2023–24 PWHL season

The 2023–24 PWHL season was the first season of operation of the Professional Women's Hockey League, and began play on January 1, 2024. Six teams competed during the inaugural season, located in Montreal, Toronto, New York/Bridgeport, Boston, Ottawa, and Saint Paul. The season culminated in a two-round best-of-five playoff including the top four teams to determine the season champion. PWHL Toronto topped the regular season standings with 17 wins and 47 points. In the playoffs, PWHL Minnesota won the inaugural Walter Cup, defeating PWHL Boston in a 5-game series for the title.





== League business ==

The PWHL was announced in August 2023 after the Mark Walter Group announced the formation of a new league aligned with the players in the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association, and then subsequently purchased and folded the rival Premier Hockey Federation in June 2023. On August 29, the locations of the six charter franchises were announced.

On September 1, 2023, a 10-day free agency period began, during which each team was eligible to sign up to three players. On the same day, the league announced the general managers for each team: Danielle Marmer for Boston, Natalie Darwitz for Minnesota, Pascal Daoust for New York, Gina Kingsbury for Toronto, Daniele Sauvageau for Montreal, and Michael Hirshfeld for Ottawa. On September 5, Emily Clark, Brianne Jenner, and Emerance Maschmeyer became the first players signed to PWHL contracts when they signed with Ottawa.