PWHL teams know the 2026 PWHL Draft is loaded with talent, but that's about all they know as the league has kept them in the dark about selection order and draft format. Still teams, have continued to prepare and will adjust based on roster needs following expansion.
PWHL teams know the 2026 PWHL Draft will happen. They know it will be in Detroit on June 17. They know there will be six rounds.
But less than two weeks before the draft, an event which will be foundational in building rosters for not only this season, but given the uncertainty around the 2027 Draft, for multiple seasons...teams know little more about the draft.
PWHL general managers and coaches, agents, and prospective players don't know who will select where in the draft. The Vancouver Goldeneyes will pick first overall in the draft, but that's the extent of what teams know.
There are many scenarios the league could follow. The PWHL's non-playoff teams could pick 1-4 followed by the expansion teams and then the league's playoff teams. Or existing teams could pick 1-8 followed by expansion teams. Or Vancouver could pick first followed by the four expansion teams, and then the rest of the existing teams picking 6-12. The order could change after the first round, it could stay the same, or it could be a snake draft. There simply is no way to tell, because the league hasn't announced, and may not know themselves.
At this point, all teams can continue to do is prepare their lists and assess what they'll need following player losses during expansion and free ageny.
"We know the player pool extremely well. We know the type of player that we like in Ottawa. We know what we're looking for now, having done this three previous years, so we're confident," said Ottawa general manager Mike Hirshfeld when asked about the draft this week.
"We don't know when we're drafting," said Toronto general manager in a media conference.
"So that's still a bit of a mystery, we won't know until the rosters a little bit more set up ater this process, we'll adjust once we know what order we're selecting. As a preparation, obviously we've got all of our staff kind of working hard at making sure we're on the same page, we've got draft calls continuously here as we try to navigate what the order will look like or what our needs will look like and that may change, the order might change as we see what roster we have."
Kingsbury completed most of her draft calls prior to the expansion process beginning. Kingsbury said the Sceptres intend to speak to 60-70 players for an hour to an hour and a half each before the draft.
For the Vancouver Goldeneyes, who have the opportunity to select generational star Caroline Harvey first overall, they are the lone team that enters the draft with some level of certainty holding the first overall pick.
"It is, it's really high end talent at the top, there are several players throughout the whole first round and even into the second round I think is going to make an immediate impact in our league," said Vancouver GM Cara Gardner Morey.
With so much talent, she plans to spend most of her time looking at positional needs for her team, as well as the off-ice intangibles players can bring to the Goldeneyes' lockerroom.
"Some of it will be getting through the final expansion phase and looking at the roster we have and seeing where the biggest need is and then finding the player that's that puzzle piece for us to go on and win," she added.
The opening round of the 2026 PWHL Draft will feature standouts including Caroline Harvey, Laila Edwards, Abbey Murphy, Tessa Janecke, Kirsten Simms, Lacey Eden, Nelli Laitinen, and many others. The draft will also feature a high end group of Europeans coming to the league including Andrea Brandli, Petra Nieminen, Viivi Vainikka, Elisa Holopainen, and Russians Darya Gredzen, Maria Batalova, and Nina Pirogova.
While there are many unknowns, the depth of talent in the 2026 Draft has been well discussed. Where will teams pick in round one and beyond? That's yet to be seen. What format will the draft take overall? It's unknown. But the impact of the 2026 PWHL Draft on the league's future is certain to be monumental.