Sceptres, Sirens let down by the PWHL on draft night

Expansion teams received preferential treatment in draft positions.

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Published Jun 17, 2026  •  Last updated 9 minutes ago  •  4 minute read

Wisconsin forward Kirsten Simms (centre) was drafted eighth overall by the Toronto Sceptres in the 2026 PWHL draft on June 17, 2026 in Detroit. Photo by Heather Pollock /PWHL

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The Toronto Sceptres went into the PWHL draft desperately seeking offence.

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They certainly found some at No. 8 in the draft in a three-time NCAA champion, Wisconsin forward Kirsten Simms.

Simms and her 100 career goals at the storied Wisconsin hockey program were initially thought to be out of reach for the Sceptres, picking as far down as they were, but the hockey gods smiled on Toronto in this case.

If we’re being honest, this is actually much better than we thought the Sceptres could do at No. 8.

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But it was not just the No. 8 pick that was affected by the league’s decision to bump the original six down the draft board to allow newcomers in Las Vegas, San Jose, Detroit and Hamilton to select in a higher slot.

That the Sceptres had to wait all the way to No. 8 on draft night after missing the PWHL playoffs for the first time is an overstep on the league’s part.

The league has consistently put a premium on competitive balance as it has grown. Going from six teams to eight teams last season, the league stocked new franchises in Vancouver and Seattle at the expense of the original six teams.

We understood that. Just as we understood the second round of expansion these past few weeks when the league went from eight teams to 12 teams again, filling up 10 spots on each of the four newcomers’ rosters with players from the existing eight.

It wasn’t an easy pill to swallow, as the six original teams and the two expansion newcomers lost significant talent, but that is the price a young league pays when it grows.

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But the league lost me a little when it doubled down on ensuring the new teams were up to speed with the already established clubs by literally handing them foundational type players in the amateur draft on top of the foundational players they have already had access to in the expansion process.

At least part of the justification by the league for the decision to double down with top-end draft talent on top of the talent they already have sapped from the existing clubs for the incoming four teams was the struggles both Vancouver and Seattle experienced in 2025-26.

The feeling from the league was there was still a talent gap between the newcomers and the existing clubs last season, and the ready answer to bridging that gap in the second expansion go-around was to bump the new teams up in the draft so PWHL Las Vegas, PWHL San Jose, PWHL Hamilton and PWHL Detroit all got moved ahead of the six original teams in the draft.

New York and Toronto, two teams that didn’t make the playoffs, went from drafting in the first four picks in this loaded draft to being bumped down to seven and eight.

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We don’t believe Seattle or Vancouver’s issue was a lack of talent.

The major issue, and coaches from both Vancouver and Seattle mentioned this over the course of the season, was adapting to a travel schedule that based on nothing more than distance from the rest of the league, put both Vancouver and Seattle at a distinct disadvantage compared to the six more easterly organizations.

Consider the travel demands on the eventual league champs from Montreal. Yes, they had to make two trips out west which was further than they had ever travelled in the first two seasons of the league.

But that was two trips. Now consider the Seattle Torrent, which finished dead last in the eight-team league. They had two trips within their own time zone all season. Every other one was at least two time zones away, a distinct disadvantage compared to six of their PWHL sisters.

But even incoming Las Vegas and San Jose, two western time zone cites as well, won’t have the same degree of extended travel because they become the third and fourth teams in the west, which evens out the travel more.

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As for competitive balance, we can easily make the case that both the Sirens and the Sceptres were in need of a bump just to get back on somewhat even terms with the four teams that did make the playoffs this past year.

That’s a function of a draft – equalizing talent levels within the existing teams — but that was denied two programs – Toronto and New York — that have some catching up to do.

As a single-entity owner, the PWHL can do whatever it pleases. That’s just a fact. It doesn’t require a majority vote to pass something like taking away draft spots from teams that need them to restore competitive balance. They simply declare the draft order and that’s the order.

Again, we understand parity and its importance in a league that thrives on competitive games night in and night out. We just think the league went too far on this one, and specifically hurt two of their inaugural franchises with this decision.

Simms still being there at No. 8 took away some of the sting for the Sceptres. The Sirens’ priority was a defender, and they got a pretty good one at No. 7 in steady Ohio State product Emma Peschel.

But that’s just Round 1. It’s a six-round draft in which both the Sirens and Sceptres went looking to regain some of their lost depth and the fact that they were consistently picking four spots lower than they had originally expected, cuts deeply into their ability to climb back onto a more equal footing with not just the four playoff teams from last year but now the six expansion teams over the past two seasons.

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