2026-27 PWHL Expansion Teams: Detroit. Hamilton. Las Vegas. San Jose.
The total number of teams have doubled, giving the PWHL enough teams to split into two conferences. The Eastern Conference and Western Conference, becoming a 12-team league. 7 American Teams, 5 Canadian Teams.
Eastern Conference: Montreal, Toronto, Boston, New York, Ottawa, and Hamilton
Western Conference: Seattle, Vancouver, San Jose, Minnesota, Detroit, and Las Vegas
- Each team will have a 30-regular season game schedule from December 5th to April 18th, that’ll be divided into 18 conference games. Allowing them to play three games against each team, 12 inter-conference games, and two games against each team.
- The playoff format has been modified to include 8 teams, four from each conference (western and eastern), with the top seed being given the choice to select their first-round opponent.
- 88 weekend games will take place this season, a majority of the games will be featured on the classic “Hockey Night in Canada” show on CBC, that now have the rights to broadcast games for the PWHL on Saturday’s. Significant marketing moves for the PWHL that will surely bring additional recognition to an already booming fan base.
- On March 7th 2027, the PWHL will host the first ever All-Star game in Toronto, Canada. This star-studded event will give the PWHL’s finest players the opportunity to showcase their talent on an international platform.
New Threads:
Since the inaugural season of the PWHL in 2023, the league has featured placeholder jerseys that have the name of the city stitched diagonally across the front of the jersey. This has been a tradition for expansion teams. It also gives each club at least one year to generate a new permanent logo for the following season.
As for the colors, the league went 3 for 4 on the jersey design/colors. Detroit went with the vintage black, red, and white “Motor City” theme, which in my opinion is the perfect fit considering the Detroit Red Wings fly the same colors. San Jose decided to lean toward the local city flag colors which might be the cleanest sweater of them all. Hamilton won the fans over having similar threads to the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers, one of the best college hockey teams in the country. And then there is Vegas… Yellow, white, and fugly toad green. Vegas should have replicated the “money green” Dallas Stars color when deciding to go with green. Not exactly sure how the navy blue breezers made the cut, but it’s official now. Vegas would’ve been better off with a pink, white, and black color combination.
Either way, doubling the number of teams will entice more notoriety, exposure, and endless possibilities to expand the substantiated rate of pace that the PWHL has developed over the last four years. As the amount of talent on display increases, so do the number of fans that essentially generate revenue. 2026-27 shall be a lively intriguing season once the puck drops on December 5th.
Dante Robinson | Senior PWHL Analyst for The NSR Network
