Report: PWHL could add two teams for 2025-26 season

The Professional Women’s Hockey League is looking to add two more franchises to its six-team league, and the two new teams may join the PWHL as early as 2025, according to a report from Sportico’s Eben Novy-Williams.

In an interview with Amy Scheer, vice president of business operations for the PWHL, the league is launching a request for proposal process for prospective new clubs.

“Expansion is the first question we get asked, at every event we’re at,” Scheer said in an interview. “It just seems like the right time to look into it. And I think once we have these conversations and understand what the real interest is, we’ll understand if this is the right time or not. But it was the right time to put the word out.”

Since the PWHL doesn’t have individual team owners and runs under a single-entity ownership model, with Mark and Kimbra Walter financing everything, the league wants to evaluate markets on different criteria, including market size and media reach, facilities and infrastructure, local economic opportunity and the presence of hockey in the community.

The addition of two franchises means more jobs for players and coaches in the game, as well. Currently, PWHL rosters have 23 active players and three reserves, totaling 156 athletes. Two more teams would mean 52 more players.

“Starting with six teams, we knew it was going to be very difficult to make a roster,” Jayna Hefford, senior vice president of hockey operations, told Novy-Williams in an interview. “The depth of talent is really high right now. So from a hockey point of view, we want to make sure we can match that level. If there are good female hockey players out there, we want them in the league.”

The PWHL launched Jan. 1, 2024 with six franchises: Boston, Minnesota, Montreal, New York, Ottawa and Toronto, playing the inaugural season with no team nicknames. Last September, the league launched the six team names for the clubs: Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost, Victoire de Montreal, New York Sirens, Ottawa Charge and Toronto Sceptres.