The New York Sirens’ 2024-2025 season did not go the way they expected after bolstering their scoring depth with the addition of elite draft selection (and 2024-25 scoring leader) Sarah Fillier. Posting an 8-4-5-13 record, they once again finished at the bottom of the PWHL standings and would hold the first selection in the next PWHL draft. The low point was their nine-game losing streak that endured from the last day of January to the twelfth of March. In a bright spot, the Sirens led the league in shutouts with five, which equated to 17% of their games—an indicator that their coaching and defensive system does have the potential to be incredibly effective.

Looking to 2025-2026, the Sirens, along with the inaugural six, are reeling from losing top talent via the expansion draft. I would argue that no team lost more roster value in the expansion draft than New York. Corinne Schroeder, despite New York’s win/loss record in her tenure, has perennially posted a GSAA in the league’s top-3, only trailing Ann-Renée Desbien and Aerin Frankel in 2024-2025. Her incumbent replacement, Kayle Osborne, in GSAA. was the median point in the league in her rookie year (min 10 appearances) posting a -0.08. In their forward group, Alex Carpenter and Jessie Eldridge are difficult losses to endure. Eldridge recorded a career-high 2.60 P/60, which was 7^th best in the entire league this past season for scoring efficiency. Carpenter posted a 2.32 P/60 which, while down from 2023-2024, still puts her in the league’s 86^th percentile for scoring efficiency. Their final expansion draft departure was Gabby Rosenthal, whose minutes as a reliable middle-six player will be easier to replace than Eldridge or Carpenter, but is still an area that the Sirens will need to improve in for the upcoming season.

In free agency, the Sirens also endured the key departures of Chloé Aurard, Élizabeth Giguère, and Jade Downie-Landry. All three players were approximately 50^th percentile contributors offensively in 2024-2025, but their P/60s of 1.21, 0.85, and 1.10 will need to be replaced, as well as their strong defensive performances.

The Sirens were quiet in the free agency, only able to make one splash via the signing of Jincy Roese. I am a bigger admirer of Roese than most, having highlighted her surge in scoring in 2024-205 that saw her finish 5^th in P/60 (1.43). This signing, along with a lot of gusto, led Pascal Daoust to make his biggest roster maneuvers at the draft. He shocked the entire PWHL ecosystem when he traded Ella Shelton to the Toronto Sirens for the 3^rd and 27^th selections in the draft. I doubt this deal would have happened without the Roese signing to theoretically replace Shelton’s 1.62 P/60. Daoust’s other gamble saw him deal Abby Roque to Montréal for Kristin O’Neill and the 28^th pick in the draft. I’m admittedly not sure what the goal of this trade was for New York, as Roques’s 1.55 P/60 is substantially higher than O’Neill’s 0.64, and Roque’s physical and defensive presence is the primary selling point in her game as one of the league’s better second-line options.

If you’ve been following along, all of New York’s decisions were leading to a big gamble in this year’s draft. Kristýna Kaltounková at 1^st overall was as good of a selection as any. A physical presence at Colgate and the second most effective scoring forward in this year’s class, Kaltounková should help fill the hole left by Carpenter and Eldridge. The only criticism of this pick was that Wisconsin’s Casey O’Brien was the most efficient scorer in this year’s class; however, that nitpick was wiped out after the Shelton trade, as New York added O’Brien at 3^rd overall. Adding the two top forwards in this draft was a critical move for the Sirens. It is documented that the top of the 2026 class will be stronger than this class was, but adding two top end forwards was a tremendous play for the Sirens to try to qualify for the playoffs this season.

Past the first round, the Sirens continued to draft well off our draft board. At ninth overall, they selected Clarkson’s Anne Cherkowski, who we had at 8^th on our draft board following a strong 1.13 ppg in her draft eligible season at Clarkson. In what we considered to be the bast value selection in the draft, the Sirens secured Makenna Webster (Ohio State) at 17. We had her at 5^th on our board following a tremendous 1.17 ppg while playing against a strong intraconference schedule this season. Recording an efficiency only 0.07 lower than former teammate, Hannah Bilka, during her last season of NCAA, it was very surprising to see her slide to the third round of the draft. At 25, they took St. Cloud State defender Dayle Ross, who should be able to add value in a bottom four role from the start of the season. 27^th selection Maddi Wheeler should fill a hole in their bottom six as a strong two way forward from her time at Wisconsin and Ohio State. The last skater selected was Anna Bargman from Yale, who will also bring leadership and strong defensive instincts. In the fourth and sixth rounds the Sirens added goalies Callie Shanahan and Kaley Doyle. I’m not sure about the order of the selections as Doyle’s play on bad Brown teams from 2021 to 2024 was unbelievable, and her 2025 campaign with Quinnipiac saw her post a 0.945 save percentage, the second highest of starters in the nation, behind only Carly Greene. Shanahan posted a respectable 0.924 at Boston University but was not one of the top goalies in Hockey East, trailing Tia Chan, Abby Hornung, Lisa Jönsson, Grace Campbell, and Sedona Blair in save percentage against similar shot volumes.

Overall, the Sirens’ fate for the 2025-2026 could go in any number of different directions. The biggest question marks are in how their expansion draft replacement strategy works out. A strong year from Kaltounková and O’Brien could give them a major boost against the similarly depleted rosters of the inaugural six, but whether Osborne, Shanahan, and Doyle can replace Schroeder’s consistent greatness will be the biggest determining factor to their success this season. Daoust made some big gambles, and they could pay off. I genuinely hope they all work out because the Siren’s faithful deserve a great season.