PWHL Expansion Watch: Timelines & Storylines To Follow

PWHL expansion. It's the biggest topic on the lips of every fan. It's the biggest topic on the minds of PWHL coaches, general managers, and players as well.

Teams are wondering how their rosters will be impacted through an expansion draft. Players are wondering if they might be experiencing an unexpected move this summer. Fans are wondering where they might be able to see PWHL games in new markets next year.

The good news is, we're about to find out.

On February 20, 2025, PWHL executive vice president of business operations Amy Scheer stated the league would have an update on expansion in 4-6 weeks. Scheer did not say there would be an expansion announcement, rather there would be an update. 

Since then however, all signs have pointed to the fact that expansion is coming. Speaking to general managers, coaches, players, and agents across the PWHL, the belief is the PWHL will expand by two teams. There is no guarantee this will happen in time for next season as the timelines to make everything happen, from re-writing the collective bargaining agreement, branding, scheduling, building facilities, and holding an expansion and entry draft, are daunting. They're specifically daunting for a league that has admittedly been building the plane while flying. Branding, venues, and even how teams were originally formed and the gaps in the existing CBA have been issues along the way. But the PWHL has also learned from each of those moments.

Information has swirled this week after one general manager began confirming to agents and players that the league told them expansion was happening, and an announcement would be coming next week. Other general managers and coaches across the league report the opposite, that they have not been told anything by the PWHL regarding potential expansion. 

So when will an announcement come? The belief is a formal expansion update, and potentially announcement, will come following the final PWHL Takeover Tour stop in St. Louis this weekend, and prior to the World Championships. 

The timing makes sense to maximize ticket sales for PWHL Takeover Tour markets. As the league has been open about the Takeover Tour being a tool to gauge market interest for new franchises, making an announcement prior to the end of the Tour, while cities continue to attempt to "prove" to the league their viability, is bad business. If expansion is happening, an announcement between March 29 and Worlds makes sense.

Sometimes, as the old saying goes, where there's smoke, there's fire. All the smoke in PWHL circles this week has been originating in the west. PWHL staff believe the league will head west for expansion, likely targeting Vancouver, Seattle, Denver, and/or Edmonton. 

While it makes sense for broadcasting, media coverage, sponsorships, and making the league more accessible to more fans, it's hard to ignore the combination of Detroit and Quebec City, who were both avid supporters of the league in their PWHL stops.

One sources within the PWHL however, said the league has always been focused on current NHL markets, which if true, would rule out Quebec City.

One thing the PWHL has proven time and again however, is their adaptability. The league has shifted venues in Montreal, Toronto, and New York, and are in the process of examining an alternative venue in Boston as well. The league has made rule alterations mid-season. They changed their trade deadline this year, a move many believed was intended to provide teams with an opportunity to roster build with expansion in view. That didn't happen, but it doesn't change the possible intent behind the original move. 

The league will certainly have broadcasting revenue at the forefront of their decision, which means the league needs to become less regional, and more national. But the league certainly does not want to be picking up teams year after year to move them to new venues. It means the facility, and existing fan base will be equally important factors when it comes to the decision. Luckily, if the league is heading west, there are multiple markets who check all these boxes.

In a women's hockey world where traditional free agency, drafts, trades, and multi-year contracts are all relatively new, adding in an expansion draft is the cherry on top for what could be the wildest offseason women's hockey has seen, aside from the chaos leading up to the PWHL's first season that is.

An expansion draft is a necessity, and general managers believe they'll be asked to accept deep cuts to their existing rosters. Most believe there will be stipulations requiring each team to expose players on two- and three-year contracts. It will be crucial to the on-ice success of any new team(s), as well as in getting those teams up to the salary average. It will also be crucial for teams who have been looking for a way to shed money to more appropriately pay players who have earned raises. 

One example is the contract impasse that was reached in New York with Sarah Fillier. Fillier deserves pay like the 18 players the league originally signed, but the CBA was not designed with rookies in mind. An expansion draft will free up money for teams to better compensate existing players. Another example are players like Hannah Miller and Daryl Watts in Toronto, who are far and away two of the most underpaid players in the league, who both deserve raises.

As players leave rosters, general managers will enter into feverish recruiting to fill roster spots, and lure free agents this season. With money available, it could result in the most movement we've seen.

A PWHL expansion draft will be crucial to ensuring more talent heads to the PWHL. Without expansion, the scale gets tipped significantly for young players like Abbey Murphy and Lacey Eden to go back to the NCAA to finish out their eligibility. Without expansion, their best bet to be paid comes after the expiration of the inaugural three-year contracts. 

With expansion, the scale tips drastically for these players to declare now. For a player like Murphy, who would immediately become the consensus first overall pick, it could mean the opportunity to make six figures from day one with an expansion team, rather than making $51,500 in the current system. Similarly, expansion could save the league with Europeans.

Currently, there are multiple European players within the PWHL looking at ways to break their contracts to leave the league. It's a sad reality, but it is reality. With the Olympics scheduled to take place in 2026, European players don't want to sit on the bench when they could be playing top line minutes in Europe, including for better pay.

Expansion however, would change everything. It would open doors for the league's existing European players to get new opportunities, and it would also shift the current thinking of Europe's top stars who almost unanimously, at the moment, plan to bypass the 2025 PWHL Draft. Expansion could lure a half dozen players from the SDHL, who currently have no intent on coming to the league next year. 

Regardless of what happens, the 2025 PWHL Draft is not very deep. The good news is, by establishing expansion teams this year, it opens the door for players in the 2026 Draft, which will be the strongest draft in PWHL history.

Expansion can't come soon enough for the PWHL. And luckily for fans, whether expansion is coming for next season, or a year later, news on that decision is imminent.