After just three seasons, the PWHL has expanded to 12 teams. The professional women’s hockey league is gaining four new markets in San Jose, Las Vegas, Detroit, and Hamilton, Ont. The franchises will join the eight existing clubs for the upcoming 2026–27 season.
It took the NHL 50 years to go from 4 to 12 teams between 1917 to 1967. The WNBA got to 12 teams in just two years, but six of the league’s teams folded by 2009. The NWSL spent nine years getting to 12 teams from 2013 to 2022.
Compared to these other leagues, the PWHL is expanding at breakneck pace.
But the league feels its speedy growth is justified and well timed. “The decision to expand is a direct response to the demand we’ve seen for the PWHL,” a league spokesperson tells Front Office Sports. Adding four teams now, it says, strengthens “the league’s long-term foundation.”
While expansion GMs are also confident, some questions and potential obstacles still linger, particularly around rosters and attendance. When the new teams hit the ice in November, the answers to those questions will be major markers for whether the rapid-expansion gamble is paying off.
