Heading into the expansion process, the Minnesota Frost knew they would lose key players. The Frost were able to hang on to franchise cornerstones like Kelly Pannek, Taylor Heise, Lee Stecklein, Grace Zumwinkle, and Maddie Rooney, but they lost a number of key contributors from their 2025-2026 campaign.
The Frost lost their top two picks from the 2025 PWHL draft (Kendall Cooper and Abby Hustler). They also lost several young players who had breakout sophomore campaigns (Britta Curl-Salemme, Mae Batherson, and Katy Knoll).
Now that the chaos of expansion has slowed down, let’s review what the Minnesota Frost lost in expansion so far and what it means for the 2026-2027 roster.
Forwards
Minnesota’s forward group took quite the hit in the expansion process. Frost forwards scored 84 goals last season. Minnesota lost 26% of those goals in the expansion process. More than just the goals, all three former Frost forwards were flexible players who were utilized in several different roles up and down the lineup last season.
Britta Curl-Salemme
Britta Curl-Salemme had quite the sophomore year for the Frost, scoring 11 goals and 29 points in 30 games. She finished third on the team in scoring and was named a PWHL second-team all-star. Curl-Salemme’s departure is a big hit to the Frost’s top-six forward group.
Abby Hustler
Hustler was a second-round pick in the 2025 draft, and she looked right at home for the Frost in her rookie campaign. Hustler provided a physical, power-forward presence for Minnesota. She also chipped in offensively, scoring four goals and 13 points. The Frost will miss the offense and Hustler’s ability to slide up and down the lineup.
Katy Knoll
Katy Knoll built on her strong 2025 playoff performance to become a difference maker for the Frost in year two. Like Hustler, Knoll looked just as comfortable alongside dynamic offensive players as she did in a third-line role. Knoll was sixth among Frost forwards in goals (7) and seventh in points (9).
Losing Curl-Salemme, Hustler, and Knoll opens up plenty of holes in Minnesota’s top six that they will need to fill. The Frost will hope 2026 second-round pick Viivi Vainikka can make up for some of the lost offense. They will also need a few of their returning players to excel in bigger roles next season. Expect recently re-signed players like Sam Cogan, Klára Hymlárová, and Élizabeth Giguère to see big jumps in their ice time.
Defenders
The forward group lost depth, but the defense core lost top-of-the-line dynamic talent. The Frost lost 71% of their goals and 53% of their points scored by defenders last season. Much of that loss in offensive production comes from the losses of their two top-scoring defenders, Kendall Cooper and Mae Batherson. Both Cooper and Batherson finished among the top ten in points by defenders in the PWHL last season.
Kendall Cooper
The Frost’s 2025 first-round pick made an impact immediately. Cooper led PWHL defenders in assists (17), and she tied Haley Winn and Nicole Gosling for the league lead in points by a rookie defender (19). At just 24 years old, Cooper looks like she will be one of the PWHL’s best dynamic young defenders for years to come.
Mae Batherson
With the losses of Claire Thompson and Sophie Jaques to expansion before last season, the Frost needed Mae Batherson to take a big step forward. Batherson responded by taking her game to another level in her second PWHL season. She led the Frost in goals by a defender (3) and was seventh in the PWHL in points by a defender (15).
Madison Bizal
Madison Bizal was used sparingly last season, but she was solid when called upon. She played in 16 regular-season games, tallying 2 assists and a -1 plus/minus rating. Bizal’s PWHL experience made her a good seventh option for the defense core when injuries struck.
The loss of offensive production hurts, but the losses of Cooper and Batherson create real questions about the future outlook for this Frost blue line. Both players are young, and they both looked like future cornerstones of a PWHL blue line at times last season. The Frost will hope that 2026 first-round pick Sara Swiderski and fourth-round pick Tova Henderson can jump into the lineup and make an impact on day one.
Goaltenders
Nicole Hensley
Nicole Hensley has been a regular in the Frost net for all three of the franchise’s PWHL seasons. Last season, Nicole Hensley made 13 starts and posted a .908% save percentage. However, the overall numbers don’t quite tell the full story of Hensley’s season.
In her first seven starts, Hensley had a .946% save percentage, including one shutout. The Frost had five wins and two overtime losses in her seven starts. However, Hensley struggled after the Olympic break. She posted a .865% save percentage in her final six starts, and the Frost won just two of those games. Maddie Rooney took over the net after the Olympics, and she started all five playoff games for the Frost.
Hensley has made 38 career starts for the Frost across three seasons, so losing her in expansion creates obvious questions about who will partner in net with Maddie Rooney in 2026-2027.
Other options
One option is 2026 fifth-round pick Daria Gredzen. A scout I spoke to recently told me Gredzen has strong physical and technical tools and all the makings of a good PWHL starting goalie. However, she will have to overcome not only the jump to PWHL play but also the adjustment to life in the USA with no Russians on the team.
Marlène Boissonnault could be another option in net, but she also comes with plenty of questions. Boissonnault spent the 2025-2026 season as the third goaltender for the Frost. She has only started one game in her PWHL career.
