{"id":613452,"date":"2026-04-29T14:50:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T14:50:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/613452\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T14:50:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T14:50:22","slug":"looking-at-the-state-of-the-pwhl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/613452\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking at the state of the PWHL"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSports News\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tWhere things stand entering the Walter Cup Playoffs.<\/p>\n

\"PWHL
\n\tThe Boston Fleet are in the PWHL playoffs, which open on Thursday at the Tsongas Center in Lowell. Danielle Parhizkaran\/Globe Staff\t<\/p>\n

NEW YORK \u2014 The Professional Women\u2019s Hockey League<\/a> is on the cusp of its third postseason, with the Boston Fleet<\/a> dropping the puck on Thursday in Lowell against the Ottawa Charge.<\/p>\n

Boston is one of the original six franchises in the PWHL, which began play in January 2024. The league added two teams in April 2025: Seattle and Vancouver. It is poised to add 2-4 teams for the 2026-27 season, with announcements expected soon.<\/p>\n

What is the state of the league? A handful of executives sat down with the Associated Press Sports Editors to discuss just that. Here\u2019s where things stand entering the Walter Cup Playoffs.<\/p>\n

\"The Vancouver Goldeneyes were one of two expansion franchises that made their PWHL debut this season. \u2013 ETHAN CAIRNS
\nExpansion on the horizon<\/p>\n

Where will the PWHL go next? League officials have said that the cities that showed up the best for Takeover Tour games \u2014 the neutral-site matchups the league has featured since its inception \u2014 are a strong indicator of good candidates to host teams.<\/p>\n

Detroit is one of the favorites for expansion, with Little Caesars Arena hosting four games over three seasons, the most recent on March 28 in front of almost 16,000 that aired on national television.<\/p>\n

Canada is likely to land a team or two, with an emphasis on western markets. PWHL executive vice president of business operations Amy Scheer said Tuesday that capacity and availability of venues are two of the biggest factors contributing to the expansion decision.<\/p>\n

Other factors include geography \u2014 the PWHL flies commercial, so they need to be cities that have direct flights. And youth hockey and sponsorship opportunities are important. Are there pipelines within a city to support future players? Are there enough large companies willing to spend money to back the team?<\/p>\n

The big question is: How much expansion is too much? Vancouver and Seattle struggled in their first seasons. Are there enough resources to support up to four more teams?<\/p>\n

\u201cWill we be perfect when the puck drops on opening day? No, but I think in our three seasons we\u2019ve had a little bit more appreciation for progress over perfection, and that\u2019ll be the same tact that we take going into season four,\u201d Scheer said. \u201cWill it be perfect? No. Will the team stand up? Will the players have a professional environment to play in? Will the fans have a great environment? Yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scheer said the league is looking at cities with venues that can seat a minimum of 10,000 fans. For context: Boston\u2019s home venue, the Tsongas Center in Lowell, seats about 6,500.<\/p>\n

\"Caroline Harvey (right) is the favorite to be taken first overall in the upcoming PWHL Draft. \u2013 Gregory Shamus
\nCan the women\u2019s hockey pipeline support expansion?<\/p>\n

The talent expected to enter the PWHL in the 2026 entry draft is remarkable<\/a>: Olympic stars Caroline Harvey, Laila Edwards, Abbey Murphy, and Tessa Janecke will be eligible. Vancouver holds the No. 1 pick in the yet-to-be-scheduled draft.<\/p>\n

But each team carries 23 players. That means a max of 92 roster spots could be added in expansion. Is there enough talent to fill out teams?<\/p>\n

Jayna Hefford, the PWHL executive vice president of hockey operations, believes the pipeline is not an issue, especially because the league is expected to draw a lot more European talent. According to The Canadian Press, only 25 Europeans are on rosters this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you looked at the Olympic Games, you could see the gap is closing,\u201d Hefford said. \u201cWe weren\u2019t seeing blowout scores like we have seen previously. So the talent outside of North America is big, and I think untapped from our perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ilana Kloss, a PWHL advisory board member, philanthropist, and partner of Billie Jean King, thinks the PWHL serves as inspiration for the pipeline of players.<\/p>\n

\u201cYoung girls see that there\u2019s a professional league and a pathway to earning a living playing professional hockey,\u201d Kloss said. \u201cI think the pipeline will get bigger and bigger \u2026 we feel comfortable that they\u2019re going to be many young girls who want to play professional hockey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why the league structure is working for now<\/p>\n

The PWHL is unique in that it is wholly owned by one person, Dodgers owner Mark Walter (who is not heavily involved in the operations). While the league intends to eventually sell franchises to local owners, this single-entity structure is making for a more even playing field without the concerns that an individual owner won\u2019t spend enough on a team.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery team gets the same resources,\u201d Scheer said, with the ability to quickly go to the four-person advisory board to adjust based on market needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been in other leagues where you have super wealthy owners and many teams that don\u2019t have the resources,\u201d Kloss said. \u201cI think the one thing that\u2019s incredible about this league that we have investment across all the teams, but more importantly, we have a business plan that can sustain growth across the league.\u201d<\/p>\n

The focus in the PWHL right now, according to its executives, is investment \u2014 not profitability.<\/p>\n

\"Last Saturday\u2019s PWHL matchup between the New York Sirens and Seattle Torrent at Madison Square Garden in New York set an attendance record for a women\u2019s professional hockey game in the United States. \u2013 Stephen Whyno
\nWill the PWHL partner with the NHL?<\/p>\n

You\u2019d be surprised at how little overlap there is between an NHL and PWHL audience. Scheer said for the league\u2019s Takeover Tour games that 40-80 percent of attendees in some markets had never attended an NHL game before going to watch women\u2019s hockey.<\/p>\n

The PWHL does not have a formal partnership with the NHL, but Scheer said teams \u2014 especially those that may lend their venues for games, such as the Bruins, Rangers, and Senators (Ottawa moved its playoff games to the larger Canadian Tire Centre) have been supportive. Some teams have even lobbied the league to bring a Takeover Tour game to their city, Scheer said.<\/p>\n

Because of the lack of crossover audience, among other factors, the PWHL does not see direct relationships with teams \u2014 sharing staff, resources, and other things you may see in leagues like the WNBA \u2014 as a necessity.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo we need them? I don\u2019t know. Today, do we need them? Sure, why not?\u201d Scheer pondered. \u201cI think there\u2019s room for everybody in the market to grow the game of hockey.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 We\u2019re not competitive to [NHL teams],\u201d Scheer said. \u201cWe\u2019re additive to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet the latest Boston sports news<\/p>\n

Receive updates on your favorite Boston teams, straight from our newsroom to your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sports News Where things stand entering the Walter Cup Playoffs. The Boston Fleet are in the PWHL playoffs,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":613453,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-613452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=613452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}