The 2025 PWHL Draft spotlighted the wealth of women's hockey talent currently rising through the ranks, as the league ushered in its third rookie class on Tuesday night.
With the first overall pick, the New York Sirens selected Colgate University alum Kristýna Kaltounková, after the 23-year-old Czech forward finished her college career as the team's all-time leading scorer.
"Coming from such a small town in the Czech Republic, it's a great honor," Kaltounková said after the announcement.
The PWHL's eight teams selected a total of 48 players across the Draft's six rounds, with 43 draftees coming out of the NCAA system.
Ohio State produced the most 2025 prospects with six selected players, after the Buckeyes won two of the last four national titles.
Of the five non-NCAA recruits, four made the leap from international pro leagues in Sweden and Russia, while one player joins the PWHL from the University of British Columbia.
With two of the eight first-round picks, New York played the Draft's most aggressive hand, trading defender Ella Shelton to Toronto in order to receive the Sceptres' third and 27th overall picks.
Due to that deal, the Sirens also snagged 2024/25 NCAA MVP Casey O'Brien, a three-time national champion and the Wisconsin Badgers' all-time leading scorer.
New York also traded top forward Abby Roque to Montréal before the 2025 PWHL Draft, receiving forward Kristin O'Neill and Tuesday's 28th overall pick in return.
With league expansion widening this year's PWHL talent pool, college programs have stepped up to fill the gaps as the professional game grows.
The 2025 PWHL Draft has arrived, as the newly expanded eight-team league kicks off its third entry draft on Tuesday while continuing to stock rosters with new signings and front office reshuffling.
Incoming expansion teams Vancouver and Seattle named their head coaches in recent weeks, with the Canadian squad bringing on former St. Cloud State University coach Brian Idalski while Seattle tapped Steve O'Rourke, ex-leader of Ontario men's junior league side Oshawa Generals.
Players are also on the move, with the June 16th opening of the league-wide trade and signing window sending postseason standouts like Ottawa's Danielle Serdachny and Montréal's Mikyla Grant-Mentis to join US hockey legend Hilary Knight in Seattle.
Meanwhile, Toronto star Sarah Nurse and Montréal's Jennifer Gardiner will head to Vancouver.
Other notable signings include Boston snagging back-to-back PWHL title-winning goalscorer Liz Schepers from Minnesota, and deals sending Ottawa forward Shiann Darkangelo to Montréal and Boston defender Sidney Morin to Minnesota.
Teams have also been busy locking in veterans, with the likes of Montréal's Catherine Dubois and Toronto's Natalie Spooner — the league's 2024 Billie Jean King MVP winner — inking contract extensions with their squads.
The next step in finalizing 2025/26 PWHL rosters is Tuesday's Draft, in which 48 incoming players will earn selection by one of the eight teams across six rounds of picks.
For the second straight year, the New York Sirens hold the first pick, with reigning champion Minnesota and the expansion teams bringing up the rear of the selection order.
With a bevy of young talent available, Tuesday's No. 1 pick will likely be one of three NCAA standouts, as Wisconsin's all-time leading scorer and three-time national champion Casey O'Brien, Colgate's scoring leader Kristýna Kaltounková, and Team USA and Clarkson defender Haley Winn are all top candidates to earn the first 2025 call-up.
How to watch the 2025 PWHL Draft tonight
The 2025 PWHL Entry Draft begins at 7 PM ET on Tuesday, with live coverage streaming on YouTube.
Incoming PWHL teams Seattle and Vancouver are one step closer to their 2025/26 season debuts, as Monday's first-ever expansion draft capped a busy trade window to bring each new franchise's roster to 12 players.
Seasoned veterans and young prospects alike found themselves on the move last week, with notable names like former Boston Fleet captain Hilary Knight and New York Sirens vet Alex Carpenter bound for Seattle while Toronto Sceptres standout Sarah Nurse will head to Vancouver.
