The 2026 Professional Women’s Hockey League Draft arrives in Detroit on Wednesday with six rounds of 12 selections, accounting for 72 picks in all.
The action – if you can call calling out names and walking onto the Fox Theater stage, action – starts at 5 p.m. and the first two rounds will be broadcast on WMYD-TV (Ch. 20) in Detroit.
PWHL Detroit, Hockeytown’s expansion squad which will play at Little Caesars Arena, finished with nine players in the early expansion process, plus a sign-and-trade for American icon Hilary Knight, and is set to add six more on Wednesday (though the Knight trade cost them their top pick).
Here are five players to know for the first few picks of the draft, plus a potential Detroit pick in the second round:
Caroline Harvey, D, Wisconsin
If there was any doubt the Team USA and Wisconsin star was going to be the top pick, consider her past nine months: Olympic gold in Milan, where she was named tourney MVP AND the top defender (while scoring twice and adding seven assists in seven games); racking up 18 goals and 46 assists in 33 NCAA games while leading the Badgers to an NCAA championship; and becoming just the third defender to win the Patty Kazmeier Award (given annually to the top women’s college hockey player, regardless of position). The 5-foot-8 New Hampshire native is a player to build a franchise around.
Abbey Murphy, F, Minnesota
Murphy, a 24-year-old Illinois native who starred for Minnesota and Team USA – is the premier power forward in this draft, despite standing just 5 feet 5. She chirps, she skates, she hits (to the tune of 357 penalty minutes in 189 college games), she draws penalties. Oh, and she scores; despite missing a quarter of the season for Olympic play, she still had 40 goals (and 26 assists) in 31 games. Her style certainly worked against international foes, with two goals and five assists – three of which came against Canada in a group-stage game in which she also drew three power plays.
Laila Edwards, D/F, Wisconsin
The 6-foot-1 Ohio native – she’ll be the tallest player in PWHL history once she makes her debut –made history in February’s Olympics as the first Black woman to play hockey for Team USA; she finished with eight points in seven games while making the all-tournament team. She then returned to the Badgers and moved to forward during Wisconsin’s run to the NCAA championship; in her last full season with the Badgers, she put up 35 goals and 36 assists in 41 games, while this season saw her rack up 12 goals and 33 assists.
Kirsten Simms, D, Wisconsin
Y’know, we’re starting to think there might be a reason the Badgers have won three of the past four NCAA titles … Simms, a Plymouth native, put up 26 goals and 33 assists in 31 games with the Badgers in 2025-26, with a goal and a plus-2 rating in seven Olympic games. Her scoring touch is perhaps only matched by her swagger; when the Badgers, needing a tying goal, were awarded a penalty shot in the final seconds of the NCAA title game, she raised her hand when her coach asked the huddle, “Who wants it?” And then she scored with a ridiculous deke.
Tessa Janecke, C, Penn State
The 5-foot-8 Illinois native doesn’t quite have the scoring bona fides of some other prospects – though she has 89 goals in 145 games with the Nittany Lions – but her two-way game is stellar: Solid backchecking as well as a faceoff win percentage above 60%. Although she played in a lesser college conference, Atlantic Hockey, she showed she can contribute on the world stage, with five assists in seven games for Team USA in Milan.
Elyssa Biederman, C, Colgate
A Michigander (via Franklin), Biederman could fall to Detroit in the second round. Despite standing just 5 feet 1 – she’ll be just the second 5-1 player in PWHL history – she racked up 72 goals in 155 games with the Raiders while playing a fierce forechecking game. The Birmingham Groves and Little Caesars program alum profiles as a secondary scorer on a top line – which could make her a good fit on a Detroit team that signed seven forwards among its first 10 players (and that’s not counting Knight).
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 2026 PWHL Draft: Who are potential top picks today in Detroit
Reporting by Ryan Ford, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Ryan Ford, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
