The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL)’s third season is nearly underway, and two new teams are preparing to enter the playing field. The PWHL announced its addition of two expansion teams for the 2025-2026 season in late April 2025: the Seattle Torrent and the Vancouver Goldeneyes. When the PWHL was founded in 2023, the league consisted of six teams: the Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost, Montreal Victoire, New York Sirens, Ottawa Charge and Toronto Scepters. The addition of Seattle and Vancouver teams marks the PWHL’s first attempt at an expansion and the first PWHL teams in the Pacific Northwest.
Before expanding, the PWHL hosted a “Takeover Tour” during its second season. The tour involved teams traveling to play regular season games in cities across the United States and Canada that didn’t have PWHL teams. The goal of this tour was to introduce the PWHL to new cities and test different markets for potential expansion. Among the cities the PWHL traveled to were Vancouver and Seattle. The expansion to Vancouver was a no-brainer, given that the game between the Montreal Victoire and the Toronto Scepters was the most attended Takeover Tour game with 19,038 fans. The decision to expand to Seattle didn’t come as a surprise, either – the recently formed Seattle Kraken had made headlines months earlier for being the first NHL team to hire a female assistant manager coach, Jessica Campbell. Additionally, the Takeover Tour game in Seattle between the Boston Fleet and Montreal Victoire kicked off the tour and featured an electric crowd, with the Fleet winning the game after a shootout. As the Torrent and Goldeneyes are located in the Pacific Northwest, the PWHL aims to create an exciting rivalry between both teams.
With the PWHL expanding to the Pacific Northwest, the league saw its first expansion draft. As per the rules of the expansion draft, each pre-existing team was allowed to protect three of their players. Once the teams selected these players, the two expansion teams were given a window of June 4 to 8 to sign up to three of the non-protected players in free agency. If a team lost two players to free agency, they were allowed to protect a fourth. After this period, the remaining players entered the expansion draft.
The Seattle Torrent built their team around veteran experience, picking up former Boston captain and top scorer in the PWHL 2024-2025 season Hilary Knight in free agency after Boston elected not to protect the 36 year-old forward in favor of protecting their younger players.
“As a trailblazer in our sport, I can’t think of someone better to be the first-ever captain of the Seattle Torrent,” said Torrent General Manager Meghan Turner. “Hilary will set the tone for this team and this organization in our inaugural season. We’re excited to see her leadership on full display.”
Knight has long been a prominent figure in the world of women’s hockey, and she has paved the way for those that have followed her. Knight joined the U.S. national team in 2006 at the age of 17. While continuing to represent the U.S., Knight played Division I hockey at the University of Wisconsin, where she led her team to two national championships. She has competed in four Olympic games and won a gold medal in 2018. Knight’s career speaks for itself and has widely inspired female hockey players.
Along with Knight, the Torrent signed other veteran players such as 2024-2025 MVP finalist Alex Carpenter and 2024-2025 shutout leader Corinne Schroeder.
The stage is set for an exciting PWHL season beginning on Nov. 21 with added teams and fresh storylines. For an expansion team entering its inaugural season, the Seattle Torrent have one of the most talented rosters they could have assembled in the expansion draft, giving Seattle hockey fans plenty to look forward to.
The PWHL doesn’t appear to be done with expanding, either. It recently announced the locations for the 2025-2026 Takeover Tour, displaying the league’s interest in continuing to expand the league across the U.S. and Canada. Among the 16 locations announced (Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Washington D.C., Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Hamilton, Québec City and Winnipeg), the most interesting prospective city for a PWHL franchise is Quebéc City. Quebéc City has been left without a professional hockey team since their NHL franchise, the Quebéc Nordiques, relocated in 1997 to become the Colorado Avalanche.
Already having expanded to eight franchises from the original six within the first three seasons, and with plans for future expansion, the PWHL has been a monumental success for women’s hockey. Spectators have come to expect a high level of hockey from the PWHL, and they shouldn’t be disappointed this season as the league’s eight teams take the ice for the league’s next chapter.
