Dates, context, and sources for the women's hockey stories worth following.

This tournament was a bit of a revenge match for the Olympics. Italy had defeated France at the Milan Olympics, but in this tournament France prevailed and will be playing in Top Division next year. France narrowly surpassed Slovakia in this tournament who has come close to promotion a few times and featured some phenoms we will likely see in the PWHL one day like Nela Lopusanova who tied for 4th in points for the whole tournament against her own teammate Barbora Capicakova.

• 2026 IIHF WWIA

Hamilton lands a rising PWHL bench boss in Kris Sparre, who leaves Boston after a 62-point season and a Coach of the Year finalist nod. For the Fleet, it creates a major leadership vacancy at a moment when the club had built real regular-season momentum. Assistant coach Stefanie McKeough could be an internal option after stepping in for Sparre last season, though Boston may also look outside the organization.

• Kris Sparre named Head Coach of PWHL Hamilton

This is the kickoff phase for a huge expansion. The PWHL has doubled in size from only 3 years ago with many inaugural season players' contracts ending. It's basically a giant reset for the league in a way. The expiring contracts combined with 4 completely empty rosters has made it necessary to not just do a typically expansion draft. The PWHL has come up with a unique (yet complicated) system to ensure players also have agency in the process.

• Expansion Player Distribution Process YT Explainer
• Expansion Process Official Press Release

This phase is where the expansion teams begin building the core of their rosters. Each team gets one binding Expansion Foundational Offer to pursue a cornerstone player, while Foundational Player Offers give them another way to recruit eligible players on expiring contracts. Expect this phase to create some of the first major roster movement away from existing teams.

• PWHL 2026 Expansion Player Distribution Process Explainer

This is the first phase where the whole league is really in motion. Existing teams get three more protection or signing spots, expansion teams add three more players, and any unresolved Foundational Player Offers have to turn into contracts. That combination could make Phase 3 one of the busiest parts of the entire expansion process.

• PWHL Expansion Player Distributes Process Explainer

This is the broadest access expansion teams get to the existing player pool. Any player who was not signed or protected in Phases 1–3 becomes eligible to sign with an expansion team, including both players on expiring contracts and players already under contract for 2026–27. By this point, each existing team has protected six players, leaving significant talent available and creating one of the biggest roster-shaping moments of the expansion process.

• PWHL Expansion Player Distribution Process Explainer

This year's draft has unprecedented depth as well as generational talents like KK Harvey. It is also an opportunity to get 6 players which expansion teams will need to build their full roster. Some existing teams like Seattle and New York really had their rosters diminished from the expansion signings and will lean heavily on these draft picks.

• 2026 PWHL Draft Final Selections