{"id":3379,"date":"2026-06-23T09:03:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T09:03:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=3379"},"modified":"2026-06-23T09:03:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T09:03:30","slug":"pwhl-expansion-feels-like-it-rips-your-family-away-heres-how-the-past-month-shook-out-for-the-fleet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=3379","title":{"rendered":"PWHL expansion \u2018feels like it rips your family away.\u2019 Here\u2019s how the past month shook out for the Fleet."},"content":{"rendered":"
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DETROIT \u2014 The last 23 days have felt like six months for Fleet general manager Danielle Marmer. <\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Erling Haaland scores twice as Norway holds off Senegal to clinch spot in knockout round<\/a><\/p>\n

As the PWHL expands by four teams, bringing the total to 12 for the 2026-27 season, each day in the last month has brought a deluge of phone calls, tough decisions, and difficult goodbyes for Marmer. <\/span><\/p>\n

Between the six-phase expansion process that unfolded over the past three weeks and the PWHL entry draft, the GM is so tired of making decisions that her wife had to pick out Marmer\u2019s draft night outfit \u2014 a crisp white Ann Taylor suit and Fleet-green heels. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Since June 1, the Fleet have suffered the departure of some of their franchise cornerstones, including both of this past season\u2019s alternate captains, Alina M\u00fcller and Jamie Lee Rattray. In total, they have lost nine players: M\u00fcller, Rattray, Hadley Hartmetz, Zoe Boyd, Jessie Eldridge, Daniela Pejsova, Abbey Levy, Mia Biotti, and Riley Brengman.<\/span><\/p>\n

Those players accounted for 25 percent of the Fleet\u2019s goal scoring (19 of 74 total), and almost 30 percent of the team\u2019s total offensive production (60 of 202 total points).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the tough part about expansion,\u201d Fleet captain Megan Keller said. \u201cIt kind of feels like it rips your family away.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Fleet drafted five players, signed two in free agency, and re-signed eight, bringing their total number under contract to 16. They also hold the rights to Abby Newhook, who received a qualifying offer and will remain with the Fleet after a stellar rookie season.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the upheaval and the departure of their stars, as well as their coach, is made more difficult by the fact that nearly every player, coach, and staff member has said this was their favorite season of hockey at any level.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo know that that was coming to an end and was going to get blown up a little bit was heartbreaking,\u201d Marmer said. \u201cThere were days that sucked, but it\u2019s all part of what we have to go through to continue to put women\u2019s hockey on the biggest stage, and to create more and more opportunities for this to be a career path for women.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Among the more challenging days for Marmer was when coach Kris Sparre requested permission to interview for the coaching position with the expansion team in Hamilton, Ontario, near his hometown of Burlington.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sparre, named the 2025-26 PWHL Coach of the Year for his first season with the Fleet, has two young children \u2014 a 4-year-old son and a daughter born during the 2025-26 season \u2014 and the opportunity to live closer to his family was too good to pass up. <\/span><\/p>\n

In hindsight, Marmer said, she should have known Sparre might be among the offseason departures. <\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Bucks deal star center Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Heat, not the Celtics, in NBA blockbuster<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBut I was naive to it, or it was just wishful thinking,\u201d she said. \u201cI was really excited to continue to build with him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The decision was by no means easy for Sparre, who held back tears as he accepted the Coach of the Year trophy in front of five of his former players. In fact, he called it \u201chands down the hardest decision\u201d he\u2019s made in 20 years of playing and coaching in professional hockey. But he decided he owed it to his wife and family to be more present after all the sacrifices they had made for his career.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe most fun I\u2019ve ever had coaching hockey was in Boston,\u201d Sparre said. \u201cIt\u2019s because of the players and the people. Imagine having to make a decision to leave that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Many of the players who departed, much like Sparre, did so for personal and family reasons, Marmer said \u2014 not because Boston was the wrong fit or because they didn\u2019t think they could win with the Fleet. Eldridge (Montreal), Rattray (Toronto), and Boyd (Hamilton) were among that group. <\/span><\/p>\n

But the Fleet also benefited from family connections, particularly in signing Amanda Boulier. The defender, who won the Walter Cup with Montreal this season, signed a two-year deal in Boston and will reunite with her wife, Laura Bellamy, the women\u2019s hockey coach at Harvard. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEvery single person who\u2019s coming to our organization, whether it\u2019s a player or a staff member, I want them to want to be in Boston, and if it\u2019s not the place that they want to be for whatever reason, I fully respect that,\u201d Marmer said. \u201cWe have such a special culture, and it\u2019s because people want to be here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

M\u00fcller wanted to remain in Boston, as she said at the team\u2019s breakup day in May. But when the Fleet opted to use their three protections in the first phase of expansion on their defensive core, the Swiss forward had to make a business decision. <\/span><\/p>\n

She could choose to sign with Hamilton, take a pay raise, and play for a coach she knows and loves \u2014 or hold off in hopes of staying with the Fleet and risk being involuntarily selected by an unfamiliar expansion team. (Expansion teams, if they didn\u2019t reach five signings in Phase 2, could bindingly select players under contract from existing teams.)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSelfishly I wanted her to hang on, but she could have gotten plucked and ended up somewhere that she didn\u2019t want to be,\u201d Marmer said. <\/span><\/p>\n

M\u00fcller was Hamilton\u2019s first target, Sparre said. Her decision to leave Boston made sense to Marmer, even though she knew it was a hard one to make.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re lucky to get to compete, and that\u2019s what I have to remind myself when these moments get hard, and when you lose people,\u201d Marmer said. \u201cYou never want to see people leave your organization, especially when they express how much they want to be here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Why the Red Sox are sending Connelly Early and Payton Tolle back to Boston early from Colorado<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In total, they have lost nine players: Alina M\u00fcller, Jamie Lee Rattray, Hadley Hartmetz, Zoe Boyd, Jessie Eldridge, Daniela Pejsova, Abbey Levy, Mia Biotti, and Riley Brengman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"yoast_head":"\nPWHL expansion \u2018feels like it rips your family away.\u2019 Here\u2019s how the past month shook out for the Fleet. - Boston Relocation Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=3379\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"PWHL expansion \u2018feels like it rips your family away.\u2019 Here\u2019s how the past month shook out for the Fleet. - 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