4 takeaways from Week 14 of the PWHL: A quiet trade deadline and could a new playoff format help?
The PWHL season is well into the final third, and it’s clear which teams are contenders, even if the intense race for the final playoff spots could sharpen some teams before the Walter Cup Playoffs get going in earnest.
While the league has had plenty of intriguing storylines on and off the ice in 2025-26, the most recent week was among the most engaging, with trades, expansion discussions and the ever-competitive postseason race. It also got me thinking about a new evolution the league could make.
Here are my takeaways from the last week of PWHL action.
PWHL attendance hits landmark
The PWHL has officially seen two million fans pass through its doors through the first three years, with the 275th game in league history bringing them past the landmark. It came in Chicago, at Allstate Arena, in what was a rather intriguing week for Chicago women’s hockey.
Earlier in the week, rumors emerged that the PWHL had approved Chicago as an expansion market for the 2026-27 season, with plans to play at a 2,000-seat venue built for the Chicago Steel. It would have been the smallest venue in the league by a wide margin, and reports were quickly shut down by The Associated Press, The Athletic, among others.
In regards to speculation about the PWHL expanding to Chicago, the league has not confirmed that any expansion decision has been made at this time. I’d also be shocked if they considered playing in a 2,000 seat arena.
In the same week, a crowd of 10,006 fans made their way to Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois, the current 16,000-capacity home of the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. While it is not in the city center and has both the Wolves and other programming, it could be the only spot within a reasonable distance and size from the city center for the PWHL to expand to in Chicago.
Yet it highlighted a bigger picture and an issue that has plagued other young leagues across North America — finding the “perfect” venue is tough, if not impossible, much of the time. For the PWHL, that looks like a mid-size venue near the city, similar to that of Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal.
For some leagues, the desire for the ideal situation hamstrings their abilities. While the PWHL works around issues in New York, Boston and soon Ottawa, among others, the need for a surefire expansion arena is critical to any new project. They got that in Vancouver, and to an extent, Seattle — there’s no room for any other venue headaches.
Should the playoff system further reward the Boston Fleet’s dominance?
The Boston Fleet have been among the best teams all season, and with results over the past week, they clinched not only the first Walter Cup Playoff spot of 2026 but also set the record for the most regular-season points. And they did it all with six regular-season games remaining, as they look to seal up the top seed.
Still, as is the case in nearly every North American professional sport, the reward for being a dominant team over the course of a full season is minimal. Should they lose two playoff games, they’d go out — and there’s little incentive to play for the top spot, given the closeness of the approximate levels across PWHL teams.
It got me thinking. What if we were to take some inspiration from curling and Canada’s top men’s soccer league, and rewarded regular season success with a five-team double-elimination bracket, given the expanded PWHL?
In this system, the No. 1 team would face the No. 2, with the winner advancing directly to the Walter Cup final. Meanwhile, No. 4 would face No. 5 in a play-in game, with the winner advancing to face the No. 3 team in a quarterfinal.
The winner of the No. 3 vs. the No. 4/5 game would then go on to play the loser of the No. 1 vs. No. 2 game for a spot in the final.
As such, the best two teams through the regular season would have further opportunities to succeed, while other teams still have something to play for later in the season.
It would be untraditional, but rewarding. The PWHL hasn’t been hesitant to adopt evolved rules and systems before — so, why not try this out? Otherwise, we see situations like the Fleet potentially letting off the pressure over the next several weeks.
Vancouver’s late season push?
Sarah Nurse took the visit back to Toronto in stride, linking up with two fellow former Toronto Sceptres on Hannah Miller’s goal for the Vancouver Goldeneyes, assisted by Nurse and Izzy Daniel. It marked Nurse’s 10th point of the season, and helped spark Vancouver to a 3-2 win at the Coca-Cola Coliseum.
Just a few hours later, she spoke at the Juno Awards, Canada’s version of the GRAMMYs, alongside Canada teammate and Sceptres defender Renata Fast, thanking Canadians for their support en route to a silver medal at the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympics.
It’s no secret that Nurse has always preferred Toronto and that she was shocked to move to Vancouver, but she has embraced the new city and team. Yet, with her performance and the win against the Sceptres, the Goldeneyes can see the playoffs — so much so that the organization has already released a playoff logo.
Heading into the final seven games of the season, Vancouver sits six points, or two-games back of the fourth-place Ottawa Charge. While a loss to the first-place Fleet over the past week didn’t help, every win they pick up keeps the dreams of an expansion season playoff berth alive.
Trade Deadline remained underwhelming
The PWHL Trade Deadline is in the books, and despite more teams in the league and some key contracts expiring at the end of the season, there was not much more movement than in years past.
Monday saw Minnesota acquire defender Jincy Roese from New York, in exchange for Denisa Křížová, who had played regularly in Frost’s back-to-back runs to the Walter Cup. It marked the third trade of the season, highlighting the league’s continued grappling with opening up the trade eligibility requirements, which notably restrict trading draft picks or other pieces outside of players currently on PWHL rosters or on teams’ protected lists.