Sirens optimistic heading into offseason, even with uncertain expansion
While the rising popularity and growth of the PWHL has been exciting to see, the same conversation is being had out east after the New York Sirens failed to qualify for the Walter Cup Playoffs.
There was expectation heading into the 2025-26 campaign that the Sirens, who have finished last in each of the first two seasons in the league, would finally get over the hump and get to the postseason. Things started off well, as New York was in the top four throughout much of the first half of the year. However, similar to what has happened in the previous two seasons, the team tailed off in the second half. A five-game losing streak around the Olympic break pushed the team outside of the playoff picture.
Head coach Greg Fargo stated that there wasn’t a deja vu feeling once the Sirens went on their second-half slide, noting that the team just ended up on the wrong end of some close games.
“We’re sitting here in a similar place that we were a year ago, and no one’s happy with that,” Fargo said during a media availability on Thursday. “But, to be honest with you, the way that the season went…frankly, it didn’t feel anything like the year prior. I think what was clear is that we had a group that was all aiming in the same direction. We all wanted to be in the playoffs. … We felt like we were in a playoff push right until the very end, heading into the final minutes of regulation against Toronto…we felt like we deserved to win that game. Unfortunately, we came up a little bit short.”
While the Sirens had an early end to their season once again, there’s a more positive vibe around the team. Captain Micah Zandee-Hart, one of the few players who have been with New York since Year 1, liked how the team battled right to the end, only being eliminated from playoff contention in the final week of the season.
“In previous years,” Zandee-Hart explained. “There was a lot of talk about our team being really good on paper, and not being able to figure it out. This year, there was a lot of different rhetoric around our team, being a younger team from the start. … When we went through those low points in the season, we had a lot of belief in what we were doing. Despite the results of losing…our team was still growing.”
General manager Pascal Daoust mentioned that during exit meetings, many players with expiring contracts are very interested in running it back next year. He also noted that the team has enough of a repore to attract potential free agents this summer.
“I wish that you guys could all be fly on the wall listening to the exit meetings that Greg and I have been able to do with our players and with the staff,” Daoust said. “None of them mentioned anything else other than that they want to be here. They want to be in the market. They were all saying that they really, really enjoy their time with us. They feel that there’s everything in place for them to grow, to be better. They love the people that are here. They love the way that we’re doing things. … There’s a lot now that people can say about us to convince players to join the New York Sirens.”
While New York has a league-high 11 contracts signed through next season, they have 11 players who are set to become unrestricted free agents, including Kristin O’Neill, who the team acquired at last year’s draft, and Denisa Krizova, a pickup from the trade deadline.
Like every team in the PWHL, the Sirens dealt with injuries throughout the year. However, the team lost two key pieces in forward Taylor Girard and rookie Kristyna Kaltounkova in March, knocking them out for the rest of the season.
Fargo noted that losing both players left holes in the lineup at a crucial part of their season.
“The combination of both of them going down in and around the same time provided some unique challenges,” Fargo said. “They were accounting for a large number of our goals at that point. They were both great skaters. They were heavy on the forecheck. They could play on the interior of the ice and that’s where you’ve got to score from in this league. So, anytime you lose players of their caliber at a time of the year where games tighten up…we missed their presence without question.”
Dasout revealed that, had the Sirens made it to the postseason, Kaltounkova would’ve been back in the lineup. He didn’t give a timeline for Girard, who is a pending UFA, but she is progressing toward being ready for camp in the fall.
New York will once again look to retool for the franchise’s fourth season, but there remains plenty of uncertainty surrounding the league’s expansion plans. Daoust said that details are still being worked out by the PWHL’s brass, but it only hinders his team’s ability to prep for the offseason.
“Tough on the market, tough on the players not knowing exactly what’s coming tomorrow,” Daoust said. “It’s part of the day-to-day that we go through. For me, it’s about like, ‘The wind is coming, let’s make sure it won’t mess up my hair too much.’ So, we’re going to push in the right direction that we’re aiming at, but it is a challenge. It is different. It’s not the easiest way to build. I will say, once we cross that next bridge, hopefully, we’ll have a bit of stability in the foundation.”
Zandee-Hart, a player representative for the PWHL Players’ Association, noted that the current expansion process has been “stressful.”
“We experienced a similar situation last year,” Zandee-Hart explained. “That kind of helps a little bit…as a whole [the PWHLPA] we’re focused on the playoffs starting for the league, and trying to let those players and those teams focus on the task at hand…[As players], we’re trying to stay in the moment and control what we can control.”
The Sirens ended up seventh in the PWHL with 36 points, eight points back of the last playoff spot. Thanks to finishing last in the Gold Plan, they are projected to pick third in the PWHL Draft.