The PWHL has officially arrived in Detroit, here's what we know about the team so far
Greetings from Detroit, where there is a new hockey franchise.
When it came to Detroit and an expansion team in the Professional Women's Hockey League it was always more of a question of when or how rather than if it would happen.
Over the past three seasons, Detroit has become a mainstay on the PWHL’s neutral site circuit, takeover tours, with four games at Little Caesars Arena hosting a combined 53,586 fans, including a then-American record crowd of 14,288 in 2025.
Those games helped lay the groundwork for further takeover tour games, and planted the seed for Detroit to get a full-time team, which officially came to fruition on Wednesday, with the team taking the ice this fall for the 2026-27 PWHL season.
Here’s what we know so far about the team itself:
They will have black and silver as the primary colors, with red as an accent color, a nod to the Red Wings according to PWHL officials.
A formal name, logo, and further branding are all in the works, and while a timeline wasn’t set, the PWHL Draft being in Detroit on June 16 is probably is a good indicator of when we might see more.
Like all PWHL teams, they are owned by the league, while Ilitch Sports and Entertainment is going to be major partner.
The PWHL team will have its own purpose-built locker rooms and space and be a full-time tenant at Little Caesars Arena. While I wasn’t given full plans on the construction, PWHL officials confirmed the team would be getting that space and build out.
The PWHL is in the process of hiring hockey operations staff for PWHL Detroit, which makes sense to be in place before the draft.
Speaking of the draft, the PWHL is still keeping plans for the draft under wraps, and this is going to be more of an entry-draft system than a full-blown expansion draft for Detroit and other potential expansion teams.
The schedule is already condensed at Little Caesars Arena, but PWHL officials said the team will have a mix of both double-headers with the Detroit Red Wings and isolated days as the only event.
Fans can already place season-ticket deposits for the team.
OK, from a personal perspective, I’m pretty excited about this for multiple reasons.
Firstly, I’ve intentionally bought tickets to each of the PWHL takeover tour games in Detroit over the past three seasons to support the idea of a team in Detroit. It’s been a blast taking my kids to those games, and it’s been one of the best connectors to hockey for my now 7-year-old daughter.
Secondly, as a reporter and storyteller, I’m excited bout being able to cover the league and team. I’m not sure what exactly that will look like on a daily basis in this space, but as someone who said three years ago I’d happily cover a PWHL team in Detroit, I’m going to stick to my word on that, and we’ve already got a small library of PWHL stories here at Shap Shots to build on.
And on that front, here are some other things I learned from Wednesday’s event that are connected, either directly or not, to the new team in Detroit.
This was the first time we’ve seen Chris Ilitch speak publicly in a long time, and while he made some opening comments in a press conference, he was not made available for interviews.
With all the talk of Detroit being HockeyTown, shouldn’t there be more actual hockey available in within Detroit city limits? As of today, the only available public rink within city limits is Clark Park, a seasonal outdoor rink. How does that sit with Detroit Mayor Mary Shelly?
”The Ilitches know that community and access and opportunity is deeply important to me, and so as the league comes here, I’m sure we’ll start talking about more opportunities for inner-city girls and youth have the ability to train and have have access,” Shelly said. “Those are conversations I’m sure will be forthcoming, because I’m all about opportunity and access. But to have the league here in general, again, that signals the ability for young girls to get interested in hockey and to see themselves in that league. So I think that’s a good first step.”There’s a natural conversation that leads to the fact that now, with a PWHL team, Michigan still doesn’t have any Division I women’s college teams, despite being the state with the fourth-most girls players according to USA Hockey.
Brendan Morrison, who coaches the 19-and-under Little Caesars Girls Team and has helped players go through recruiting, told me on Wednesday this new pro team should be a catalyst for some college programs.
”It is frustrating for the kids and parents, when they play here and they have no local options if they are an elite player,” Morrison said. “There’s a facility question and investment for a school, but I think hopefully this team (in the PWHL) and some success here will force some college decisions.”For Ally, the presenting sponsor for the Detroit team, the PWHL has been a financial positive and they view the investment in both the takeover tours and the future full-time team as a positive return on investment. The big thing for Ally, according to Bridget Sponsky, the executive director of brand marketing, has been a push into 50-50 sponsorship between men’s and women’s sports media buys.
Sponsky said Ally’s brand values have gone up 40 percent since making the 50-50 pledge in 2022, and women’s sports fans trust Ally 27 percent more than the general consumer.
OK, that’s what I’ve got for today. We will have more on the PWHL and Detroit in the future at this space (and all the other stuff you’ve grown accustomed to), but now I’ve got to run home to do Episode 6 of Algorithmically Incorrect Hockey with my pal Robert Tiffin, which you can either stream here or on YouTube at 2:30 ET.