Five Takeaways Heading Into The PWHL's First International Break

The PWHL has played 16 of their 120 game schedule, with the league entering their first international break of the season. There have been a number of memorable moments in the season already from inaugural games in Vancouver and Seattle, to powerful support for Carla MacLeod, to the Boston Fleet's unexpected play, 2025-26 has written several storylines of note.

Here's a look at five takeaways from the PWHL's first block of play.

Get this, losing teams through the first 16 games of the PWHL season are averaging 0.75 goals for per game. They scored only 12 goals. That is a ridiculous stat. In comparison in the NHL's first 16 games this season there were 30 goals, or 1.87 goals per game by the losing team.

Similarly, in the NHL there were only three shutouts in those 16 games compared to six in the PWHL.

Goal scoring overall in the PWHL is way down this season. The NHL averaged 5.94 goals per game in their first 16, while the PWHL was averaging only 4.18. Comparing the PWHL to their first 16 games of the 2024-25 season where the league averaged 5.75 goals per game, the PWHL is down 1.57 goals per game right now. That's alarming. 

You can't help but notice the goal reviews, the penalty reviews, and at times it feels like reviews of reviews for the sake of reviewing. In November the PWHL called it "critical" to elevate the standard of their officiating. It's unlikely fans who complained, justly so at times, about the PWHL's officiating in the league's first two seasons thought they'd get this as an attempt to improve the accuracy of calls. Certainly, everyone wants to see the right call made. But by removing the Coach's Challenge and putting it all in the hands of the league's central review room, the league now must get it right. Before that onus rested partially on teams, and if a coach didn't challenge a call, officials and the team could bare mutual responsibility. Now if a call is wrong on the ice and the league lets it slide, it will only reflect poorly on the league. But the result has been too many unnecessary review that are dampening momentum for teams, and deflating the crowd within seconds of a celebration as they see the officials yet again heading to the penalty box. There must be a happy medium, because this isn't the solution the league set out to find.

Aerin Frankel, Megan Keller, Haley Winn, Alina Muller, Abby Newhook, Jamie Lee Rattray, or Susanna Tapani... Boston has players stepping up and performing. And then there's Shay Maloney, Riley Brengman, Sophie Shirley, Zoe Boyd and co. putting in unheralded efforts on both sides of the puck, and in making the Fleet a hard team to play against. In some ways, the Fleet are ushering in a new era of hockey in the PWHL. To date, teams pulled out all their weapons night after night and just said 'best team wins'. This year however, the Fleet knew the make up of their roster, knew they couldn't outgun every team, and built a structure, system, and identity on that knowledge. The result is that opponents had no idea what they were getting. The Fleet are playing tight hockey, taking away time and space everywhere, getting bodies on their opponents, closing shooting lanes, applying back pressure, and just suffocating the life out of the opposition. As a result, they'll also creating turnovers, beating opponents to loose pucks, and finding themselves in good support positions offensively due to their positive defensive positioning. You can see the habits forming already, and there's a sense of urgency in Boston's lineup that isn't being shown consistently elsewhere.

That one person who earnestly believed Vancouver and Seattle would be near the bottom of the PWHL standings at any point this season has since bought themselves a few dozen lotto tickets and is now living on a private island. There wasn't a general manager in the league this offseason who wasn't convinced Vancouver or Seattle wouldn't run through the regular season. But here they sit, struggling not to find talent in their lineup, not to find experience in their lineup, and not to find every tool they need, but to find chemistry. 

There have been too many nights when you can question if Seattle and Vancouver even have the stars we know they do because you can go long periods of time with their top players grabbing your attention. A lot of it looks like the result of throwing teams together and then giving them two preseason games and a half dozen practices (or less) before starting the regular season. Both teams got their first regulation wins this week, and things are starting to look up, but it didn't click instantaneously. 

The crowds have been fantastic. From record setting attendance numbers in Seattle and Vancouver, to consistently strong crowds across the board, the league is thriving in important ways. But what stuck out even more during the league's first block, is how strong the actual women's hockey community is. When two fans got engaged in Ottawa, you could see and hear the reaction not only from the rest of the crowd, but also from Ottawa's bench. When players made their returns to their former teams after expansion shuffled the deck, there were unanimous hugs and kind words exchanged. When Northeastern University played their last game at the historic Matthews Arena, PWHL players from the Boston Fleet and Minnesota Frost who were in town met on the ice to say goodbye to their alma mater's rink. And above anything seen this season in the PWHL, when Ottawa coach Carla MacLeod announced she had been diagnosed with breast cancer, the entire league came together to show their support for MacLeod. There were memorable and emotional nights in Ottawa, and then in Toronto in the two games following MacLeod's announcement. Despite the PWHL being a league where players are aggressively competing for the Walter Cup, it's also a league where the players are truly united on many fronts.