For The First Time This Season, The PWHL's Inaugural Player Pool Will Be The Minority In The League

The PWHL is set to enter year four. The league has doubled in size since the inaugural season growing from a six team loop, to a now 12 team league divided into an Eastern and Western Conference.

While players like Hilary Knight, Taylor Fox, Ann-Renee Desbiens, and Alina Muller, members of the league's inaugural season, remain some of the most recognizable and impactful players in the PWHL, this group, along with the rest of the PWHL’s inaugural player pool are no longer the majority in the PWHL.

For the first time in 2026-27, the league's inaugural players will be outnumbered by newcomers. This season, active rosters will include at minimum, 276 players. 

In 2024, the PWHL launched with six teams in Boston, Minnesota, Montreal, New York, Ottawa and Toronto. 

That season, 147 players appeared in PWHL action, and more were signed as reserves and third goalies. 

From that original season-one pool, close to 30 players left the league either retiring directly, or moving to Europe for another season before hanging up their skates. It's a long list including players like Kennedy Marchment, Ann-Sophie Bettez, Madison Packer, Gigi Marvin, Erica Howe, Brittany Howard, Melodie Daoust, Sarah Lefort, Leah Lum, Sophia Kunin, Nicole Kosta, Becca Gilmore, Jess Healey, Kennedy Marchment, Fanni Garat-Gasparics, Sydney Brodt, Brigitte Laganiere, Kaleigh Fratkin, Lauriane Rougeau, Victoria Howran, Jess Jones, Alex Poznikoff, Samantha Davis, Carley Olivier, Dominique Kremer, Emma Buckles, Rosalie Demers, Johanna Fallman, and Taylor Wenczkowski.

The following season, 2024-25, the league's player pool stayed relatively stable replacing the lost players through the draft, growing slightly to 156 players who appeared in at least one game. Following that campaign, the league shed more players from the original pool, including Emma Soderberg and Chloe Aurard-Bushee who are currently playing in Europe, as well as others like Victoria Bach, Jillian Dempsey, Amanda Pelkey, Catherine Daoust, Kelly Babstock and Taylor Baker. Baker remains active and could come back to the league at any point.

After two seasons of league operations drawing primarily on the original pool of players who entered the league from the PHF, PWHLPA, and as 2023 NCAA grads, the first major shift in the PWHL came with expansion for the 2025-26. In 2025-26, the league grew to eight teams adding Vancouver and Seattle with 207 player appearing in at least one PWHL game. It was an expansion of 51 additional players touching the ice beyond an previous mark.

Following the season, a pair of notable inaugural season veterans - Savannah Harmon and Hannah Brandt - announced their retirement, while others like Jincy Roese and Blayre Turnbull will miss the forthcoming season due to pregnancy. 

The result, will be a league predominantly composed of players who joined the PWHL after the inaugural season. It will be the first time in league history where the inaugural player pool represents the vast minority of players in the league. It's a shift that represents the growth of the PWHL, and also the time it has taken for many players under contract in Europe needed to finally make their way to North America as their European contracts expired. It also represents the strength of the global view of the PWHL's stability and future as the best from across the globe are now seeking opportunities in the league.

This season, that will include a record number of players from Czechia, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, and Russia in the league. 

Of the players signed heading into 2026-27, 88 played at least one game in the inaugural season, and are set to return again this season. It could represent as little as 30% of the PWHL's player pool spanning from four seasons ago, with the remainder joining through the draft and free agency since. The Montreal Victoire (13) and Minnesota Frost (11) are the only teams with more than 10 players remaining from the inaugural season, while San Jose (3), Las Vegas (5), and New York (5) have the fewest.

From the PWHL's standpoint, the growth of the league's player pool is a positive sign, and from the standpoint of the founding players, the years spent getting to the league through previous iterations such as the PHF and PWHLPA, is paying off for young players who can now see one target and one league to aim for in the future.