Frost re-sign Pannek, Heise to three-year contracts
A couple of the game’s top scorers are staying in the Twin Cities for the foreseeable future.
On Wednesday, the Minnesota Frost announced that the team has re-signed forwards Kelly Pannek and Taylor Heise to three-year contracts. The deals, set to kick in next season, will carry through the 2028-29 campaign. With that, the duo becomes the first players the Frost protect in the 2026 Expansion Roster Distribution Process.
Pannek and Heise are both coming off incredible seasons. While it didn’t end with the Frost winning a third straight Walter Cup, the two University of Minnesota grads finished first and second in the PWHL in scoring, powering an offense that scored a league-record 91 goals during the regular season. The two also became the second and third players to average a point per game during the regular season.
Pannek became the first player to reach 30 points in a single PWHL season (though Heise became the second on the same day). The Plymouth, Minn. native became the second player in league history to win both the PWHL Points Leader and Top Goal Scorer Awards, setting career highs in goals (16), assists (17) and points (33) during her third season in the league. Pannek has been named a finalist for the Forward of the Year and Billie Jean King MVP awards as well.
Pannek has appeared in 84 regular-season games in the PWHL, posting 23 goals and 37 assists for 60 points. She’s also notched 11 points in 23 playoff games.
Heise matched Pannek’s 17 assists, but also notched career bests in goals (13) and points (30), and is also a finalist for Forward of the Year. The league’s first-ever draft pick three years ago, the Lake City, Minn. native has powered the team’s offense since year one, earning the Ilana Kloss Playoff MVP Award after the team’s first championship run in 2024.
In 78 career regular-season games, Heise has posted 25 goals and 40 assists for 65 points, with another 17 points in 23 postseason contests.
The Frost still has one more player to protect before the end of the first phase of the expansion process, which ended at 5 p.m. ET. All eight active franchises can protect three players during this time, keeping them free from being picked up from the league’s four new teams – Detroit, Hamilton, Las Vegas and San Jose.