Petra Nieminen is coming to the PWHL next season. Arguably the top remaining European player outside the league confirmed to The Hockey News this week that she intends to join the PWHL when her contract in the SDHL expires following this season. With Finnish national team star will join what is already a stacked 2026 PWHL Draft that will include American national team members like Caroline Harvey, Abbey Murphy, Laila Edwards, Tessa Janecke, Kirsten Simms, Emma Peschel, and Lacey Eden, along with other standouts like fellow Finnish national team leader Nelli Laitinen, who is playing in the NCAA. Nieminen is a pure goal scorer known for her physicality. She has won two Olympic bronze medals, four World Championship bronze medals and a silver with Finland. Nieminen has twice been named a tournament All-Star at the World Championships, and is a former SDHL MVP. In her eighth season with Lulea in the SDHL, Nieminen has recorded 351 points in only 250 SDHL games and this season is scoring at more than a goal per game, and more than two points per game recording 14 goals and 27 points in her first 13 games. Petra Nieminen highlights There are currently four Finnish players in the PWHL, a list that includes Michelle Karvinen, Susanna Tapani, Ronja Savolainen, and Sanni Ahola. Last season that list also included Noora Tulus, who returned to Europe this year. Nieminen could be joined by several other members of Finland's national team in the coming seasons including Elisa Holopainen, Viivi Vainikka, Sanni Rantala and others. Many expected Vainikka to declare last season, and she's a likely candidate to enter the 2026 PWHL draft this year. Nieminen projects as a top six forward on whatever PWHL team selects her in the 2026 draft.
