PWHL expansion: Which city could be next in line after Vancouver's entry?

All eyes are on the Professional Women’s Hockey League after it announced its expansion to Vancouver on Wednesday. The new club will operate as PWHL Vancouver until the official name is announced and will make its debut during the 2025-26 season, playing at the Pacific Coliseum.

The PWHL is in its sophomore season and has six founding franchises. Vancouver became the seventh team in the league and the first located on the west coast of Canada.

The six founding franchises include Boston, Minnesota, New York, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. The addition of the Vancouver team has the potential to expand the league's fan base further west throughout Canada.

New York Sirens vs. Toronto Sceptres - Source: Getty

The PWHL’s Vice President of Hockey Operations, Jayna Hefford, shared her thoughts on the league’s westward expansion.

"This expansion brings greater visibility to the West Coast, expands our geographic footprint, and most importantly, grows the game,” Hefford said via the Associated Press.

Vancouver was the second stop on the highly successful Takeover Tour from January through March. The neutral-site game featured Montreal defeating Toronto, 4-2, in front of a sold-out crowd at Rogers Arena. The contest brought in 19,038 fans, which was more than any Canucks game during the 2024-25 NHL season.

The expansion to the Canadian West Coast has brought such excitement that there are talks about where the next PWHL expansion team will land and whether the U.S. is next on the prized list.

Here are the top three potential landing spots for the PWHL’s next expansion team:

1. Seattle

Seattle is the top city on the PWHL expansion radar. Located in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, it is in proximity to the newly added franchise in Vancouver, which would expand the league to the West Coast of the U.S.

Montreal Victoire vs. Boston Fleet - Source: Getty

Seattle has already proven to be a successful venue for the league. The city opened the Takeover Tour on Jan. 5, which drew in a crowd of 12,608, marking the highest attendance of the 2024-25 season at the time.

2. Denver

The next candidate for expansion is Denver. The city played host to the third stop on the Takeover Tour on Jan. 12 and had record-setting numbers in the stands. The crowd of 14,018 at Ball Arena that watched the Frost defeat the Victoire 4-2 marked the highest attendance in history at the time for a professional women’s hockey game in the United States.

Much like building an expansion team in Seattle, Denver would also attract an audience further west than the current three U.S. markets of Minnesota, New York and Boston.

3. Detroit

Detroit may make the most sense geographically. It is closer to the league’s six founding franchises than Seattle and Denver, making travel for players less strenuous than a long journey to the West Coast. It is located in the Midwestern region of the U.S., which would still boost the league's westward expansion path.

Detroit was the eighth of the nine cities on the Takeover Tour, and shattered the previous record-setting numbers of the Seattle and Denver stops.

PWHL: MAR 16 Frost vs. Sirens in Detroit - Source: Getty

The March 16 game at Little Caesars Arena, in which the Sirens defeated the Frost 4-1, had a remarkable attendance of 14,228, breaking the previous U.S. attendance record in Denver.

As the momentum of the PWHL continues to build, the competition is only heating up. The regular season concludes on May 3, and the postseason commences on May 5.

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PWHL standings in final stretch of regular season

With only nine regular-season games left in the PWHL’s 2024-25 campaign, the postseason is just around the corner on May 5. Each of the six teams plays a total of 30 games during the regular season, and the league uses a 3-2-1-0 points system to determine the standings.

The playoffs include the top four teams in points at the end of the regular season and implement the “Gold Plan,” in which the first-place finisher selects its semifinal opponent.

The Montréal Victoire is the first team to clinch a playoff spot with 48 points through 27 games. The team has racked up 11 wins and six overtime victories this season.

The Toronto Sceptres are second in the standings with 45 points and have three games left to play. The Sceptres were the top seed of last year’s postseason but fell to Minnesota in the semifinals.

The Boston Fleet sit third in the playoff hunt with 40 points through 27 games, but will need to hold on, as Ottawa is just one point behind.

Last year’s Walter Cup champion, the Minnesota Frost, is fifth in the standings with 38 points and three games left to play.