Each of the six founding PWHL teams could only protect three players ahead of the league's aggressive expansion process, with most front offices opting to prioritize speed and parity.
Team Canada's 2022 Olympic gold medalist Ashton Bell of the 2025 Walter Cup runners-up Ottawa Charge went first in Monday's PWHL expansion draft, with brought each original team's roster losses up to four total players.
Five of last year's six first-round entry draft picks are now en route to either Seattle or Vancouver, with only No. 1 overall selectee Sarah Fillier remaining with her original New York team.
"Selfishly, I'm very excited," Seattle GM Meghan Turner said after Monday's final selection. "I think it's a great roster that we've built so far."
Both Seattle and Vancouver will see their rosters nearly double to the league's 23-athlete tally later this month, when the expansion teams will join the founding six teams in snagging talent from the PWHL's June 24th entry draft.
The PWHL's expansion process incentivizes new teams to hit the ice ready to compete, though its impact on the league's existing clubs will likely not be clear until the puck drops on the 2025/26 season.
The puck has officially dropped on the PWHL expansion process, with existing teams releasing protected players lists as incoming 2025/26 franchises Seattle and Vancouver begin to build rosters.
The teams' exclusive signing window opened Wednesday morning and runs through Sunday, with the 2025 Expansion Draft set for Monday evening.
Both Seattle and Vancouver can sign up to five players each from the league's unprotected and free agency pool this week.
Regardless of how many athletes the franchises choose to sign, the expansion process requires that the new teams grow their rosters to 12 total players by the end of Monday's draft, before completing their 23-athlete lineups alongside the other six teams during the June 24th PWHL entry draft.
The six founding PWHL clubs could only list three protected players for this week's signing window and next week's expansion draft, forcing some difficult roster decisions.
The Boston Fleet did not opt to add captain Hilary Knight to the protected players list — despite the 35-year-old leading the league in scoring this season — with New York's Alex Carpenter and Toronto's Sarah Nurse also headlining the unprotected list.
With growth front-of-mind, the PWHL Players Association also announced that its members voted late last week to publicly disclose their salaries — a move expected to aid negotiations during this week's signing window.
"This will be a tool for players as they consider opportunities across the league," PWHLPA executive director Malaika Underwood told The Athletic.
With the 2025 PWHL Finals in full swing and new franchises on the horizon, the league rolled out a detailed expansion plan to build its two new teams on Monday.
The expansion process will see 24 current PWHL players — four from each of the six founding teams — join either Vancouver or Seattle next month.
To be eligible for selection, athletes must be either under contract or have rights held by a current team for the 2025/26 season.
Each original team can protect three eligible athletes at the outset, with squads reserving the right to protect one additional player should the incoming clubs select two players off the same roster.
In the lead-up to June 9th's expansion draft, Vancouver and Seattle will have five days to sign up to five unprotected players each.
After that window closes, Seattle and Vancouver will increase their rosters to a required total of 12 players via expansion draft selections, with the number of picks for each team determined by how many athletes the new franchises choose to sign.
Finally, the West Coast squads will then complete their 23-athlete lineups alongside the other six teams during the PWHL's June 24th entry draft.
With such a broad unprotected player pool, about half of the PWHL's current athletes — including some of its brightest stars — will be up for grabs, ensuring a very different landscape when the league takes the ice for its third season.
The PWHL officially announced Seattle as the league's newest expansion franchise early Wednesday morning, bringing the total number of teams taking the 2025/26 season's ice to eight.
The move comes exactly one week after the second-year league tapped Vancouver as its seventh market, capitalizing on the natural rivalry between the cross-border Pacific Northwest neighbors.
While Seattle's bid was led by Climate Pledge Arena's Oak View Group alongside the NHL's Seattle Kraken, both new teams will fall under the league's single-entity structure, with the Walter Group continuing to operate as the PWHL's sole owner.
Rising hockey fervor set up Seattle for PWHL bid success
The West Coast ice hockey hubs join the league's original six teams, as demand for women’s hockey continues to escalate throughout North America following the PWHL's 2024 launch.
