PWHL Detroit sign Akane Shiga to two-year contract

One of the original players from the first PWHL season is back in the league, as Japanese forward Akane Shiga inked a two-year deal with expansion team PWHL Detroit. 

The Beijing 2022 and Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympian scored two goals in 24 games in the first PWHL season with the Ottawa Charge, before leaving the league to take on a European challenge in Sweden. In that year, she also played in the first-ever PWHL game at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena, the venue that the new team will call its regular home. 

The now 25-year-old has spent the last two seasons playing for Luleå HF in Sweden, and in 2025-26, she posted 12 goals and 38 points in 26 games, before going on to top the team’s scoring charts in the playoffs with two goals and seven points in six games. At the 2026 Olympics, she had a goal and three points across four games, as Japan continued to build its stature on the international stage. 

Outside of the two Olympic appearances in China and Italy, Shiga has played for Japan six times at the IIHF Women’s World Championship and has participated in Olympic qualifying campaigns. 

Returning to the PWHL, she is an example of the type of player who previously wasn’t at a high-enough standard for the league’s limited teams, but will be able to show better now that the league has expanded to a 12-team circuit for the 2026-27 season, with further expansion on the horizon. 

With Detroit, she’s the 16th forward signed and will now reunite with former Ottawa teammates Shiann Darkangelo and Daryl Watts, with the group now looking to prepare for the fall preseason and the full 2026-27 PWHL campaign. 

The PWHL start date has yet to be revealed, but is expected to be near last year’s Nov. 21 start date.