PWHL Rumblings: Player Movement Talk Heats Up As Season Approaches, PWHL Takeover Tour Announcement Coming

Training camps for the 2026-27 PWHL season are now less than a week away opening November 18, only 48 hours after the gold and bronze medal games in Denmark. For those not participating in the World Championships, groups of players and coaches have already been on the ice in several markets working together to get back into game shape, sharpen their skills, and begin laying the groundwork for the season.

With that, teams are beginning to make steps toward finalizing their rosters, and looking for help to fill more recent openings. The league is also on the path toward their final preparations.

When Corinne Schroeder was injured warming up off-ice prior to a camp game with Canada, it was the type of fluke injury no athlete or fan imagines. Unfortunately for Schroeder, and San Jose Sea Lions fans, it's one that's likely set to cost Schroeder most, if not all of her season. Now, with only rookie Tia Chan and veteran Abbey Levy, who has experience as a back up and third goalie, left in camp, San Jose must bring another netminder into the fold to meet roster requirements.

According to sources throughout the league, San Jose general manager and head coach Troy Ryan has already been working the phones looking for the best available unsigned goaltender. The targets have been goaltenders currently in other PHWL camps. Detroit and Montreal only have three goaltenders in camp, and there remains question marks to whether or not Emerance Maschmeyer will be in Vancouver's camp when it opens next week, which likely rules out those three teams.

The name that continues to circulate, is the most experienced netminder on the market, Sandra Abstreiter. Abstreiter had interest from a number of teams this offseason, and she was exceptional at the IIHF World Championships through the group stage. Having played games across three seasons with Ottawa and Montreal, she's the most experienced netminder available who could play a tandem role with Chan. Abstreiter is in control of her fate, but Hamilton does have Emma-Sofie Nordström and Lucy Morgan in camp, and they've touted Kayle Osborne as their unquestioned starter, meaning the best opportunity for the German netminder may be San Jose.

With the loss of Britta Curl-Salemme from the Detroit Clutch, and Kendall Coyne Schofield from the Minnesota Frost, both teams are without a top line player. The speculation is that both teams are looking to make a move for a veteran, but it will likely be a secondary deal, and may not come until after camps are finished so that both know what they actually have. Either way, both are rumoured to be in the market for a forward.

On the other side of the coin, the New York Sirens are looking to offload a forward, or two. The Sirens have a problem most teams in the league would envy, in that they have too much depth. Some of those depth players are signed to contracts that won't allow them to be cut in camp, and others are draft picks, that without reserve roster spots, will be released and snatched up instantly by other teams for free. It's yet another example of how the PWHL's late-stage decision making is negatively impacting the planning of well-run teams in the league, and sadly, the New York Sirens have repeatedly become the punching bag of the league, whether it was the draft, expansion plans, or here again, in the late switch of roster size and composition rules that alters how many players teams have signed and selected can protect. Looking at New York's roster, the three veterans in this position appear to be Clair DeGeorge, Emmy Fecteau, and Elle Hartje. It would not be surprising to see New York move one of these players.

Last season, the PWHL Takeover Tour schedule was announced on November 10. The league has already finalized the takeover tour schedule for the 2026-27 season, but with the four expansion team names and logos being announced this week, and the IIHF World Championships medal games coming this weekend, the window is small for an announcement this week. The expectation is the PWHL will announce the PWHL Takeover Tour games next week with buzz already circulating surrounding potential new locations.

With markets like Detroit, that hosted two games last season, and Hamilton now off the board. Other markets like Washington clearly stated they wanted more than one game following last season's success, and that could very well be the case.

The league is expanding the tour from 16 games to 24 this season, with each of the league's 12 teams scheduled to appear in four PWHL Takeover Tour games. Expect the major Canadian markets to get games yet again as ticket sales have been strong across the nation, and the league is likely to return to many of the markets they visited last season in the United States, while also continuing to test drive other locations that have not yet been visited. Some of the more prominent markets the league has not been to yet include Nashville, Florida, Ohio, Philadelphia, and California.

PWHL communication has never been a strong point. When fans started posting images of the Vancouver Goldeneyes' jerseys online weeks prior to the league's formal announcement of the team's new jerseys, the surprise was gone. The same has happened in Seattle where several fans have found Seattle Torrent jerseys on shelves and racks in stores available for purchase. The lustre of this announcement has already worn off as well, and with camps opening in under a week, the timing of this announcement must be imminent, although it will now be overshadowed by the World Championships and actual roster talk for teams in the league. Still, Seattle fans, who led the PWHL in attendance last season, are anxiously awaiting the opportunity to purchase Torrent jerseys with the team logo on the front in time for their home opener. Luckily, and unluckily for Seattle fans, they have the latest home opener by a landslide, so there's still time for those purchases to be made and for jerseys to arrive in time for their December 20 home opener.