DETROIT – Professional Women’s Hockey League Detroit has signed Macomb County native forward Taylor Girard to a two-year standard player agreement ahead of the team’s inaugural 2026-27 season.
Girard is under contract through the 2027-28 campaign and becomes the franchise’s seventh player signed.
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She is also the second addition during Phase 3 of the Professional Women’s Hockey League’s Expansion Player Distribution Process, following defender Sydney Bard.
The signing marks a homecoming for Girard, who spent three seasons in the PWHL with the New York Sirens and Boston Fleet.
Girard also played in the league’s first two games at Little Caesars Arena in March 2024 and March 2025.
Originally selected by Boston in the ninth round, 51st overall, of the inaugural PWHL Draft, Girard began the 2024-25 season with the Fleet before being traded to New York early in the campaign.
The 27-year-old has recorded 17 points (12 goals, 5 assists) in 63 career games.
That includes a career-best eight-point season in 2025-26, which featured seven goals, including the league’s first hat trick of the season in New York’s opener on Nov. 22, 2025.
Girard’s path to Detroit
Girard developed in Detroit’s Honeybaked youth hockey program and played collegiately at Lindenwood University and Quinnipiac University before turning professional with the Connecticut Whale of the Premier Hockey Federation.
She was selected first overall in the 2021 PHF Draft and earned Rookie of the Year honors.
With PWHL Detroit, Girard reunites with former New York Sirens assistant coach Josh Sciba.
Girard also joins former Boston Fleet teammates Sydney Bard and Hannah Bilka, both of whom are signed to two-year contracts.
Building Detroit’s roster foundation
Detroit has added defender Cayla Barnes and forwards Britta Curl-Salemme and Jesse Compher on three-year deals, as well as forward Daryl Watts on a four-year contract.
At the conclusion of Phase 3, each expansion team may have up to eight players.
Teams can protect up to six players total under league rules.
The Phase 3 signing window ran through Friday (June 12) at 3 p.m. ET, with protection ending at 5 p.m. ahead of Phase 4.