East Versus West: Which Of The PWHL's New Conferences Will Be Stronger?

The PWHL is now a two conference league with the Eastern Conference and Western Conference vying for four playoff spots each.

In the West, expansion teams dominate the conference with Detroit, Las Vegas, San Jose, Vancouver, Seattle, and Minnesota. The Minnesota Frost are the Western Conference's only original six team.

In the East, the other five original six teams in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, New York, and Boston are joined by Hamilton, viewed as most as one of the stronger expansion teams on paper.

While it's impossible to plan for conference parity year to year, this season's inaugural split looks like the bulk of the league's top teams, at least on paper, will be on one side of the continent versus the other. 

The reigning Walter Cup champion Montreal Victoire headline the Eastern Conference. On paper, the Victoire look like the odds on favorite to repeat this season after bolstering their roster in the offseason with acquisitions like Jessie Eldridge, Emma Maltais, Michelle Karvinen, and Petra Nieminen.

They'll be joined by the back-to-back Walter Cup runner up in the Ottawa Charge, who enter the season well position with depth and a strong goaltending tandem, despite losing a handful of veterans in expansion. The East also includes the Boston Fleet, the first team to clinch a playoff spot last season, although they'll be in rough shape to repeat that feat given their offseason losses. Still, any team with Aerin Frankel in net, and Megan Keller and Haley Winn on the blueline has a chance. 

No one expects the New York Sirens to be in the basement again this season as their young core and deep blueline should be enough to put them in a fight for the postseason. The main question mark in New York will be if Elaine Chuli can hold her own, consistently in net. 

Hamilton enters the season as arguably the expansion team that put together the strongest roster. They have a deep blueline, a top six that should rival most in the league, and quality role players. 

That leaves the Toronto Sceptres, who despite it all, have a fantastic blueline, one of the best goaltenders in the league, and a mix of promising forwards who could surprise many. 

It’s hard not to notice the netminders in the Eastern Conference will all three goaltender of the year finalists in Aerin Frankel (Boston), Ann-Renee Desbiens (Montreal) and Gwyneth Philips (Ottawa), along with Raygan Kirk (Toronto), who statistically was a top three goaltender in the league, Canadian Olympian Kayle Osborne (Hamilton), and veteran Elaine Chuli (New York).

It could make for some low scoring games in the East.

Out west there are still top goaltenders like Emerance Maschmeyer (Vancouver) and Maddie Rooney (Minnesota), but the pool of starters is far less proven and less accomplished. Second year goalie Hannah Murphy (Seattle) will look to emerge as an elite goalie, and Nicole Hensley (Las Vegas) is looking to prove she’s still a world class netminder. Andrea Brandli (Detroit) earned Best Goaltender honors in the Olympics, but has never played a minute in the PWHL, and Corinne Schroeder (San Jose) has an inexperienced team in front of her, but can steal games. 

If goaltending remains a significant factor in the PWHL, it favors the Eastern Conference.

Had the Vancouver Goldeneyes and Seattle Torrent not flopped as hard as they did last season plummeting to the league's basement and never finding a way to climb out, the Western Conference could look different. As it stands, the Western Conference has two non-playoff teams, three expansion franchises, and the Minnesota Frost, who were knocked out of the opening round of playoffs last season.

Minnesota still packs a punch up front as the best offensive team in the league, but their blueline took a beating in the offseason, and they'll enter without the safety net of a tandem in net. Still, the Frost with Kelly Pannek, Taylor Fox, Lee Stecklein, Maddie Rooney, Kendall Coyne Schofield, and Grace Zumwinkle should finish at or near the top out West.

Vancouver was one of the least impacted teams in expansion, and they added Caroline Harvey to their roster. The recent retirement of defender Claire Thompson hurts, but Harvey more than makes up for the loss. With a new coach, Vancouver looks to redeploy similar ingredients for new results. Seattle will have the same task, but they had a slightly larger shuffle. Their biggest addition is Abbey Murphy, as well as the chance to see if Theresa Schafzahl can replicate what she did to close out the season in a larger dose.

Few expect San Jose to be in the playoff mix given their lack of proven offense, although they have young potential sprinkled throughout their lineup. The same could be said for Las Vegas, although their mix of youth and veteran faces could pay off as the season progresses. Detroit has the name power and an enviable top six on paper, but fans saw how that played out last season in Seattle and Vancouver.

The Western Conference looks like the easier of the two groups, although it's also the conference that could see the biggest evolution of teams from puck drop to playoffs. In a 12 team league where rosters have been diluted and the talent pool spread more thin, no one should count out any team from either side of the continent just yet.

As it stands today, the PWHL's Eastern Conference, on paper, is the stronger of the two. The East will also have a more favorable travel schedule compared to West Coast teams who will spend more time in between games traveling than others. 

In the East, New York and Hamilton are the lone teams without playoff experience. Conceivably, the playoffs in the Eastern Conference could open without a single new team cracking the postseason, although Hamilton and New York both stand a good chance of pushing for the postseason.

In the West, at least three teams who have never played a playoff game, and at least one expansion team will be in the playoffs when he 2026-27 season ends. The Minnesota Frost are two-time Walter Cup champions, and they'll be a favorite to earn one of the playoff spots in the Western Conference. It leaves three spots up for grabs among Seattle, Vancouver, Detroit, Las Vegas, and San Jose.