The Western Hockey League (WHL) has announced their first formal expansion in 18 years in a formal press release. They will absorb the BCHL’s Penticton Vees in 2025-26 and have begun the application process for the Chilliwack Chiefs to join in 2026-27.
Penticton will maintain their majority owner, Graham Fraser, but they will also add Winnipeg Jets star Mark Scheifele, former New York Ranger Mike Richter, and businessmen Joe Walters and Gord Kovacik as minority partners. In a ceremony welcoming the Vees to the WHL, Fraser shared that they began the process of moving leagues last season. He added that the move also required a unique lease agreement between the Vees and the city of Penticton, captured by Chelsea Powrie of the local Casanet. It did not necessitate any rink renovations. The BCHL has added that Penticton’s BCHL rights will be relocated with existing ownerhsip, including Fraser.
The Vees are will maintain head coach, general manager, and team president Fred Harbinson through the move. Harbinson has been Penticton’s coach and GM since the 2007-08 season. He led the club to a BCHL championship in his very first year at the helm. He’s appeared in the postseason in every season since, and added five more championship rings.
For all intents and purposes, the Vees are formally a WHL as of this announcement. They will participate in a WHL Expansion Draft on May 7th, as well as the upcoming WHL Prospects Draft and WHL U.S. Priority Drafts. Penticton is already recruiting for their 15-player list. Fraser mentioned that the Vees will try to maintain current players whose WHL rights aren’t currently owned, though only nine players on the current roster meet eligibility requirements. Penticton will need to expand that to a full 50-player list by May 7th.
Meanwhile, Chilliwack will return to the BCHL for one season while they entertain WHL expansion. The city of Chilliwack were a part of one of the WHL’s most recent expansion waves in the early-2000s, getting awarded a club in 2005 and relocating to Victoria in 2011. Since then, Chilliwack has appeared in two BCHL Finals and consistently ranked as a top-five team in the Coastal Conference. The Chiefs’ home arena, Chilliwack Coliseum, is city-owned and is also approved for a WHL club. Still, the city has announced plans to invest $3.7MM in upgrades to the arena before joining the WHL in 2026-27, as shared by Fraser Valley Today. These upgrades will include improvements to the scoreboard, lighting system, and dasher boards among other upgrades.
The Chiefs will next have to go through an official franchise application process that will be reviewed by the WHL Commissioner and Executive Commission. The outcome of this process is expected to be announced before the start of the 2025-26 season. Meanwhile, the BCHL has announced no further plans for the Chilliwack franchise at this time – pointing towards their commitment to the league for the foreseeable future.
This news would theoretically grow the WHL from 22 to 24 teams within the next two years. Penticton will likely join the B.C. Division of the WHL’s Western Conference. Integrating Chilliwack could be more of a challenge. The city is a bit too far from the league’s Eastern Conference, which could lead to 13 teams in the Western Conference and 11 in the Eastern Conference.
The news of BCHL clubs joining the WHL is substantial. The CHL recently agreed to a partnership with the NCAA that would allow CHL players to commit to American colleges – something previously outlawed by the NCAA’s professional sports policy. This news has allowed the CHL to become a pipeline for players with collegiate aspirations, a perk that used to only belong to non-CHL Canadian junior leagues like the BCHL, AJHL, and OJHL. Penticton and Chilliwack’s moves could be the start of the growing snowball that is CHL hockey, though it’s likely to be slowed down by eligibility concerns and logistical red tape. Still, the news will give hockey fans at all levels some action to anticipate as the WHL, and other CHL leagues, approach key dates this offseason.
