With the PWHL having announced expansion to Detroit, the next market set to join the PWHL appears to be Hamilton. Will Toronto's neighbour in Hamilton be next? Is Quebec City out? Are Vegas and a California market still on the table?
The PWHL has officially become a nine team league. It won't stop there as the league continues to push toward a rapid four team expansion ahead of next season. While the league has yet to state how many teams they'll expand by, the PWHLPA has communicated to players that they expect a four team expansion.
With Detroit officially announced as the league's ninth franchise this week, all eyes turn to another imminent expansion announcement as the league must have their four teams announced with staff in place ahead of the opening of the expansion player dispersal process which tentatively begins May 28.
The question now becomes, where does the PWHL head next?
Hamilton Seems Imminent
It feels nearly inevitable that Hamilton will be the next PWHL expansion team.
After communicating regularly with media ahead of the 2026 PWHL Takeover Tour stop that saw more than 16,000 fans visit Hamilton's TD Coliseum, Mayor Andrea Horwath's office has gone silent.
Sometimes in PWHL negotiations, the biggest hint is what people can't say, not what they can.
While Horwath's office has not responded to official requests for comment in recent weeks, the Mayor did drop a hint at a recent event. She spoke on hockey being back at TD Coliseum, openly discussing the relocation of the AHL's Bridgeport Islanders, but it was the next sentence she uttered that has people believing a PWHL announcement is imminent.
“Yes, hockey is back. The AHL is back. The (New York) Islanders, as everybody knows, have chosen Hamilton as the new home for their affiliate," Horwath said. "And without spilling any beans, I can say I’m pretty confident that there’s more to come."
It's anticipated the "more to come" is PWHL expansion, and the next PWHL expansion announcement is expected within a week.
This week, Ice Warriors magazine, whose editor-in-chief is David Pagnotta, also reported they've confirmed expansion is coming to Hamilton.
Wild Wild West
The PWHL expanded to Seattle and Vancouver last year, but the league is still eyeing more western expansion. Detroit was a slight move in that direction, but it's believed the PWHL is still looking to add more teams significantly farther west. Whether that's in California, Nevada, Colorado, or Alberta, the league is looking to grow their footprint, and create more geographic connections not only for Seattle and Vancouver, but also for original six franchise, Minnesota.
The Hockey News has reported that the league has looked closely at markets including Las Vegas and San Diego, neither of which were parts of the PWHL Takeover Tour.
This week The Athletic also reported that the league could be looking at San Jose. Women's hockey made a stop in San Jose in November 2026 just ahead of the PWHL's second season, but drew just north of 3,000. It's an attendance mark that would not be acceptable in today's PWHL where all five teams averaged more than 5,000 fans per game.
Still, it's not the first time San Jose has come up in discussions, particularly with the strength and support women's sports have seen in the Bay Area, and the PWHL's deep rooted connections to California through the Mark Walter Group, Billie Jean King, and Stan Kasten.
Las Vegas remains a frontrunner to be named in the coming weeks, and it appears a California expansion could be in the mix as well.
The PWHL's look to markets not included in the PWHL Takeover Tour lends to the idea that the league intends to pause expansion for multiple seasons after this wave. But in order to settle the league in a place where the PWHL is comfortable, and can pursue national sponsors and broadcasting.
Quebec City Out?
While Quebec City made their pitch for a new PWHL franchise, the PWHL itself has not responded to the market. At this stage in the game, not hearing back from the PWHL seems as close to confirmation that Quebec City is out as actual confirmation considering the league has already started announcing successful markets.
"We actively participated in the expansion process and are proud of the application we submitted,” commented Martin Tremblay, COO of Québecor's Sports and Entertainment Group in a translated comment in Journal de Quebec.
“We had several discussions with the PWHL, but have not received any official response to date. This is a highly competitive process where several major North American cities have also submitted their applications.”