Torrent GM Meghan Turner Offers Insight To Protected Players, And The Decision To Leave Captain Hilary Knight Exposed

As the dust settles on the first phase of the Expansion
Player Distribution Process, Seattle Torrent General Manager Meghan Turner
spoke with media regarding the team’s three protected players. These players
were forward and alternate captain Alex Carpenter, goaltender Hannah Murphy,
and defender Anna Wilgren.

Turner stated that she felt these three represented a group
that each position could be bult around from forwards to defenders to goaltenders.

“Just wanted to express my real excitement for this core
group,” Turner said. “It’s the spine of the roster going forward. There’s a lot
of variables that go into these decisions but feeling really good and really
excited about the way forward here.”

Overall Thoughts on the Protected Three

It sounded like everything went as well as could be expected
for the Torrent in a complicated expansion process. “Just feel really excited
about this group,” Turner said. “Alex [Carpenter] is one of the best two-way
forwards in the world. Hannah Murphy and Anna Wilgren, we haven’t seen the best
of them yet and that plays a big role into the decision here.”

Carpenter was the first signing during this first phase and
was signed to a three-year standard player agreement. Veteran leadership and
presence on the ice as well as consistency in performance certainly factored
into this decision. This was probably the least surprising of the protections for
the team.

Murphy and Wilgren caught some off guard when their names
were announced, but Turner had some more insight on those decisions as well. “Just
really excited to see how these young players can blossom and see them solidify
themselves in Seattle,” Turner said. “And how they can bring their game to
Seattle and show the broader fan base and the broader league what we believe
they can do.”

“You’re always considering the veteran status versus the
youth. We wanted to make sure we had a good core group that could have some
longevity,” said Turner. “Everyone feels the same way that it’s important to have
a good balance of experience, but also some young potential.” With the Torrent protecting
that experience in Carpenter and the younger players in Murphy and Wilgren,
they achieved that balance.

Defense to Help Build the Team’s Identity

“Defense are kind of hard to come by just in numbers,” said
Turner. That also aligns with most teams protecting a defender, a couple even
protecting two. That’s where Wilgren fits into this base layer. She was a
difference maker for the team last season as well, often keeping the Torrent
within striking distance of their opponents.

“We want to play a heavy game next year, and we feel that
Anna is a heavy D player. She also has that huge offensive upside,” said
Turner. “She’s young and has that potential. I don’t think we’ve seen what she
can really do in this league, and so we’re excited to put her in positions to
be able to succeed and watch her and help her develop too.”

The team ended at the bottom of the standings last season.
They had referenced wanting a team that was competitive and bold before the
season started. There were glimpses of that throughout, but change is needed
and coming. The defensive core, now heavily dependent on Wilgren, is going to play
a big part in those changes and also in the identity building of the team in
season two.

“She is not afraid to block shots. She’s not afraid to make
checks and finish hits. She’s not afraid to get into the hard areas of the ice.
She’s good at transporting the puck through the neutral zone, and she’s got
speed, and she wants to get up into the play and be that fourth activation,”
Turner said. “That is a big part of the identity we want to have next year is
just really playing that that heavy game and keeping teams to the outside and not
allowing teams in the middle and then also being relentless in the ozone and
smart around our blue lines.”

Goaltending a Big Focus in This Phase

Every existing team protected a goal on their roster except
for the Sirens. “The goalie position was certainly a big focus for everyone. If
you lose a goalie, if you don’t protect the goalie, you’re going to have to
find one some other way,” said Turner. “There’s a lot of teams that need good
starting goaltenders. It’s probably difficult to wait for the draft where you
don’t exactly know what’s going to fall where.”

Murphy is going into her second year in the professional
league and was solid in her rookie season. The Torrent’s other half of the goalie
tandem, Corinne Schroeder, played 17 games to Murphy’s 12 and had a 0.915 save
percentage over Murphy’s 0.908. The differences in those numbers aren’t necessarily
significant enough to make a big case either way.

“We felt good about Murphy’s potential and what we saw in
Hannah this year,” said Turner. “That was a shared sentiment across the board,
so we wanted to make sure that we kept her in Seattle.”

With a Walter Cup continuing to be a focus and at the
forefront of the general manager’s mind, it makes sense that goaltending would
be top of mind. “A good goaltender who can be the backbone for us, because that
is number one. You look at the teams that that are really championship driven
and starts from the net out.”

The Unprotected Players

Notably, the Torrent captain, Hilary Knight, was not
protected in this first phase. “There’s certain players, Hillary being one of
them, that probably deserved more of a of an explanation, usually, just out of
out of respect,” said Turner. “She’s a professional and that’s how we
approached it. Hillary is a pro in all respects, and it was a very professional
conversation and have a ton of respect for her as a player and a person than a
leader.”

What went into not protecting the captain? It would have
been hard to protect both Carpenter and Knight, but Knight brought so many eyes
to the league and the team. She also was able to perform in the big moments for
the team as well. Knight was such a heartbeat to the Torrent and so popular
among the fanbase that many are still shocked not to see her name on the
protected list.

On the overall decisions to protect the three the team did, the
complications of the process of adding four new teams played a big part. “This
process is difficult. It’s long. Last year was a little bit more
straightforward. You had the protections, and then you had the draft,” said
Turner. “There’s more variables at play and those were real factors in the
decision making here, including the contract landscape across the board. It
doesn’t look the same as it did last year, so that’s something we certainly
took into consideration.”

“I don’t think there’s any one strategy or one variable that
drove the decision,” said Turner. “It was a waiting of the supply and demand at
each position to what position are harder to fill in the draft and the signing
windows upcoming here. What does the rest of the expansion process look like?
What are the odds we can keep certain players?”

Next Up

The Expansion Player Distribution Process continues and
there are a lot of phases to go and a lot of scenarios to think through. Turner
talked about her thought process moving forward.

Turner also has a head coach position to fill before the
season starts. “I think we’re close. It’s coming along well. We had a lot of
things we could take from last year. We’re close on the coaching search. I feel
really good about the candidate pool. I feel really good about some of the
reflection that we did and what we’re able to take into next year. Part of that
is finding someone who feels the same as I do about playing that game and I
think we have a lot of good candidates that came through throughout this
process that feel that same way. I think we’re getting close to a decision here.”