I’m out of the country and therefore almost entirely out of commission for the first couple weeks of June and so while I’ve done my best to keep with what San Jose’s new PWHL team has done, it’s been a lot of trying to get connection to Twitter and email just to see what’s going on. And boy, is there a lot going on. While San Jose wasn’t the first expansion team to the punch when it came to signing players, it was one of the first teams to add a majority of its five expansion players. In fact, the team was able to sign four of the five before Vegas was able to sign its first player.
Corinne Schroeder to backstop PWHL San Jose
And the first player announced by San Jose was a goaltender. Corinne Schroeder signed a two-year deal, coming to San Jose from the Seattle Torrent.
Schroeder started 17 games for the Torrent in 2025-26, earning five wins and posting a .915 save percentage and 2.56 goals-against average. This will be Schroeder’s fourth season in the PWHL. She was signed to the Torrent during last year’s expansion draft and played two seasons with the New York Sirens before that.
The 26-year-old netminder was a part of the inaugural PWHL draft where she was selected 33rd overall by New York. Her career total in the PWHL is a .921 save percentage through 52 games. She has five shutouts and will go down in league history as the first woman to ever record a shutout in the PWHL. That happened on Jan. 1, 2024 against Toronto.
Prior to joining the PWHL, Schroeder played four season with Boston University and one with Quinnipiac, where she was the Bobcats’ MVP and a finalist for NCAA Women’s Goalie of the Year.
PWHL San Jose signs Rory Guilday
Also on Friday, June 5, PWHL San Jose signed its second player, defender Rory Guilday. Another two-year deal, Guilday joins San Jose from the Ottawa Charge.
Guilday was a rookie last season, selected fifth overall in the 2025 draft. The 23-year-old joined the Charge from Cornell University. Last season, she had nine points (1 G, 8 A) in 30 games. But it’s her physical presence that will make fans stand up and take notice. Guilday was third in the league with hits, 57, and led the Charge in blocked shots, 35. She played with the Chargers in the 2026 Walter Cup, and averaged almost 22 minutes per game in the finals.
Guilday was also a member of Team USA and won gold in Milano-Cortino.
PWHL San Jose’s first forward is Anne Cherkowski
Day two of Phase two brought two more signings. The team announced the arrival of Anne Cherkowski, the first forward to be added in the expansion process. The 23-year-old was another product of the 2025 PWHL draft, selected 13th overall by the New York Sirens.
In her first season with the Sirens, Cherkowski had nine points (2 G, 7 A) in 28 games. Prior to joining the Sirens, she played for Clarkson University. She played in 168 games for the Golden Knights and scored 147 career points (60 G, 87 A). She earned ECAC First-Team All-Star honors her final season.
Internationally, Cherkowski competed for Canada at the 2019 and 2020 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championships where she won a pair of medals, one gold and one silver.
She signed a two-year contract.
EFO Contract signed by Kristin O’Neill
Youth led the way up until San Jose announced the signing of its Expansion Foundational Offer contract (EFO) which was signed by Kristin O’Neill. The 28-year-old signed a two-year deal and will be a cornerstone piece for PWHL San Jose. Signed from the New York Sirens, O’Neill had five points (4 G, 1 A) in 30 regular season games last season, if that doesn’t seem like a lot, it’s because what you get from O’Neill is the other intangibles. She was fourth in the league in faceoff wins with 272 and as The Athletic’s Hailey Slavin reports, O’Neill can do it all.
Before becoming a professional hockey player, O’Neill played at Cornell University where she had 145 points (81 G, 64 A) in 125 games and earned Ivy League Player of the Year honors in 2018.
She has played for PWHL San Jose General Manager and Head Coach Troy Ryan before on Team Canada, where she’s won three gold medals and two silver medals. She won a silver medal at the Milano-Cortina games, her Olympic debut.
Last but not least, Maddi Wheeler signs with San Jose
And last, but certainly not least, PWHL San Jose signed forward Maddi Wheeler to a two-year deal. Wheeler joins San Jose from the Sirens, where she scored 10 points (3 G, 7 A). She was a fourth round pick in 2025, going 27th overall. She’s another physical player, ranked fourth in the league with 51 hits.
The 23-year-old split her college career between the Wisconsin Badgers and the Ohio State Buckeyes. As a Badger, she won two national championships.
Internationally, she also played for Ryan, in the IIHF U18 Women’s World Championships.
What’s next for PWHL San Jose?
The PWHL enters Phase 3 next, where the existing PWHL teams will protect three more players.
Then it’s on to Phase 4, the expansion draft, which happens on June 17. There will be six rounds and the only thing we know for certain at this point is the Vancouver Goldeneyes will draft first overall. After that, well, we’re still waiting for the draft order, but there are some suspicions that the expansion teams may not get those top picks 2-5. The Hockey News’ Ian Kennedy speculated as much after PWHL Las Vegas signed Hilary Knight and then reportedly had a handshake deal to later trade her to PWHL Detroit for a first round pick earlier this week.
So, look for PWHL San Jose to get a pick later in the draft, presumably after all those Gold Plan teams get their picks.
