Frost Made Protections, Now They May Lose in Phase 2

Phase 1 of the PWHL Expansion Player Distribution System is officially over, which means the Minnesota Frost submitted their three-player protection list. These three players had to be under contract for the team before they could be protected, and two of the three would have been highly coveted free agents if they hadn’t been signed. 

The third player was already signed but could’ve been up for grabs as well if the Frost hadn’t made the move to protect them. The players the Frost chose to protect were Taylor Heise, Kelly Pannek, and Maddie Rooney. In this article, we’ll look at why the Frost picked these three players and what the next phase will bring, along with the player they’ve already lost.

Frost Keep Solid Forwards 

It’s not shocking that the Frost decided to sign both Taylor Heise and Kelly Pannek to protect them during this expansion process. Heise is without a doubt the face of their franchise and the future of it as well. Although she wasn’t the top point getter for the Frost, she was only three points behind first place, and that belonged to Pannek. 

Last season, Pannek wasn’t protected during the expansion draft, but Heise, Lee Stecklein, and Kendall Coyne-Schofield were. This time, it was flipped, and Pannek got the protection, but Stecklein and Coyne-Schofield didn’t. Pannek and Heise were almost guaranteed to be on the protection list, especially Heise. Pannek may have been a little more of a surprise to some, but her stats don’t lie. 

She was not only the Frost’s best scorer but also the PWHL’s best scorer and set a new record for most goals in a single season with 16. She truly found her scoring stride this past season and helped the Frost secure their spot in the postseason the earliest they’ve ever clinched. The Frost knows these two will be crucial in their team being successful, and they made sure to secure them both for three more seasons. 

Frost Want Goaltending 

It’s no secret that the Frost have had one of the best goaltending tandems in the league for all three seasons. Maddie Rooney and Nicole Hensley have been together since the league started, and they’ve won back-to-back Walter Cups. Over these past three seasons, they’ve shown how well they work together, and they always have each other’s backs. 

This past season, both goaltenders had their struggles, but they also had their successes, and Rooney really thrived, especially going into the postseason. She’s been the slightly stronger goaltender overall, but they’re pretty close. Rooney, however, is the younger of the two and has shown stronger streaks between them. 

The Frost elected to use their final protection slot on Rooney and made sure they’ll have a strong goaltender as this team moves forward. It doesn’t mean Hensley will move on; she could still end up with the Frost, but it’s also possible she could move on as well. 

Frost Have to Face Phase 2

Now is when things get turned up a notch as the new expansion teams will get a shot to sign players, and they’ll be able to add up to five players during this phase, which started on Friday, June 5th, and will last until Monday, June 8th. Each team has to submit a 20-player Exclusive Negotiation Target List of players they intend to try to sign. They can talk to any players who were left unprotected, and non-expansion teams can lose up to three players in this phase.

Players who are not on a team’s list are not able to be signed by that team. In this phase, each expansion team will be given an Expansion Foundational Offer (EFO). That offer gives them a chance to try and sign a cornerstone player with a “premium multi-year contract opportunity”. If a player is offered one of these contracts, they can choose one to four years in length. 

There is also the option of a Foundation Player Offer, which is non-binding and can be offered to players who are on expiring contracts and fit the qualifications needed to be signed. So, existing teams will not be able to make any signings, but they could lose potential free agents based on who expansion teams go after. 

That means the Frost has a number of players who may not be members of the Frost after Phase 2 and one was already gone on Friday evening. Britta Curl-Salemme signed a three-year deal with Detroit and was the first Frost player to leave.

While Curl-Salemme is already gone, more could follow and head to Detroit, Hamilton, Las Vegas, or San Jose, and it’ll be interesting to see who stays and who decides to go. After the last expansion, the Frost did lose some crucial members of their team, but they were still strong; hopefully, the same can be said after this expansion as well.