'An honour': Inside the PWHL's expansion draft with the 1st overall pick

Karissa Donkin · CBC Sports

· Posted: Jun 11, 2025 4:01 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours ago

Ashton Bell was anxious each time connected Monday arsenic she waited to larn her fate.

Just 2 weeks ago, the 25-year-old defender was battling for the Walter Cup with the Ottawa Charge. She'd carved retired a relation connected the team's apical antiaircraft pairing alongside seasoned Jocelyne Larocque, and blocked much shots than immoderate different subordinate during the playoffs.

But connected Monday, she didn't cognize if she'd beryllium returning to Ottawa oregon heading westbound to play for Seattle oregon Vancouver. She had been near unprotected by the Charge up of the PWHL's archetypal enlargement draft.

She knew Vancouver had interest, aft speaking with GM Cara Gardner Morey during an exclusive signing model anterior to the draft. But precisely however things would play retired was remained a mystery.

"I didn't truly cognize what to expect," Bell said successful an interrogation with CBC Sports. "I knew that determination was the anticipation that I could get picked up by either team. When Vancouver got the archetypal pick, I was conscionable benignant of similar everyone else, sitting astatine home, conscionable waiting to perceive my sanction called."

She didn't person to hold long. After winning a lottery, Gardner Morey had to take betwixt keeping the archetypal prime oregon making the 2nd and 3rd picks instead. She opted to marque the archetypal pick, and utilized it to prime Bell.

"It was decidedly precise breathtaking for maine and conscionable specified an honour," the subordinate from Deloraine, Man. said astir being chosen first.

The PWHL's enlargement process has triggered a reset crossed the league, with each team's roster shaken up and near with holes. Ottawa mislaid 2 cardinal defenders backmost to backmost successful Bell and Aneta Tejralová, who was selected by Seattle with the 2nd pick.

Players who were taken successful the enlargement draught present request to program a determination to the westbound coast. Bell has household successful Vancouver, which volition marque her modulation easier. Many already privation to bargain play tickets.

She's besides joining a squad built beardown from the nett retired by Gardner Morey, who coached Bell with the Canadian Under-18 squad respective years ago.

"She is conscionable the nonstop idiosyncratic you privation connected your team," Gardner Morey said.

"Not lone is she highly talented connected the backmost extremity — she's played some offence and defence successful her career — but she's besides 1 of those large teammates and large quality beings that's conscionable ever showing gratitude and doing things the close way. Her enactment ethic is outstanding and, to me, that's the nonstop benignant of subordinate we wanted to bring in."

A beardown antiaircraft core

Bell's teammates connected the bluish enactment volition see Defender of the Year nominees Claire Thompson and Sophie Jaques, who some conscionable won the Walter Cup with the Minnesota Frost. Both signed with Vancouver earlier the enlargement draft.

Thompson and Bell won an Olympic golden medal unneurotic successful 2022.

WATCH | Did the PWHL enlargement draught spell excessively far?

"Those 2 are unbelievable and showed that this play with Minnesota and brought location the Walter Cup," Bell said. "I've played alongside them with the nationalist squad and cognize them arsenic radical arsenic well. They're conscionable unthinkable players, and I'm truthful excited to get to stock the bluish enactment with them."

Vancouver besides drafted promising rookie defender Sydney Bard from the Boston Fleet, a subordinate who Boston GM Danielle Marmer described arsenic lone showing a glimpse of what she tin bash successful her 1 and lone play successful Boston.

"I deliberation you're going to spot a batch of interchangeable positions wherever you mightiness not cognize who's guardant and who's the [defence] on the crystal astatine definite times," Gardner Morey said.

Change afoot

When the enlargement rules were announced during the playoffs, eyebrows went up crossed the league. Teams could lone support 3 players to start, with a 4th to beryllium added aft a squad surrendered 2 players to expansion. It meant each squad was going to have to springiness up bully players.

In Ottawa, Bell and her teammates had to absorption connected the playoffs. But successful the backmost of their minds, they knew their squad would look antithetic adjacent season.

"There were tons of benignant of rumbles successful the locker country each present and then, conscionable america trying to fig retired each the rules and logistics of it all, and conscionable bouncing questions disconnected each different and what it could perchance look like," Bell said.

After the Charge fell abbreviated to the Frost successful 4 games, hard decisions had to beryllium made. Ottawa Charge GM Mike Hirshfeld opted to support guardant Emily Clark, goaltender Gwyneth Philips and defender Ronja Savolainen to start.

Hirshfeld said Savolainen's size and velocity were factors successful choosing to support her.

"It was her archetypal twelvemonth successful this league, and we felt similar she played incredibly good arsenic she was adjusting to the league," helium said. "We deliberation astatine her age, her champion days are up of her present that she's acclimatized to the PWHL for a year."

But it meant going into the enlargement draught with 3 apical defenders — Bell, Larocque and Tejralová — all astatine risk. Only 1 was near connected Ottawa's roster erstwhile the particulate settled.

"I deliberation incredibly highly of Ashton," Hirshfeld said. "I deliberation Bellsy's been large for america for 2 years. I can't accidental capable astir however she performed successful the playoffs this year. She was connected the apical enactment with Jocelyne Larocque and I deliberation they did an unthinkable job. But again, we made a decision. It's a precise hard decision."

A caller beginning

Bell sympathized with the situation GMs faced successful the enlargement process. With a pre-signing model and the draft, determination were truthful galore variables that were hard to predict.

"Gabbie Hughes [is] an astonishing hockey player, 1 of our champion centres, truthful that was benignant of a no-brainer for them," she said. "I respect their decisions, and evidently Clarky, Gwyn and Ronja, too. Just astonishing radical and unthinkable players arsenic well, truthful I'm ace blessed for them that they get to enactment successful Ottawa and proceed to physique that franchise."

WATCH | Vancouver Griffins were the city's 1st women's pro hockey team:

A time aft the draft, Bell was inactive processing the world that she volition beryllium leaving her teammates and the fans successful Ottawa.

But she besides looks guardant to being a portion of what Gardner Morey is gathering successful Vancouver. 

"Leaving them down is evidently sad," she said. "I'm inactive benignant of processing each of that. But conscionable the excitement of starting and being a portion of a caller franchise retired westbound and being capable to turn women's hockey retired determination is truly breathtaking for me."