postseason can't hurt you when you win!

My teams

PWHL: Montreal Victoire

WNBA: Phoenix Mercury

MLB: Boston Red Sox

NWSL: Houston Dash

College Basketball [Women]: UConn

Unrivaled: Phantom

PWBL: Boston

NBA: Phoenix Suns

International

Women's Hockey: Team Canada

Women's Soccer: Team USA

Women's Basketball: Team USA

unless watts is the sign and trade.

here's a hot take: they messed up the order of operations here

the first step is sign foundational players who want to be there.

the second step is use the carrot [EFO] to get the high value players who don't

the third step is a draft

OR

all EFOs have to sign before anyone else does. but i think the first option is better.

feels like signed players got scared of being picked on their current salary right near the deadline and agreed to a deal with a raise

Feels like she got an EFO and refused to go to Vegas

sounds like that's exactly what happened.

I have to wonder what the return is. because imo it has to be more than a first round pick. and I don't even know if the league is going to allow that. or force them to wait until draft night? update it's going to be a trade right around draft night

i saw that

If I'm not mistaken, expansion teams need to finish with 10 players before X phases (I don’t remember which one), right? If that's the case, I assume the other 5 players each team needs to acquire will be drafted from existing teams? If so, couldn't one team lose way more players than another? For example, if Detroit and Las Vegas both decide they want 3 players from Boston, and SN takes 1 player from Boston, the Fleet will get gutted in the blink of an eye? Is there a limit on how many players an existing team can lose to expansion teams? Will each existing team lose the exact same number of players? Excluding free agents who will be able to sign with another team later in the process.

okay here's the high level run down

existing teams protect 3 players [under contract/RFA or newly signed UFA]

phase 2: expansion teams must obtain 5 players each [4x5=20]

existing teams cannot lose more than 3 players under contract during phase 2

expansion teams can sign free agents using EFO [binding] or FPO [non binding mechinisms with specific contract length and salary requirements]

expansion teams can also talk to players under contract and renegotiate their contracts as long a the aav [average annual value] is not less than it was on their previous team

if the expansion team cannot sign 5 players by the end of the phase 2 signing period, it goes to a draft "selection process." in some unstated order, teams without 5 plays [san jose, las vegas] will select players until they reach their 5.

phase 3: free agent signings and additional protections

free agents can sign with the team of their choosing. if they sign with an existing team, they must be protected in this phase. if they were FPOed, they must sign with a team here.

existing teams will protect 3 additional players [RFAs must have a contract] now under contract

Expansion teams sign up to 3 free agents

Phase 4: expansion teams sign players until they get to 10 total. this is between 2 and 5, based on the number of free agents signed.

if expansion teams cannot sign to reach 10, they will have another selection process.

existing teams cannot lost more than 4 players under contract throughout the entire process. so if they lose 3 under contract in phase 2 [seattle and minnesota] they can only lose 1 in phase 4.

there is no limit on the loss of unrestricted free agents

however

8 existing teams x 4 contracted players = 32

so it is assumed each expansion team will sign an average of 2 UFAs [8 total] during this process.

that said, only 3 UFA have been signed thus far. in order for this to work, 5 more UFA have to sign with expansion teams. that said, there are a lot of depth free agents available, and many may have more of an interest in expansion teams than currently contracted players.

I think Montréal really needs to protect Roque, Scamurra, and Tabin in the next phase.

so we don't know what scamurra's contract next year looks like, but it is probably not wildly different from this year's 62.5. definitely not over 80K or anything like that. so I doubt that would be a deterrent.

mlynkova is an RFA so she can negotiate regardless of what team she is on. that said, if you are picking between mlykova and ljungblom, you pick ljungblom every time and it's not particularly close.

this phase is for foundational players, so depth players aren't really going to be considered. anyone who is not a top 9 player on an existing team is not at risk for the phase 2 selection, as they will all be available in phase 4.

that said, there are probably better and younger depth players than dubois who can serve the same role. If she wanted to leave and get more ice time somewhere else, she is able to renegotiate in phase 4. I don't think she will though.

Troy can only take one of tabin and MNP, as he only has 1 spot left. and the other will surely be protected next round [or taken by someone else :/]

minnesota isn't "getting out of this." they already lost both young D and an impactful forward.