Regardless of who each of the PWHL's six teams protects and exposes, a few teams in the PWHL will feel a greater impact when they return to the ice for 2025-26 than others. The two teams who advanced to the PWHL finals this year,

Among the other high-profile players left unprotected in a list released by the league on Tuesday were Minnesota’s Kelly Pannek and Grace Zumwinkle, New York’s Alex Carpenter, Ottawa captain Brianne Jenner and veteran defenseman Jocelyne Larocque and Toronto’s Sarah Nurse.

Ottawa captain Brianne Jenner, league co-leading scorer Hilary Knight of the Boston Fleet and Minnesota's Kelly Pannek are among headliners available to incoming franchises Seattle and Vancouver in the PWHL's expansion draft next week.