For women’s hockey fans, the 2026 Olympics might be more historic than any Winter Games since the inaugural 1998 women’s hockey tournament in Nagano, Japan. Milan Cortina 2026 will feature PWHL players for the first time ever.

The groundbreaking North American pro league welcomes two new franchises – the Vancouver Goldeneyes and Seattle Torrent – in its third season to hit eight teams, and could reportedly expand to up to 12 teams in 2026-27.

The PWHL hasn’t just expanded this sport’s visibility with packed arenas, network broadcasts, and marketing outreach. It has also boosted its professionalism, including a 30-game schedule, improved transportation, dedicated facilities for training and conditioning, heightened attention to medical and dietary needs, and more.

IIHF fans relished the ramped-up calibre of play at the 2024 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship in Utica, New York and the 2025 Women’s Worlds in Ceske Budejovice, Czechia. So it’s worth contemplating what PWHL action could reveal and foreshadow before the 29 January to 25 February break for the Olympics.

Here are 10 intriguing storylines to follow.

1) Are Poulin and Knight still the queen bees?

On name value alone, it seems silly to wonder whether either Canadian captain Marie-Philip Poulin or U.S. captain Hilary Knight could regress this season. The future IIHF Hall of Famers also serve as captains of the Montreal Victoire and Seattle Torrent respectively.

Poulin, the 2025 IIHF Female Player of the Year, was named MVP of both the Women’s Worlds and the PWHL last year. Knight led the PWHL with 15 goals and 29 points for the Boston Fleet and got the last laugh in Ceske Budejovice as the Americans nipped Canada 4-3 in overtime in the gold medal game. She recorded a hat trick in the U.S.’s 6-1 win in Game Two of the 2025-26 Rivalry Series.

Yet regardless, Knight is 36 years old and Poulin 34 this season. Players sometimes just hit the wall in their mid-30’s. If either of these legends unexpectedly falters in the PWHL, it holds big potential implications for the Olympic rivalry between the likely finalists.

2) Can Muller take that next step?

When Knight was claimed by Seattle in June’s PWHL expansion draft, it broke up a productive Boston partnership between the all-time leading Women’s Worlds scorer and Swiss ace Alina Muller. But this could also help Muller, 27, to finally reassert her sniper status now that she doesn’t have to set up Knight anymore.

Remember, the Winterthur native led the 2018 Olympics with seven goals and twice potted 27 goals at Northeastern University (2019-20, 2022-23). However, Muller has just 12 goals in 50 career PWHL games. If she unleashes her wicked one-timer more frequently with the Fleet, it bodes well for Switzerland too.

3) Who will stake a claim as U.S.’s #1 goalie?

Boston’s Aerin Frankel, who boasts two Women’s Women’s gold medals (2023, 2025) in three straight runs as the U.S.’s starter, undoubtedly has the inside track for Milan. But you can’t overlook what Ottawa Charge goalie Gwyneth Philips accomplished last season.

The athletic, focused 25-year-old recorded a 0.49 GAA and .968 save percentage in three Women’s Worlds games, including 17 saves on 18 shots in the gold medal game after Frankel was injured. Philips was next named the Walter Cup MVP in Ottawa’s run to the PWHL finals. Could a dynamite PWHL start for Philips alter U.S. coach John Wroblewski’s plans in net?

4) Are Czechia’s young guns ready to roll?

Power forward Kristina Kaltounkova dazzled at the last Women’s Worlds, blasting home four goals and nabbing an all-star team berth. Now the former Colgate University star faces a new competitive challenge as 2025’s number one overall draft pick for the New York Sirens. If “Kalty” elevates her games again in the Big Apple, it augurs well for the possibility of the first Czech Olympic women’s hockey medal ever.

The flashy Natalie Mlynkova tied Kaltounkova for Czechia’s points lead (six) in Ceske Budejovice. The 24-year-old sniper is heading into both her second Olympics and her PWHL rookie season with Montreal. Creative players can thrive – or wilt – under the spotlight in this hockey-mad Quebec city. Czech supporters will be rooting hard for Mlynkova.

5) How does PWHL set up Finnish veterans for Olympics?

PWHL-wise, it’s a new home for Michelle Karvinen, a new contract for Susanna Tapani, and a big vote of confidence for Ronja Savolainen.