Minnesota, Toronto, Ottawa, Boston, New York, and Montreal have all seen fanbases grow over the PWHL's first two seasons, in which the league tested interest in additional markets via very successful Takeover Tours across North America.
As for the factors that tipped the scales in the Seattle's favor, the PWHL cites both the city's enthusiastic Takeover Tour turnout — 12,608 fans showed up for this year's January 5th matchup — as well as its long history as a hub for pro women's sports.
"We are looking forward to returning the love, energy, and excitement the Seattle sports community shared with us during the PWHL Takeover Tour," said PWHL EVP of business operations Amy Scheer in the league's announcement.
"It's a joy to have PWHL Seattle join the WNBA's Storm and the NWSL's Reign, who are skyscrapers in the city's towering sports landscape."
With two new teams officially on board, the league next plans to release details regarding both an expansion draft and the roles Seattle and Vancouver will play in June 24th's PWHL Draft in the coming weeks.
The PWHL is officially expanding, with the second-year pro women's hockey league awarding Vancouver its seventh franchise on Wednesday.
The league's first-ever expansion squad faces a short run-up, joining the current six-team roster when the puck drops on the 2025/26 PWHL season.
"To be able to grow this fast is just a testament to the great sport, our great athletes, and how people feel about the work that we’re doing and what our players are putting out on the ice," said PWHL EVP of business operations Amy Scheer.
Vancouver fanbase bolstered city's PWHL bid
Commenting on the eight-month expansion evaluation process, Scheer called Vancouver's bid "unbelievably robust," and noted that the city's "engaged, vibrant, fun" fanbase and its "remarkable commitment to growing the game of hockey" helped earn the Canadian community a team.
That commitment was on display at the PWHL's recent 2025 Takeover Tour, which drew major crowds as the league tested expansion prospects in non-market cities across North America.
Vancouver stood out, notching the the fourth-largest crowd in PWHL history when 19,038 fans showed up on January 8th — and claiming the highest social media engagement across all nine Tour stops.
That fan enthusiasm helped push Vancouver across the PWHL's expansion line, with the new team already making league history.
Besides marking the league's first-ever footprint on the the West Coast, Vancouver will become the first PWHL team to serve as the primary tenant in its home venue at the Pacific Coliseum.
The 17,713-seat arena and its adjacent PNE Agrodome — PWHL Vancouver's main training facility — will undergo extensive upgrades for the incoming franchise.
"The expansion brings greater visibility to the West Coast, expands out geographic footprint, and, most importantly, grows the game," said PWHL EVP of hockey operations Jayna Hefford.
League eyes next steps for expansion team
While the PWHL still has over 20 proposals from markets requesting a team — and rumors swirling that Seattle could join Vancouver as a 2025/26 season expansion contingent — the league is currently making more concrete plans for its official seventh squad.
"With this team comes more opportunities for the best women's hockey players in the world to continue competing in one league," remarked Hefford. "The talent pool has never been deeper, and with a strong 2025 draft class ahead, we're pleased that even more women are going to be able to play at the professional level."
Details for an upcoming expansion draft to begin stocking Vancouver's roster will be announced shortly, and the team will also take part in the 2025 PWHL Draft on June 24th.
"The PWHL is setting a new standard for women's hockey. The game has never been faster, more physical, or more skilled," Hefford added. "We're so excited for this city to experience the parity and the competitiveness that our league has every single game."
The PWHL is racking up milestones, with the second-year pro women's hockey league officially passing the one-million-fan mark on Sunday.
The record-clinching game came during the league's penultimate 2025 Takeover Tour matchup, after 14,288 fans turned up to Detroit's Little Caesars Arena to see the New York Sirens take down the Minnesota Frost 4-1 on Sunday.
To honor the milestone, players tossed signed special "PWHL One Million Fans" pucks to fans during a commemorative timeout during the game's first period.
