Maybe you watched the opening weekend of the PWHL and caught the bug a bit. I can’t blame you, it’s a fantastic league. This is a guide written for people who are already familiar with NHL hockey and want to know more about the differences between the two leagues. If you’re not yet familiar with hockey, there are tons of guides out there for newbies.
Schedule and Standings Differences
The PWHL has eight teams, now (for the 2025-26 season) located on both coasts. There are 30 games in a season as opposed to the 82 in the NHL season. As with the NHL, games are three 20 minute periods long, with the same regular season 3v3 overtime and shootout rules.
The standings rules differ a bit and in the best possible way:
| NHL | PWHL | |
| Regulation Win | 2 | 3 |
| Overtime Win | 2 | 2 |
| Overtime Loss | 1 | 1 |
| Regulation Loss | 0 | 0 |
Honestly I have been saying the NHL should adopt these rules for years. It’s weird that when games go into OT that there’s suddenly just more points available than there would be otherwise.
A difference that won’t matter for us until the playoffs: The top four teams all make it into the playoffs, but the number one seed gets to pick who they play against in the first round. The remaining two teams play one another. Another cool postseason-related thing? Once you’re mathematically out of the playoffs, your remaining standings points are used to determine your draft order. That way you can’t just completely tank a season in order to draft better.
Rink and Setup Differences
The game is played on an NHL sized rink (200’x85′), as opposed to an IIHF rink (which is ~196′ long and vary in width from ~85′-98′). This makes it easier for PWHL teams to share facilities with NHL and NHL-track teams, and the narrower rink means you see slightly faster play than in women’s international play. One major difference between NHL and PWHL rinks, though, is that the PWHL does not have a goalkeeper’s restricted area, also known as the trapezoid. While we have yet to see a Martin Brodeur-style goalie in the PWHL, this goalie fangirl certainly hopes to see this in the future.
Speaking of goalies, PWHL teams must carry 3 goalies on their roster, unlike the NHL, where only two are required. This means there is no EBUG rule, a tragedy for femme zamboni drivers everywhere. Only two goalies are dressed and on the bench for each game, with the third held in reserve unless there is an injury to a goalie, in which case she gets dressed and ready to go.
It’s a requirement to wear full-face protection for all players in the PWHL. And unlike in the NHL, helmets and face protection must be worn during the warmups. Honestly, this is something the NHL ought to adopt as well for safety, but who am I kidding, they never will. For all the protectiveness the PWHL has towards its players, however, they do not require mouthguards or neck protection in their rules, though they are strongly recommended.
Penalty Differences
Here’s where we start to see the differences between the two leagues. Most of the penalties are the same, along with penalty times. Contact between the players, though, is much more strictly policed. Checks can only be thrown when two players are actively battling for the puck. You can’t throw your shoulders or hips into a hit, no reverse hits, no striding into a hit at all or it’s considered charging, no finishing your check if the other player has dumped the puck, and no pinning anyone to the boards if they don’t have the puck. It’s definitely more physical than international play, but still less physical than the NHL.
Fighting is much more strongly discouraged by the league and the rules reflect this. In fact, the PWHL rulebook explicitly states:
“Fighting” is not part of PWHL’s game.
Players who willingly participate in a “brawl / fight”, so–called “willing combatants”, shall be penalized accordingly by the Referee(s) and may be ejected from the game. Further Supplementary Discipline may be imposed.
While I may be generally anti-fighting, I say let the femmes fight if you’re gonna let the fellas fight. But that’s just me. Anyway. On to the cool stuff.
Unique PWHL Rules
Jailbreak Rule: If you score a short-handed goal, you get to free your player from the sin bin. Pretty fun, yeah?
No Escape Rule: If your team gets a penalty that leads to penalty time on the clock, none of your players can change and must remain on the ice until after the following face-off.
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