Karvinen, who captained Finland to bronze at this year’s Women’s Worlds, is challenging herself again at age 35 in Vancouver after playing for clubs in Switzerland, China, and Sweden in the 2020s. The 32-year-old Tapani, who landed a one-year extension with Boston in June, has earned a PWHL reputation as a clutch scorer. And the hard-edged 27-year-old Savolainen, a Women’s Worlds all-star this year, was one of three players Ottawa protected in the expansion draft.

To have them all going full steam might be the difference for Finland between going home with an Olympic medal or empty-handed.

6) Can Swedish, German PWHLers find bigger roles?

The Swedish women haven’t medaled at the Olympics since the last time northern Italy hosted. Their stunning 2006 silver medal in Turin remains their peak. Two 24-year-old PWHL sophomores could help break the drought. If defender Maja Nylen Persson blossoms into an elite PWHLer with the New York Sirens, and if forward Lina Ljungblom starts scoring for Montreal at a pace reminiscent of her MoDo days, you just never know.

Germany faces longer odds. Its best IIHF placement remains fourth at the 2017 Women’s Worlds. It would likely benefit from goalie Sandra Abstreiter getting more than the zero starts she received behind Ann-Renee Desbiens last year in Montreal. Abstreiter shone with 48 stops in a 3-0 quarter-final loss to the U.S. in Ceske Budejovice. Blueliner Nina Jobst-Smith plays big minutes internationally and might gain confidence in her pro debut in her native Vancouver. Ever-diligent forward Laura Kluge should see more ice time with Boston this year than she did with the Toronto Sceptres.

7) Will 30-something Canadian stars bounce back?

Questions loom over some of Canada’s best-known over-30 veterans this season. Centre Brianne Jenner – the 2022 Olympic MVP – wasn’t named to Canada’s roster for the Rivalry Series. Longtime shutdown defender and Ottawa teammate Jocelyne Larocque, who committed a tough turnover on the U.S.’s golden goal in Ceske Budejovice, also didn’t go to the November event.

Power forwards Sarah Nurse, who set a new Olympic points record (18) in 2022, and Natalie Spooner, who led the PWHL in 2023-24 with 20 goals, had underwhelming seasons last year. With Vancouver and Toronto respectively, they’ll aim to prove that was just a blip pre-Milan.

8) Which bubble U.S. power forwards are dialed in?

The early PWHL going could determine whether Jesse Compher (Toronto), Britta Curl-Salemme (Minnesota), or Grace Zumwinkle (Minnesota) nabs a bottom-six role with the American Olympic team. All three can grit it out, take pucks to the net, and convert when they’re at their best.

Compher, 25, would be a returnee from Beijing, where she had three goals in seven games. However, she fell out of the national-team mix for the next two seasons and went pointless while averaging just 7:36 of ice time in her Women’s Worlds comeback this year. Zumwinkle, 26, followed a similar pattern, scoring one goal in Beijing and then not playing Women’s Worlds until 2025 (one goal). Curl, 25, was an injury replacement player for the 2022 Winter Games but never made it there after testing positive for COVID-19. She has brought hard work but zero goals in 16 games over the last three Women’s Worlds. It all makes for an intriguing battle at forward.

9) How will nations without PWHLers stand up?

Since Japanese sniper Akane Shiga left Ottawa for Lulea last season, the Land of the Rising Sun no longer has any PWHL representation. Defender Nadia Mattivi, Shiga’s teammate in Sweden, is performing at an even higher level this year than the Italian star did as the 2025 SDHL Defender of the Year. But the 2026 Olympic host nation will also ice zero PWHLers in February.

At the five “NHL Olympics” between 1998 and 2014, no national team medaled without NHLers. A similar rule will undoubtedly apply in Milan with PWHLers, but it’ll be fascinating to observe how Japan – which dominated the recent 2026 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s Asia Championship – and Italy fare versus those in the North American pro ranks.

10) Who’ll use the PWHL as a surprise springboard to Milan?

This is a big long shot. It’s a question that centres on Canada and the U.S., since they have the largest PWHL talent pools.

Could somebody who’s never dressed internationally, or perhaps only at the U18 level or one Women’s Worlds, defy the odds and make her debut? Understandably, those who step up during the pre-Olympic Rivalry Series have an edge, but the PWHL schedule provides a greater sample set that didn’t exist prior to previous Olympics. If an off-the-radar North American (say) pots 15 goals in 10 games or posts seven straight shutouts...hey, you never know. At least, someone may be putting a down payment on her participation in the 2026 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship in Denmark.