As expansion stretches the league from coast to coast, new divisional alignments and unbalanced schedules could ignite regional rivalries while solving the growing pains of transcontinental travel.
The PWHL's growth to 12 teams creates questions that go well beyond where four expansion teams fit on the schedule.
It may be time to rethink how the league itself is structured. With teams now stretching from Boston and Montreal to Vancouver, San Jose and Las Vegas, does it still make sense to treat all matchups essentially the same? Should geography play a larger role in scheduling? And with 12 teams competing, how many should have a chance to play for the Walter Cup?
The answers don't necessarily have to be tied together. The PWHL could introduce conferences or divisions to reduce travel and encourage regional rivalries without using those same groupings to determine playoff qualification. And it could expand the postseason without going so far that the regular season loses its importance.
Is It Time For Conferences?
The PWHL's geography has changed dramatically. In its first season, the league's six teams were concentrated in the eastern half of North America, with Minnesota the westernmost club. Expansion to Vancouver and Seattle created a much larger travel burden, particularly for those two teams.
Adding San Jose and Las Vegas changes the equation again. There are now enough western teams to create geographical groupings, and the most obvious is a pair of six-team conferences.
An Eastern Conference could include Boston, New York, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Hamilton. The Western Conference would consist of Minnesota, Detroit, Seattle, Vancouver, San Jose and Las Vegas.
It's not geographically perfect. Detroit and Minnesota are considerably removed from the four teams on the West Coast. But it creates two reasonably logical groups and, more importantly, gives the PWHL a way to build its schedule around geography.
Another possibility is three four-team divisions. Boston, New York, Montreal and Ottawa would form a natural East. Toronto, Hamilton, Detroit and Minnesota could make up a Central division. Vancouver, Seattle, San Jose and Las Vegas form a natural West.
That alignment might be even more appealing from a travel perspective. But creating conferences or divisions only matters if teams within them play one another more frequently.
An Unbalanced Schedule Could Be A Good Thing
There's no reason Seattle needs to play Boston as often as it plays Vancouver. The same could be said for Toronto and Hamilton, Montreal and Ottawa, or San Jose and Las Vegas.
Playing regional opponents more often could help the PWHL accomplish two things at once: reduce some of the league's most demanding travel and accelerate the development of rivalries. The league doesn't necessarily need a perfectly balanced schedule to accomplish that.
In fact, the PWHL has already operated with schedules in which teams haven't faced every opponent the exact same number of times. Expansion creates an opportunity to make scheduling more intentional.
With two six-team conferences, for example, a team could play its five conference opponents four times each and its six non-conference opponents twice each. That happens to produce a 32-game schedule, which could work, or by slightly imbalancing the non-conference opponents, they could still land at 30 games.
But more important is the ratio. Teams would play more games against geographically closer opponents while still facing every club in the league.
Three divisions could push that idea even further, with teams playing their three divisional opponents more frequently and the other eight clubs less often.
There is, however, a significant downside. Not every conference or division will be equally strong.
A team that happens to land in a weaker division could have a substantial advantage if a large percentage of its schedule comes against those three opponents. With four expansion teams entering at once, predicting the relative strength of each group would be particularly difficult. At a glance, a western division of San Jose, Las Vegas, Vancouver, and Seattle looks weaker compared to an eastern grouping of Montreal, Boston, Ottawa, and New York.
Conferences Don't Have To Decide Who Makes The Playoffs
The PWHL doesn't have to have an equal number of playoff teams from each conference simply because geography makes conferences useful.
It could play an unbalanced, geographically weighted schedule and still maintain one overall league table. When the regular season ends, rank the teams from No. 1 through No. 12.
The WNBA has used conferences as part of its regular-season structure while seeding playoff teams based on the overall standings rather than requiring an equal number of qualifiers from each conference.
For the PWHL, that could provide a useful middle ground.
Geography matters when teams are flying thousands of kilometres during the regular season. It doesn't have to matter when deciding who deserves to compete for the Walter Cup. And that leads to the other major question created by expansion.
How Many Of 12 Teams Should Make The Playoffs?
Keeping the current four-team playoff field would be very unlikely and unappealing. If several teams fall well outside the playoff picture relatively early, the PWHL risks losing some of the engagement it is trying to build in those markets.
Six teams could work. The top two teams would receive first-round byes while No. 3 plays No. 6 and No. 4 faces No. 5 in best-of-three series. The winners advance to the semifinals, which could remain best-of-five along with the Walter Cup Final.
The PWHL could even retain its unique playoff-selection element. Rather than automatically matching the No. 1 seed with the lowest remaining seed, the regular-season champion could choose which of the two first-round winners it wants to face.
There is plenty to like about a six-team field. Exactly half the league qualifies, and finishing in the top two carries an enormous reward. The battle for those two byes could become almost as meaningful as the fight around the playoff cut line.
The drawback is the bye itself. The league's two best teams could be sitting idle while the other four playoff clubs are playing meaningful, high-intensity hockey. Whether the rest outweighs the potential rust would become a debate.
Should Eight Teams Get In?
An eight-team playoff is much simpler.
No. 1 plays No. 8. No. 2 faces No. 7. No. 3 meets No. 6, and No. 4 plays No. 5.
The opening round could be best-of-three to control the length of the postseason, followed by best-of-five semifinals and a best-of-five Walter Cup Final. Or all series could be best of five and create a longer postseason that draws viewers in.
There is an obvious objection: eight teams means two-thirds of the PWHL makes the playoffs. It could reduce the stakes of the regular season, and it's possible a team with a weak record could still qualify.
But the PWHL is still in growth mode. Four of its 12 teams are entering their first season, and several other markets remain relatively young.
An eight-team playoff field gives more of those markets a chance to remain in a meaningful playoff race deep into the season. Instead of half the league being on the outside looking in, the battle around seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth could keep considerably more teams relevant.
It also guarantees four quarterfinal series, creating more playoff games and more opportunities for markets to experience postseason hockey.
Again, the WNBA provides precedent. It has used an eight-team playoff field through periods when the league had 12 teams and has continued with eight qualifiers as the league has expanded to 15.
Six Or Eight?
There are good arguments for both.
Six creates greater exclusivity and puts much more weight on regular-season performance. A top-two finish becomes extremely valuable, while teams in the middle fight for four remaining spots.
Eight prioritizes engagement. More teams remain alive, more markets get playoff hockey, and the league gets a traditional bracket without the logistical complication of byes.
And regardless, there's no compelling reason playoff qualification needs to follow conference or divisional lines.
The PWHL can use geography where geography helps. More games between nearby teams can reduce travel, encourage travelling fans and give rivalries such as Toronto-Hamilton, Seattle-Vancouver and San Jose-Las Vegas more opportunities to develop.
Then, when the regular season is over, geography can disappear from the equation.
The top teams are seeded by the overall standings and every series matters. With 12 teams, there are now going to be rivalries and post-season battles with more storylines and more at stake.
