'Hockey Night in Canada' is going to feature women's hockey instead
Saturdays aren’t just for the boys.
When news first surfaced that NHL games would no longer take place on Hockey Night in Canada going forward, the CBC was adamant that the iconic national brand would live on in another form.
“The Hockey Night in Canada brand is owned by CBC and will remain with the public broadcaster,” a CBC spokesperson told Daily Hive last June. “We will continue to use the brand moving forward and will update on those plans when we have more details.”
It seems they’re ready to update us.
The Professional Women’s Hockey League has called a press conference for Thursday morning at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, telling reporters in an email that the PWHL is going to make a “major announcement.”
That announcement, according to PWHL reporter Justin Levine, is to announce that PWHL games will air on Hockey Night in Canada on CBC. Another source has since confirmed this report to Offside.
Hearing that the PWHL’s Thursday morning announcement at the @HockeyHallFame is regarding a Canadian broadcast collaboration that would see the resurfacing of Hockey Night in Canada, providing the league its own primetime platform weekly to air featured PWHL regular season games.
— Justin Levine (@JustinLevineHBS) September 23, 2026
That’s good news for the PWHL, and in particular its five Canadian-based teams in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, and Hamilton.
Women’s hockey has been booming ever since the PWHL played its first season in 2024. The league welcomed over a million fans to games during the 2025-26 regular season, representing an average attendance of over 9,000. The PWHL now has 12 teams, after adding expansion teams in Vancouver and Seattle in 2025, and Hamilton, Detroit, Las Vegas, and San Jose in 2026.
Hockey Night in Canada will surely look different next season, and not just because of the players on the ice. You won’t see the likes of Ron MacLean, Elliotte Friedman, Kevin Bieksa, or other Sportsnet employees, as they’ll be seen on Sportsnet’s newly named NHL broadcast, Saturday Night Hockey.
The NHL’s departure has left a huge hole in the CBC’s Saturday night lineup. Hockey Night in Canada provided approximately seven hours of programming every Saturday night. The PWHL season, which begins in December, will help fill some of that gap. So will curling, as the CBC previously announced a deal with the Grand Slam of Curling and Rock League.