Why A Four Team PWHL Expansion For Next Season Actually Makes Sense

The PWHL will expand again next season, and while they repeat the 2-4 team mantra, the scales appear to be tipping toward a four team, rather than two team addition to the league. It would bring the PWHL to a 12 team circuit in the league's fourth year, doubling from the inaugural six team loop.

And while the thought of a large-scale expansion might cause anxiety in some fans, an immediate four team expansion might actually be the best route to reaching 12 teams for fans, the player pool, and long term success.

2026 PWHL Draft Will Re-Stock, Then It's Topping Up After

There has never before been a draft class as deep as the 2026 cohort. It's a class that runs at least 40 players deep from the NCAA alone, and 50 when factoring in European players that could immediately be in the PWHL, with many capable of replacing current PWHL players and reserves. 

The draft itself represents two teams of players, now. Across the league there are dozens more who could easily step higher in a roster. You can look at players like Jenna Bulgioni, a 2025 first round pick, or 2024 Patty Kazmaier winner Izzy Daniel who are toiling on fourth lines. You can also look at the list of former PWHL players now overseas like Chloe Aurard, Dominika Laskova, Akane Shiga, and Gabrielle David who could step back into the league.

2026-27 is the opportunity to add national team players including Caroline Harvey, Abbey Murphy, Laila Edwards, Lacey Eden, Tessa Janecke, Kirsten Simms, Emma Peschel, Nelli Laitinen, Petra Nieminen, Viivi Vainikka, Andea Brandli, Josefin Bouveng, Thea Johansson, Nadia Mattivi, and others that's too much to pass up.

A two team expansion this season would force dozens more out of the game, while a four team expansion would allow all of the talented players currently outside the PWHL to step in next year, and then subsequent drafts become about topping up the talent, replacing attrition, and would involve players losing their job only when better players come around, not simply because there aren't enough jobs for players capable of being in the league.

The 2027 PWHL Draft is good, but not great, so bringing in as many players from the 2026 cohort as possible, and then allowing the pool to fill from the bottom up, instead of the current top down model, makes perfect sense. 

Ripping The Player Movement Bandaid

Nobody wants to see an identical PWHL expansion format to what occurred this season. It was flawed on almost every level from the exclusive signing window, that turned into a league permitted tampering session, to the lack of protection for PWHL cores, it was a hard pill to swallow for fans.

This season, many have already commented on the impact to the on-ice product stripping each team of at least four of their top eight players.

Repeating the process again ahead of 2026-27 will hurt, but not as much as repeating it next year and the year after. At some point, the PWHL must give fans roster stability to build their following, allow fandom to grow, and for players to settle into markets and become longterm members of their communities. They also need to allow the player pool to develop from within, and not solely rely on outside sources. The sooner that happens the better, so ripping the player movement bandaid in one sweep is the quickest route to that ultimate goal. 

With the strength of the 2026 PWHL Draft, every existing team will get an impact player in the opening round. For fans, watching the process occur once more will be tough, but repeating it year after year with no time to let a roster meld is bad business on and off the ice.

The League Will Lose Too Many Players If They Wait

Not expanding isn't an option for the player pool. The league got away with two teams this year despite an evident negative impact on the talent pool. For the most part, the biggest change is to league depth, not to the top end grouping, although some teams were left without the star power forcing them to play a more physical, shutdown style of hockey, rather than the skilled and skating form of women's hockey fans have come to love.

Without expansion however, the number of players who will be forced out of their playing careers will be surpassed only by the chop that happened when the PHF and PWHPA became the PWHL. That said, nobody wants to see the PWHL approach a the calibre of games witnessed in either the PWHPA or PHF where the top line or two of each team were professional players, but the bottom half of each were players who wanted to continue competing, even if they were on a completely different tier to those above them.

Without a development league, and with Europe's top leagues including the SDHL planning to continue to shrink international spaces, the PWHL, however, needs to create capacity for their player pool.

There's no longer a need for players to retire in their 20s, and prolonged careers for veteran stars is something no fan will protest. Every year the league waits however, they'll lose quality players. The PWHL needs the 46 spots a two team expansion would create for next season, but a 92 spot increase would provide room for the next two draft cohorts as well.

Attract A Post Olympic Surge

The PWHL will not get European players to come overseas if they don't believe they'll have a chance to play. Leading up to the Olympics, players like Noora Tulus, Noemi Neubauerova, and Klara Peslarova returned to Europe to get more ice time. 

It's now the PWHL's job to reverse the flow and ensure the best in the world are coming to North America, not bit by bit as the league has seen over their first three seasons, but en masse following the Olympics.

Already confirmed for the 2026 Draft is top Finnish player Petra Nieminen and Italian defender Nadia Mattivi, and other international players like Switzerland's Rahel Enzler are considering declaration. The list also includes players who have long been presumed to attempt a PWHL move next season like Andrea Brandli, Viivi Vainikka, Ena Nystrom, Paula Bergstrom, and Emily Nix.

While others like Switzerland's Lara Stalder are staying in Europe.

The league needs to find a way to reach the players on the bubble, and bring them to North America. Roster spots, and the opportunity for more free salary space are two of the most obvious ways to achieve this goal.

The Risks Are Clear

The PWHL fumbled their inaugural expansion. Not the markets, not the staff, not the venues, but how the player pool was managed. The process robbed existing markets of established stars, and lowered the calibre of play across the board. Vancouver and Seattle will have their own growing pains, but it's based on chemistry and systems, not on the level of skill on their roster. 

Expanding too rapidly risks watering down the product. Although it won't deter current fans from coming back in droves, but it could turn off new fans. This season, there are certainly a small pocket of players who look completely out of their depths in the PWHL, which will increase slightly with every expansion. 

Like selling tickets in the PWHL, the league has continued to open larger rinks section by section. At some point they need to open every available seat and show players that there is space for them. Then as the on-ice level grows back over the next two drafts, supply and demand will take over.

The biggest risks in expansion for the PWHL are repeating an identical process that hurt fans and angered players, but also in not expanding when the opportunity presents. 2026 is that opportunity, and while it will have temporary on-ice impacts to the product, the long term impact of not opening more spots for players, and more markets for fans could be catastrophic. 

It's not now or never, but it should be now. Once the league is at 12 teams, they need to look inward, instead of externally, and focus on building their fan base in existing markets, and supporting the development of their player pool and on-ice product.