Potential names for Detroit's new PWHL team

The Professional Women’s Hockey League announced on Wednesday, May 6, 2026 that Detroit, Michigan will receive an expansion franchise beginning in the 2026–27 season. The new team will play its home games at Little Caesars Arena in downtown Detroit.

Detroit will also host the 2026 PWHL Awards Ceremony on June 16, followed by the 2026 PWHL Draft on June 17. The Draft is to be held at the historic Fox Theatre in downtown Detroit.

Detroit is a big part of PWHL's growth

While Detroit did not receive a team at first, the PWHL launched its “Takeover Tour,” bringing league games to major arenas across North America. As part of the tour, Little Caesars Arena, home of the Detroit Red Wings, hosted the first-ever PWHL neutral-site game between Boston and Ottawa, which drew 13,736 fans and set a then U.S. attendance record for a PWHL game.

Over the first three seasons of the PWHL, Little Caesars Arena hosted four neutral-site games that drew a total of 53,586 fans, averaging about 13,396 attendees per game. The PWHL currently averages 7,260 attendees per game the last two seasons. Detroit's lowest attendance across the four games was 9,624.

Social media hinted at Detroit for a while

Hockey fans in Hockeytown are already celebrating the arrival of a team, but the excitement now shifts to what comes next: figuring out what the name and logo of Detroit’s PWHL franchise will be.

With all of the excitement building, the team’s new X account even added a subtle Easter egg, replying to a quote tweet that asked, “How many letters are in Michigan?”. This is where fans are losing their minds and go straight to the Red Wings mascot, the octopus. Eight letters, eight arms.

Regardless of how the reply is interpreted, it’s encouraging to see the new team already active and engaging with what will likely become lifelong fans of the franchise.

Detroit's historical team names

The city of Detroit and the state of Michigan have a deep-rooted hockey history beyond just the Red Wings. When the Red Wings were first established in 1926, the franchise went through a few early identities, including the Cougars and Falcons.

Interestingly, neither of those names contain eight letters, which makes them unlikely matches for the recent social media Easter egg posted by the team’s X account. Still, it would be hard to ignore the franchise’s history and legacy, and there’s certainly a case to be made for drawing inspiration from that past when naming the new team.

Potential team names

In no particular order, some of the most popular name ideas among Detroit hockey fans include the Vipers, Cougars, Falcons, Red Lines, Octopi, Forge and Motors.

My personal favorites are the Vipers and Forge. The Detroit Vipers were a professional hockey team that played at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Michigan and competed in the International Hockey League (IHL), giving the name both history and local hockey ties.

Ultimately, the organization could go in one of two directions: lean into former teams and embrace the city’s hockey heritage, or build a completely new identity from the ground up. Either way, anticipation will only continue to grow as fans get closer to the unveiling of the name, logo, and the start of the inaugural season.

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