PWHL Team Names And Jerseys Are Ready As Fans Continue To Anticipate Market Identities

There are now four new PWHL team names. The league's newest expansion markets in Detroit, Hamilton, Las Vegas, and San Jose were informed this week of their new team identities.

The news that teams were aware of the names came with excitement from the PWHL's fan base, but it doesn't mean an announcement is imminent. The PWHL, last season, announced the name and logo of the Vancouver Goldeneyes and Seattle Torrent on November 6, less than two weeks before puck drop on the 2025-26 season. 

With names complete, it doesn't however mean the PWHL is ready to unveil their next round of branding in the coming days. Each of the PWHL's four new teams will have names and logos prior to the 2026-27 season, but those announcements are likely still weeks away, giving fans even more time to speculate, and potentially, names to trickle out.

Fans have created lists, posted their picks, and speculated on team names since the four expansion markets were originally announced. Names like Detroit Supreme and San Jose Manatee were considered among finalists for their markets although both names were ultimately not chosen. 

Other names with historic ties, like the Hamilton Thistles were also passed over due to teams in the area maintaining the name already. Similarly, fans can rule out previously used names like the Detroit Vipers.

Many also hoped for the San Jose Hammerheads, but the market is not following past shark-based iterations like the NHL's San Jose Sharks and San Jose Barracuda.

The PWHL stuck closely with their brand identity, with the four new names expected to be less about concrete entities, although at least one Western Conference market will have a physical entity their name can build upon, as was seen in Vancouver last season with the Goldeneyes. Others will have conceptual names like the PWHL has done in the past like Charge and Torrent.

Not only are team names complete, but the four expansion team's inaugural market-specific jerseys have been circulated internally among select PWHL staff as well. 

When expansion announcements were made, the PWHL unveiled the official team colors for each new market. In Las Vegas they were green and gold; Hamilton were gold, maroon, and cream, with a touch of gold; Detroit were black and silver, with white as a secondary color and red as an accent; while San Jose brings a palette of orange, blue, and white.

As with past jersey releases, the PWHL has sprinkled in unexpected colors to some of the jerseys. For others, it was more than a sprinkle, including in Las Vegas, where a new color altogether was added. Vegas will add prominent navy blue stripes on their jersey. The stripes are along the waist of the jersey on either side of a larger gold stripe, as well as on the jersey sleeves. Las Vegas is also likely to wear navy blue pants a source familiar with the league's branding told The Hockey News.

As with the league's inaugural season, and the league's two expansion teams in Seattle and Vancouver last season, the four 2026-27 PWHL expansion teams will continue the tradition of playing with their city name — Detroit, Hamilton, Las Vegas, San Jose — displayed diagonally across the front of the jersey.

Logos and team names will be released prior to the start of 2026-27 training camps on November 18 for each team, but will not be used on jerseys until 2027-28. The PWHL will begin their regular season December 5 with 180 games to be played, with the final game of the regular season scheduled for April 18, 2027.