PWHL Detroit signs Sydney Bard to two-year contract
A young blueliner is heading to Hockeytown.
On Wednesday, PWHL Detroit announced that the team has signed defender Sydney Bard to a two-year contract, which will carry through the 2027-28 season.
Bard is Detroit’s first signing of Phase 3 of the PWHL Expansion Roster Distribution Process, and the sixth overall signing in franchise history. She joins Daryl Watts, Britta Curl-Salemme, Jesse Compher, Hannah Bilka and Cayla Barnes.
Bard is the first player from the Vancouver Goldeneyes to be signed in the expansion process. She wasn’t one of the three players general manager Cara Gardner Morey protected in the first phase, as Emerance Maschmeyer, Sarah Nurse and Sophie Jaques. It’s also the second year Bard has joined an expansion team, as she was taken by the Goldeneyes with the 13th pick of the 2025 expansion draft.
It’s been a learning curve for the former Colgate Raider in her first two years in the league. She has been put in some tough situations and has had various levels of success. On a rather disappointing Goldeneyes team, Bard posted just two assists in 30 games, finishing the 2025-26 season with a plus/minus of -7 while averaging 13:50 of ice time. In 57 career games in the PWHL, the New Hartford, N.Y. native has one goal and four assists for five points, with a -12 rating.
Getting the chance to play on a new team with a very talented core, that’s only going to get stronger in the coming days, could be what Bard needs to find her groove in the pro ranks.
Bard was originally taken by the Boston Fleet in the fourth round, 22nd overall, of the 2024 PWHL Draft.
Detroit can sign two more players during this phase. Phase 3 of the expansion process continues through 3 p.m. ET on June 12.