After averaging around 5,500 fans per game last season, the league has seen a 7,000 attendance average so far this season, resulting in the current all-time official tally of 1,001,648 fans.
Across its 70 completed second-season games, the PWHL has already racked up 518,118 attendees, surpassing the league's total attendance of 483,530 fans from all 85 games last season — inclusive of the PWHL's first-ever playoffs.
"This is truly a 'pinch me' moment," said PWHL EVP of business operations Amy Scheer. "The overwhelming support from fans, the energy in the arenas, and the league’s rapid growth all highlight how much people are connecting with the PWHL."
"Today is a moment we’ll always remember, and we’re grateful to the fans of Detroit for celebrating it with us in such a big way."
Detroit makes a case for PWHL expansion team
Sunday's special out-of-market matchup also set a new US attendance record for pro women's ice hockey, further boosting the city's case to claim a PWHL expansion team.
“It's another extremely big win for the sport globally,” Frost forward Kendall Coyne Schofield told reporters after Sunday’s game. "It’s important to tip our hockey helmet to Detroit."
Detroit's new US record comes one year to the day after the Michigan metropolis set the then-national attendance record at the league's first-ever Takeover Weekend, when 13,736 fans watched Boston defeat Ottawa 2-1 on March 16th, 2024.
With the PWHL eyeing expansion, announcing last November that it intends to increase from its current six-team roster to eight teams by the time the puck drops on the 2025/26 season, the enthusiasm of Detroit hockey fans could put the city at the top of the league's potential market list.
"To see the league grow so rapidly is a reflection of the dedication of our players, who demonstrate their world-class talent every day, as well as the countless individuals behind the scenes who work relentlessly to ensure the league's success," said PWHL EVP of hockey operations Jayna Hefford.
"The passion and support from our fans has been incredible, and this is only the beginning."
On the heels of last season’s successful "Takeover Weekends" in Detroit and Pittsburgh, the PWHL announced Monday that the league will embark on a nine-city Takeover Tour spanning nine new markets across the US and Canada this winter.
Accordingly, the tour will shift nine 2024/25 regular-season games to neutral locations, with stars hitting the ice primarily in NHL arenas.
All six teams — the Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost, Montréal Victoire, New York Sirens, Ottawa Charge, and Toronto Sceptres — will play a minimum of two tour matches. Ottawa and Montréal lead all teams with four off-site games on the docket.
According to PWHL SVP of business operations Amy Scheer, "When exploring potential locations for a PWHL game, the enthusiasm from cities eager to engage with our League was incredibly encouraging."
Ultimately, after kicking off in Seattle on January 5th, the second-year league's tour will visit Vancouver, Denver, Québec City, Buffalo, Raleigh, and Detroit before wrapping up in St. Louis on March 29th. One final city, set to host Toronto and Ottawa on February 16th, will be announced in the coming weeks.
Audience growth and league expansion fuel PWHL tour
With two teams set to join the PWHL before the puck drops on the 2025/26 season, the Takeover Tour allows the league to test potential expansion markets while simultaneously growing fan interest across North America.
"Bringing PWHL games to fans across both countries is a natural next step as we continue building our audience," noted Scheer in the league's statement.
"The PWHL Takeover Tour lets us showcase our game and exceptional athletes across a wider North American footprint — an exciting moment for our players and an important move for our business as we consider expansion."
WE’RE TAKING OVER! 🗣️
— PWHL (@thepwhlofficial) November 18, 2024
PWHL Takeover Tour will feature games across North America, with stops as far west as Seattle and as far east as Québec City.
📰 https://t.co/Iu8AdqUf0T pic.twitter.com/usQJpZi0Lp
How to attend the PWHL's 2025 Takeover Tour
Tickets for January 19th's bout between the Ottawa Charge and Montréal Victoire in Québec City are available online now. Pre-sales for all other Tour stops begin on Thursday.
Additionally, all 2024/25 tickets will be available on Friday at 10 AM in each game's local market.