With the completion of Monday's Expansion Draft, each new franchise has 12 players and the offseason now proceeds as normal, with the free agent signing period for all teams opening June 16. The entry draft follows on June 24.
The draft began with Vancouver taking the first overall pick. It proceeded from there with each team picking two players at a time and concluded with a single pick from Seattle.
With their picks, Seattle added:
defender Aneta Tejralová (OTT)
forward Hannah Bilka (BOS)
forward Jessie Eldridge (NY)
forward Julia Gosling (TOR)
defender Anna Wilgren (MON)
defender Megan Carter (TOR)
defender Emily Brown (BOS)
Seattle chose to stay pretty traditional and ended up with a balanced roster with six forwards, five defenders and a goaltender. It's a solid mix of standout names and talent and sturdy, reliable players to build on. Knight, Serdachny and Gosling bring size and strength. Serdachny was so adapatable in college and stood out no matter what role she took on. She didn't have a huge breakout rookie year, but her ceiling is massive. The idea of both Bilka and Carpenter picking up speed and stickhandling through the neutral zone at me would have me freaking out as an opposing defense. Speaking of the blue line, the group overall might not pull the attention like Vancouver's does, but it is a really, really calm, secure, experienced and trustworthy group.
With their picks, Vancouver added:
defender Ashton Bell (OTT)
forward Brooke McQuigge (MIN)
forward Abby Boreen (MON)
forward Izzy Daniel (TOR)
forward Gabby Rosenthal (NY)
forward Denisa Křížová (MIN)
defender Sydney Bard (BOS)
Vancouver has seven forwards, four defenders and a goalie. They're defense, at least on paper, is as solid as they come and now looking at the overall lists, I don't think they gave up much ground on offense in order to get there. I love their mix of experience and youngsters up front. Daniel and McQuigge both have room to grow into their game more and learning from Nurse, Boreen and Křížová should help both immensely. Gardiner was one of the standouts of last year's rookies and I'm excited to see her have the chance to grow into a bigger, starring role.
