“We did not have time to come back to reality before being hit hard by the expansion draft. It hurts to work with players for such a long time and then see them leave, sort of against their will, a bit for some. It’s our reality, and I think Daniele has done an incredible job going out and getting players who’ll be able to help us from the get-go when we start with the Victoire. Throughout the league, our team’s reputation is made, and everyone knows it’s a good organization that is well-managed, well-coached, and has an incredible leadership and veteran group. I’m really proud to see Jessie [Eldridge] and Emma [Maltais] join the Victoire. Maltais will bring us a lot of experience, a lot of grit. Nadia Mattivi, who’s coming back, and the players we were able to keep form a good part of our core. We’ll be starting on a good base; we lost some great players, that’s for sure. Picking 12th in every round was also an enormous challenge; we only found out mere days before the draft. We’ll try to develop the players we picked as much as possible; we have the staff to do it. Hopefully, we’ve drafted the right type of humans, players that want to come and improve, develop every day. If we get that, as we did last year, I think we’ll have another great season.”
