Professional Women's Hockey League

The Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) is a new league for women's ice hockey with twelve teams — seven from the United States and five from Canada. These teams play during a regular season to earn one of four places in a postseason tournament. The winner of this tournament gets the Walter Cup. The league is owned and run by the Mark Walter Group.

Some rules in the PWHL are different from other hockey leagues. For example, they use a 3-2-1-0 points system, stop penalties after a short-handed goal, have best-of-five shootouts, and have stricter rules about body checking. Games are shown on TV in Canada by CBC and TSN, and on Amazon Prime Video. In the United States, games are shown on local sports channels in each city with a team. People all over the world can watch the games on YouTube, except in Canada.

The PWHL started because the Canadian Women's Hockey League stopped in 2019. This led to the creation of the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association, which wanted a better and more stable league for women players. After working with the Mark Walter Group, they created the PWHL. The league held its first draft in September 2023, and its first season began in January 2024.

History

Top-level professional women's hockey in North America has had many changes since the late 1900s. The National Women's Hockey League began in 1999 with teams mostly in Ontario and Quebec. Later, the Canadian Women's Hockey League ran from 2007 to 2019 but did not pay players regularly. In 2015, a new league called the Premier Hockey Federation started in the United States and later expanded to Canada. However, many top players left these leagues in 2019 to form the Professional Women's Hockey Players' Association, hoping to create a stronger, more stable league.

In 2023, a new league called the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) was created. Six teams started in cities like Boston, Montreal, and Toronto. The first game was played on January 1, 2024, between Toronto and New York. The league grew quickly, adding teams in Vancouver and Seattle for the 2025–26 season, and more teams in Detroit, Michigan, Hamilton, Ontario, Las Vegas, Nevada, and San Jose, California for later seasons, bringing the total to twelve teams.

Organization

The Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) and all its teams are owned by the Mark Walter Group. Important people help guide the league, including Billie Jean King, Ilana Kloss, Stan Kasten, and Royce Cohen. Jayna Hefford is in charge of hockey operations, and Amy Scheer handles business operations. Former player Cassie Campbell-Pascall also helps advise the league. The league has many staff members to support its work, which is different from older women's hockey leagues.

Players in the PWHL have their own group called the PWHL Players Association. The league made a special agreement with the players that lasts for eight years. This agreement says each team must pay at least six players $80,000 each, and no more than nine players can earn the smallest salary of $35,000. Teams must make sure the average salary is $55,000. These salaries will go up a little each year until 2031. The agreement also includes extra money for winning the championship and other rewards, like help with housing costs. Brian Burke leads the players' group.

Format and rules

The PWHL season starts in November and ends in May. Teams play 30 games, meeting each other several times. There is a break in the middle of the season for the IIHF World Women's Championship and the Winter Olympics. Teams earn points for their wins and losses, with the top four teams moving on to playoff games to decide the champion. The winner gets the Walter Cup.

The PWHL uses many of the same rules as other hockey leagues but has a few special rules. One rule lets a team end a penalty if they score a goal while shorthanded. Players can also check opponents if they are trying to get the puck, but they must be careful not to hit a player who is not moving or does not have the puck.

Teams

Current teams

As of the 2025–26 season, eight teams compete in the league. These include Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, and Toronto Sceptres from Canada, and Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost, and New York Sirens from the United States. Two new teams, Seattle Torrent and Vancouver Goldeneyes, joined recently. The league chose these cities because they have strong hockey traditions.

Each team plays in different arenas across North America. Some games are held in big, famous stadiums for special events. The league plans more games in new places in the future and might add a few more teams soon.

Future teams

All-Stars

In its first season, the league worked with the National Hockey League for All-Star events. PWHL players took part in a fun 3-on-3 game during the 2024 NHL All-Star weekend in Toronto. The game featured teams named after Billie Jean King and Ilana Kloss, with coaching from Cassie Campbell-Pascall and Meghan Duggan.

Season overviews

See also: List of PWHL individual award winners

Titles by team

Broadcasting

All games in the Professional Women's Hockey League are produced by the league itself. In Canada, games are shown on several channels like CBC Television, Sportsnet, and TSN. Some games are also available for free on YouTube. For the 2024–25 season, Amazon Prime Video will show Tuesday night games and one semi-final series.

In the United States, games are shown on regional sports networks such as NESN and MSG Network. The league also works with the Women's Sports Network for national coverage. The Seattle Torrent has partnerships with local stations KZJO and KONG.

Statistical leaders

Main article: PWHL records and statistics

The following tables show top performers in the Professional Women's Hockey League up to the 2025-26 season.