PWHL Vancouver, meet your newest rivals.

Following last week’s announcement that Vancouver would be joining the Professional Women’s Hockey League as the seventh franchise, another team has now entered the mix. The PWHL officially announced Wednesday that Seattle will be the newest location for expansion, set to join the league alongside Vancouver for the 2025-26 season.

The new yet-to-be-named Seattle team (for now referred to as PWHL Seattle) will become co-tenants with the Kraken and the WNBA’s Storm at Climate Pledge Arena, which has a capacity of just over 17,000. Along with Vancouver’s Pacific Coliseum, it will be one of the league’s biggest arenas. The team’s primary colour will be emerald green, and just like Vancouver, their secondary colour will be cream.

Seattle was a stop on this year’s Takeover Tour, which saw the PWHL playing neutral site games across Canada and the United States, partly as tests for which markets could support an expansion team.

Wednesday’s announcement hardly comes as a surprise, as Seattle, along with Vancouver, has been rumoured for expansion for weeks now. Not to mention, the league’s website accidentally confirmed the rumour by leaking the two logos in mid-April.

The PWHL kicked off in January 2024 with teams in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, New York, Boston, and Minnesota. Seattle’s announcement follows along with the desire of the league to expand West, and will soften some of the travel blow for the league now with two teams in the Pacific Northwest. The Western expansion will also allow for national media rights to be negotiated, with different time zones now to be considered.

Details about an expansion draft are still pending, while the PWHL entry draft is set for June 24 in Ottawa. It hasn’t yet been confirmed where in the draft the two new franchises will slot in.

The news of expansion comes as just the start for the growing league, which has already spoken about future plans for expansion with a number of markets ready and excited about the prospect of getting their own team. The league may be looking to add more teams in the West to follow along with Vancouver and Seattle, but there are also a number of interested markets in the East, including Quebec City, Detroit, and Pittsburgh. No more expansion teams are expected for the upcoming season.

Minnesota won the inaugural PWHL championship–the Walter Cup–last season. This year’s PWHL playoffs kick off in May, with the Montreal Victoire currently sitting first in the league with only a few games remaining.