PWHL expansion draft: Bell goes 1st to Vancouver, Seattle snags Bilka

PWHL Vancouver selected defender Ashton Bell from the Ottawa Charge with the first pick in the league's expansion draft Monday.

Vancouver chose to pick first after winning a lottery conducted by PWHL executive vice president of hockey operations Jayna Hefford earlier Monday.

Bell recorded three goals and six points in 27 regular-season games and was a key piece of Ottawa's top-pairing as the Charge reached the PWHL Finals. The 25-year-old was taken eighth overall in the 2023 PWHL Draft by Ottawa, which lost in four games to Minnesota the 2025 finals.

PWHL Seattle selected defender Aneta Tejralova and forward Hannah Bilka with the second and third picks.

Tejralova notched one goal and 10 points in 30 contests. The 29-year-old captains Team Czechia internationally, and she was initially selected 41st overall in the first PWHL draft by the Charge.

Bilka recorded five goals and 11 points in 16 games last season after being selected fourth overall by Boston in last year's draft. The 24-year-old won a national championship at Ohio State in 2024 and has represented the United States at three World Championships.

Here are the full expansion draft results:

Boston protected forward Shay Maloney after losing Bilka. The Sceptres added forward Emma Maltais to their protected list once Seattle took Gosling. The other four teams had already been able to protect a fourth player during the exclusive signing window.

Seattle and Vancouver ended the seven-round expansion draft with 12 players after both teams inked the maximum five players in the exclusive signing window.

Here's who the two clubs added to their rosters in the exclusive signing window before Monday:

The league's initial six franchises protected three players and protected a fourth after losing two players. All six original teams lost four players in the full expansion process.