The rapid expansion of the PWHL over recent years will eventually force the league to revisit some of its practices. The league that started with six teams in 2024 has now doubled in size, and what worked in the early seasons may not be the most practical anymore.
One component the PWHL may want to explore soon: having two conferences or divisions. Geographically, you can (pretty easily) divide the league in half, with six teams in each division.
Here’s my split:
PWHL WEST DIVISION: Vancouver, Seattle, San Jose, Las Vegas, Minnesota, & Detroit
PWHL EAST DIVISION: Hamilton, Toronto, Ottawa, Montréal, Boston, & New York
Admittedly, Detroit and Minnesota are more central than west, but for the purposes of division, that’s where they land here. There’s nothing to say this can’t be changed in the future when more teams are added!
In the past, I’ve also considered a USA/Canada division split, but as of right now, they wouldn’t be even, which makes for a messier split. Similarly, you could use my aforementioned concept but keep Minnesota in the east for ease of travel, but then the divisions wouldn’t be even. That’s not to say it can’t be done, but it’s not as easy.
What would be the benefits?
Geographic proximity, by nature, helps create rivalries. But formally establishing two divisions would also help to foster competition and rivalries, which are always exciting. This would also provide the league with an easy opportunity to revisit its scheduling matrix, allowing for more intradivision matchups. Additionally, that would help balance travel across the league.
This could lend itself to a new playoff format, with intradivision play and a championship matchup between the winners. This would also, of course, further foster those aforementioned rivalries.
The PWHL can also take this opportunity to honor two prominent pieces of women’s hockey history in naming the divisions. This isn’t something that needs to happen right away; the league can keep the names generic initially. This would let them give careful consideration to who the appropriate namesakes should be.
What would be the drawbacks?
With Detroit and Minnesota on the eastern side of their division, they’d be facing quite a bit of travel. It can also get boring after a while if your team plays the same team too many times.
I think about the AHL, where teams can play one another a whopping ten times in a season. The same teams then don’t play some other teams for years! There’s a fine line between fostering a division rivalry and it simply being too many meetings. The PWHL would have to set up its scheduling matrix to find a good balance.
There’d also be considerations given to the Takeover Tour and how that falls into place with scheduling and the like.
Sooner or later…
Maybe 12 teams isn’t the point where the PWHL makes this decision; maybe the league waits until 2 more teams are added, or beyond. Realistically, sooner or later, the PWHL is going to have to create divisions or conferences as pretty much all sports leagues do. It simply makes things easier to manage from a logistical standpoint, especially when you’ve seen such exponential growth and additional investments.
In my mind, the question isn’t whether or not the PWHL does this; it’s a matter of when, how it looks, and how it shapes the league going forward.
