three phases — until they reach a total of 10.
Should an expansion team be unable to reach 10 players, it will be allowed to select unprotected players who are under contract or whose rights are held by existing teams.
The fifth and final phase will permit pending free agents to re-sign with their current team, or wait for the league-wide signing period to open June 19.
All existing and expansion teams can also build their roster through the entry draft, which is June 17 in Detroit.
Sparre acknowledged after the Game 4 loss to Ottawa that expansion is a boon for the league, but he said it makes it difficult to establish a culture and develop homegrown players.
Boston signed all six of its 2025 draft picks and will likely lose at least a few of them to expansion.
“To be able to go through this this year, playing in a big arena, playing in big moments, it’s great for our youth,” he said. “It’s great for the players that had a chance to do it for the first time. It would be great to be able to have them all back.”
Winn, likely to be named Rookie of the Year, seems like an obvious choice for protection in Phase 1, but she could get poached if general manager Danielle Marmer chooses to protect a forward instead of two defenders (assuming Frankel and Keller are protected).
After breakout rookie seasons, Huber and Abby Newhook could be candidates to receive FPOs in Phase 2. They — along with Maloney, Schepers, Jamie Lee Rattray, and others — could also be in the conversation for protection in Phase 3.
The players, of course, aren’t looking forward to the shakeup. On Sunday night, Rattray, a pending free agent, joked that she heard the Fleet were exempt from the expansion process and that everyone on this year’s roster would be returning.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to be here for three years and really help build this culture here, and I’ve had a ton of fun doing it,” Rattray said. “When you build something special, especially this year, it’s hard. It’s really hard.”
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