The Professional Women’s Hockey League is set to grow again.
Illitch Sports and the City of Detroit are holding a press conference on Wednesday at Little Caesars Arena where it is expected that they will announce the awarding of a Detroit PWHL franchise, CBS News Detroit’s Rachel Hopmayer reports.
With the PWHL draft next month in Detroit (confirmed to me by multiple sources), Wednesday could be the day that PWHL Detroit is officially unveiled. It follows a similar pattern to previous expansion rollouts. LC AAA teams have been encouraged to attend in uniform. https://t.co/rVisf67ywc
— Rachel Hopmayer (@rachelhopmayer) May 4, 2026
This will mark the league’s second expansion phase with the Vancouver Goldeneyes and Seattle Torrent playing their inaugural seasons this year. The league began play in 2023-2024 with six teams. The following season, the sextet all adopted franchise names as the Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Toronto Sceptres, New York Sirens, Boston Fleet and Minnesota Frost.
Little Caesars Arena, the home of both the Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Pistons, played host to a pair of PWHL games this season as part of the Takeover Tour. In January, the Goldeneyes defeated the Fleet, while in March, 15,938 fans watched the Victoire defeat the Sirens.
Though yet to be officially announced, the 2026 PWHL Draft is also expected to be held in Detroit.
