Every original six PWHL franchise had to retool on the fly this offseason thanks to the expansion draft process that shook up the league. The New York Sirens\u2019 changes, however, were a bit more deliberate.<\/p>\n
Sure, they lost top talent \u2014 forwards Alex Carpenter, Jessie Eldridge and Gabby Rosenthal, and No. 1 goalie Corinne Schroeder \u2014 to expansion Seattle and Vancouver. But general manager Pascal Daoust also traded forward Abby Roque to the Montreal Victoire in exchange for Kristin O\u2019Neill, and No. 1 defender Ella Shelton to the Toronto Sceptres for the No. 3 pick in the 2025 draft, which turned into Patty Kazmaier winner Casey O\u2019Brien.<\/p>\n
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All this in an effort to shuffle the lineup and give New York a younger, new-look in 2025-26.<\/p>\n
But the question remains: Did the Sirens do enough?<\/p>\n
The roster<\/p>\n
The deadline for PWHL teams to finalize their 23-player rosters is Wednesday, Nov. 19.<\/p>\n
Strengths<\/p>\n
The Sirens have pretty clearly defined strengths and weaknesses.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s start with the fun part: New York has Sarah Fillier, the absolute best young player in the PWHL and the nucleus of the Sirens\u2019 core.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s a true double-threat in the offensive zone with elite hockey IQ and playmaking ability, but can also score when the puck is put on her stick. Nobody had more points (29) or assists (16) than Fillier last season. Her 13 goals ranked third. Fillier was named Rookie of the Year and to the PWHL\u2019s First Team All-Stars alongside forwards Marie-Philip Poulin and Hilary Knight.<\/p>\n
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\u201cShe had a remarkable impact on the league, and a remarkable impact here on our team,\u201d said coach Greg Fargo. \u201cShe set a new standard for rookies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some days, Fillier is the second-best forward on the planet. The other player with the claim to that title? Fillier\u2019s former linemate, Carpenter.<\/p>\n
In New York, Fillier and Carpenter were the best duo in the PWHL, combining on 10 goals in 26 games together. They\u2019re both highly intelligent on the ice with the speed and skill to pull things off that most players couldn\u2019t. As individual players, they each created space and demanded attention from opponents, which made them a nightmare to play against as a pair on a nightly basis.<\/p>\n
Now Fillier will need to prove she can be as productive without Carpenter centering her line. Last season, New York lost all four games with Carpenter out of the lineup, and Fillier did not score a goal.<\/p>\n
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There are plenty of reasons to believe she\u2019ll be just fine. Fillier and Carpenter clicked right away, but that\u2019s also a credit to the work Fillier put into making a full-time switch to the wing after spending most of her career at center.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one has more or higher expectations of her than herself; she wants to be the best player in the world,\u201d said Fargo. \u201cAnd you see that in how she prepares and you see it in how goes about trying to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fillier is not alone in New York this year, either. If we read into preseason, she\u2019s likely playing beside O\u2019Brien, who could do well in Carpenter\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n
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O\u2019Brien, 24, is coming off a historic final season at the University of Wisconsin with 88 points and 62 assists in 41 games. It was the highest-scoring season in almost a decade, since Carpenter scored 88 for Boston College in 2016.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s an excellent playmaker and has shown she has easy chemistry with elite wingers \u2014 such as Kirsten Simms or Daryl Watts at Wisconsin \u2014 which could make O\u2019Brien the perfect fit beside Fillier.<\/p>\n
Weaknesses<\/p>\n
While a retool might have been necessary, the Sirens still lost their best center, best defender and best goalie \u2014 and several other middle-of-the-lineup players. Frankly, it\u2019s possible the team got worse at every position (at least on paper).<\/p>\n
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With Carpenter (11 goals), Eldridge (9), Roque (8), Jade Downie-Landry (4), Chlo\u00e9 Aurard-Bushee (2) and \u00c9lizabeth Gigu\u00e8re (2) all gone, the Sirens have one proven offensive forward in the lineup next season.<\/p>\n
Outside of Fillier, there\u2019s only one returning forward who scored more than one goal last season: Paetyn Levis. Even Team Canada forward Kristin O\u2019Neill only had one goal last season for Montreal.<\/p>\n
Top draft picks such as O\u2019Brien, Anne Cherkowski and No. 1 pick Krist\u00fdna Kaltounkov\u00e1 should add some more skill to the top of the lineup, but New York will be hoping its returning depth forwards \u2014 such as Elle Hartje, Taylor Girard and Emmy Fecteau \u2014 can generate a bit more offense this season. Otherwise, the team might be asking too much of its youth movement regardless of how talented they are.<\/p>\n
On defense, the team traded star Ella Shelton. Yes, they got the No. 3 pick that turned into O\u2019Brien, but that\u2019s a pretty massive subtraction from a blue line that allowed the second-most shots against (859) last season, behind only the Boston Fleet. The rest of the blue line remains intact with the addition of Jincy Roese, who signed from Ottawa this summer, but they will need a collective bounce-back in front of Kayle Osborne, who only started 10 games in the New York crease last season.<\/p>\n
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Captain Micah Zandee-Hart specifically has looked great at Canada camps all summer and could be up for a nice season. And the team appears to have confidence in Osborne, who has worked her way onto Team Canada\u2019s goalie depth chart. But Schroeder (.924) has one of the best career save percentages among starting goalies in the PWHL over the last two years, behind only Ann-Renee Desbiens in Montreal.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a lot of roster churn that has made New York look pretty top-heavy once again. Things might not work out this year \u2014 retools rarely come together after just one season \u2014 but we still have to give GM Pascal Daoust some credit for trying something new after two seasons in the basement.<\/p>\n
The big question<\/p>\n
What can we expect from No. 1 overall pick Krist\u00fdna Kaltounkov\u00e1?<\/p>\n
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If New York isn\u2019t going to repeat the issues of the last two seasons \u2014 i.e., having only one line or one player who can produce \u2014 the team is going to need Kaltounkov\u00e1 to drive play from the second line.<\/p>\n
She absolutely has the skill level necessary to do that, and we\u2019ve seen it at Colgate and with Czechia, but some of the roster attrition in New York this summer could complicate things. In preseason, we saw Kaltounkov\u00e1 on a line with O\u2019Neill. She\u2019s an excellent, responsible middle-six center. That\u2019s not the same as partnering with the No. 1 pick on a second line. If the plan is to have Fillier, O\u2019Brien and Cherkowski together, it leaves New York one top offensive forward short, at least on paper.<\/p>\n
Kaltounkov\u00e1 is also a rookie and it\u2019s reasonable to expect some kind of learning curve. But, part of New York\u2019s calculus in drafting Kaltounkov\u00e1 first overall was the belief that she could make an immediate impact in the PWHL.<\/p>\n
She has a pro-ready shot, a solid frame (5-foot-9) and a physical edge to the way she plays. In her return to the Czech women\u2019s national team at April\u2019s world championships, Kaltounkov\u00e1 tied for the team lead in scoring with four goals and six points, and really put on display to many scouts that her game at the college level can work against the best in the world, too.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI don\u2019t know that there\u2019s anybody in the draft that can shoot or score in the same ways Kalty can,\u201d said Fargo. \u201cWhen you look at Kalty and what she brings, I think the full package is really going to allow her to translate well to this level.\u201d<\/p>\n