PWHL standings and schedule 2026-27: points system, playoffs and 2025-26 final table
The 2026-27 PWHL regular season starts on Saturday, December 5, 2026, so the standings below are still blank. This page is updated as the season goes: the dated standings block at the top changes after each game day, and the rest of the page explains how the table works, who qualifies for the playoffs and how last season finished.
For the clubs themselves, arenas and coaches, see our PWHL teams guide. For the Victoire's dates, see the Montréal Victoire schedule.
Standings as of November 9, 2026
No regular-season games have been played. The first three games are on December 5.
Eastern Conference
| Team | GP | W | OTW | OTL | L | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston Fleet | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| PWHL Hamilton | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Montréal Victoire | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| New York Sirens | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ottawa Charge | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Toronto Sceptres | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Western Conference
| Team | GP | W | OTW | OTL | L | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PWHL Detroit | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| PWHL Las Vegas | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Minnesota Frost | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| PWHL San Jose | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Seattle Torrent | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Vancouver Goldeneyes | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
GP games played, W regulation wins, OTW overtime or shootout wins, OTL overtime or shootout losses, L regulation losses, PTS points. Teams are listed alphabetically until games are played. The official table is on thepwhl.com.
How PWHL standings points work
The PWHL uses a 3-2-1-0 system, not the NHL's 2-2-1-0:
| Result | Points |
|---|---|
| Win in regulation | 3 |
| Win in overtime or a shootout | 2 |
| Loss in overtime or a shootout | 1 |
| Loss in regulation | 0 |
A PWHL record is written in that order. Montréal's 16-6-2-6 last season means 16 regulation wins, 6 overtime or shootout wins, 2 overtime or shootout losses and 6 regulation losses, for 62 points. Because a regulation win is worth a full point more than an overtime win, teams have a reason to push for the win in the third period instead of playing for overtime. Total wins can mislead: a team with more wins can sit below a team with more regulation wins.
Points earned after a team is mathematically out of the playoffs count toward the Gold Plan, which sets the draft order. That is how Vancouver won the first overall pick in the 2026 draft.
The 2026-27 season format
| 2026-27 | |
|---|---|
| Teams | 12, in two conferences of six |
| Games per team | 30: 18 against its own conference, 12 against the other |
| Total regular-season games | 180 |
| Opening day | Saturday, December 5, 2026 |
| Victoire opener | December 5, 7 p.m. ET, vs PWHL Hamilton at Place Bell |
| Takeover Tour | 24 neutral-site games, 4 per team, starting January 2 |
| All-Star event | March 7, 2027, Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, with a one-week league break around it |
| Last day of regular season | April 18, 2027 |
| Playoff teams | 8: top 4 in each conference |
Training camps open on November 18, 2026, followed by preseason games. The Victoire play two, against New York on November 24 and Boston on November 25, both at the Boston Sports Institute in Wellesley, Mass.
How playoff qualification works
The top four teams in each conference make the Walter Cup playoffs. The first round is best-of-three; the conference finals and the Walter Cup Final are best-of-five. The team that finishes first in each conference picks its first-round opponent from the third- and fourth-place teams in its conference; the other two play each other.
Last season, with eight teams in one table, four made it. This season eight of 12 do, so a playoff spot is easier to get, but the first round is much shorter. All 180 regular-season games stream on the PWHL's YouTube channel and website.
Final 2025-26 standings
The 2025-26 regular season ran from November 21, 2025 to April 25, 2026, with eight teams in a single table and 30 games each.
| Pos | Team | GP | W | OTW | OTL | L | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Montréal Victoire | 30 | 16 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 62 |
| 2 | Boston Fleet | 30 | 16 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 62 |
| 3 | Minnesota Frost | 30 | 13 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 50 |
| 4 | Ottawa Charge | 30 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 12 | 44 |
| 5 | Toronto Sceptres | 30 | 10 | 1 | 6 | 13 | 38 |
| 6 | Vancouver Goldeneyes | 30 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 14 | 37 |
| 7 | New York Sirens | 30 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 15 | 36 |
| 8 | Seattle Torrent | 30 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 16 | 31 |
Final regular-season standings, April 25, 2026. Montréal and Boston both finished on 62 points; Montréal took first place with 22 wins to Boston's 21, a league record at the time.
A few numbers from that table:
- Montréal clinched first on the last day with a 2-1 shootout win over Seattle.
- Minnesota scored 91 goals, a league record, but allowed 73.
- Ottawa took the last playoff spot with 44 points, despite only nine regulation wins; eight overtime or shootout wins carried them.
- Regular-season attendance was 1,116,497, an average of 9,304 a game.
How the 2026 playoffs went
Montréal, as first-place team, chose Minnesota as its semifinal opponent and won the series. Ottawa beat Boston, clinching in double overtime. In the Walter Cup Final, Montréal beat Ottawa 3-1, winning Game 4 4-0 in Ottawa on May 20, 2026. Marie-Philip Poulin was the playoff MVP.
| Season | Walter Cup champion | Runner-up | Series |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Minnesota | Boston | 3-2 |
| 2024-25 | Minnesota Frost | Ottawa Charge | 3-1 |
| 2025-26 | Montréal Victoire | Ottawa Charge | 3-1 |
Reading the table if you bet
A 30-game season is short. Three or four results can move a team several places, and early December tables say little, especially with four expansion teams and no history between them. The points system also matters for 3-way bets: a team that keeps winning in overtime gets 2 points in the standings, but a 3-way bet on it loses every time the game is tied after 60 minutes. Our Victoire betting guide explains how Mise-o-jeu settles a hockey bet, and the Mise-o-jeu hockey guide lists the rules. No picks here, and no bet is a sure thing; set a budget before the season starts.
Sources
- PWHL, official standings
- PWHL, beginner's guide: points system and Gold Plan
- Daily Faceoff, PWHL 2026-27 schedule release (October 2, 2026)
- The Canadian Press via CP24, PWHL establishes conferences and eight-team playoffs (October 2, 2026)
- The Hockey News, PWHL home openers for all 12 teams (September 28, 2026)
- PWHL, Montréal Victoire 2026-27 schedule
- The Ice Garden, final 2025-26 power rankings with records (April 27, 2026)
- PWHL, Montréal secures first place with 2-1 shootout win over Seattle (April 26, 2026)
- PWHL, Boston's 4-0 win over New York (April 25, 2026)
- PWHL, weekly notebook (April 27, 2026)
- PWHL, Cava's double-overtime goal sends Ottawa to the final (May 10, 2026)
- PWHL, Montréal captures first Walter Cup (May 21, 2026)
- PWHL, Minnesota wins second straight Walter Cup (May 27, 2025)
Key terms
- Futures bet
- A bet on something decided way down the road, like the Stanley Cup champion, that ties up your money until it settles.
- Moneyline
- The simplest hockey bet: you pick who wins the game, overtime and shootout included at most books, and the odds set your payout.
- Mise-o-jeu
- Mise-o-jeu is Loto-Québec's sports betting brand: paper slips at lottery retailers and Mise-o-jeu+ online, for players 18+ who are in Quebec.
- Implied probability
- The win chance hidden inside the odds: turn any price into a percentage and you see what the book thinks will happen.