Lou Orlando
With opening night of their 2025-26 season just four days away, the New York Sirens took care of some important off-ice business Tuesday, and now can focus solely on the on-ice product. The Sirens signed forward Casey O’Brien, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2025 PWHL Draft, to a one-year contract.
New York also inked rookie forwards Maddi Wheeler, Anna Bargman, and goalie Kaley Doyle on Tuesday, to get its roster set by the league-mandated 5 p.m. ET deadline on Wednesday.
They’ll be thrust into the limelight immediately. A busy offseason saw New York part ways with four of their top five goal scorers from last season, as well as No. 1 goaltender Corinne Schroeder, opting instead for a fresh start and younger core.
The Sirens made nine selections in the 2025 PWHL Entry Draft, and eight of those players are now under contract. The lone exception is third-round pick (No. 17 overall) Makenna Webster, who won’t play in the PWHL in 2025-26 as she pursues a chance to represent the United States in field hockey at the 2026 Summer Olympics.
Entering Tuesday, O’Brien was the highest-profile player that remained unsigned in the PWHL. The 2025 winner of the Patty Kazmaier Award as the top women’s player in college hockey, O’Brien led the nation with 88 points and won her third national title at the University of Wisconsin last season.
Though without a contract until Tuesday, O’Brien took part in training camp and led all Sirens rookies with three points in two preseason games. She recorded three assists on Friday against the Minnesota Frost, centering a line with the reigning PWHL rookie of the year Sarah Filler and fellow first-year forward Anne Cherkowski.
“Casey brings elite hockey IQ – a sixth sense to create, connect plays, and make everyone around her more dangerous,” Sirens general manager Pascal Daoust stated. “A multiple individual award winner, championship team player, and former captain, Casey has a true champion’s DNA and the talent to become one of the top American forwards in the league.”
Alongside No. 1 overall pick Kristyna Kaltounkova, O’Brien heads a talented rookie class that’s looking to make an immediate impact with the Sirens.
“It’s a bit of a different game, but we all got drafted for a reason,” O’Brien said last week. “We’re just focused on playing our hockey and winning some games.”
Wheeler, a fourth-round pick (No. 27 overall), split her five-year collegiate career between Wisconsin and Ohio State University, winning a pair of national titles with the Badgers. She scored a redirect goal on Thursday against Minnesota, her only point of the preseason.
The Sirens took Bargman in the fifth round (No. 33 overall) after four seasons at Yale University, where the Massachusetts native logged 53 goals and 100 points. She did not record a point in two preseason games, sporting a plus-two rating.
Doyle (No. 41 overall) was New York’s final pick of the 2025 draft after a stellar senior season at Quinnipiac University, when she posted a 15-10-3 record with a miniscule 1.29 goals-against average and .945 save percentage. She got the starting nod in goal Thursday and will be one of two rookie goalies backing up second-year netminder Kayle Osborne this season.
Sirens taking ‘big step towards excellence,’ GM says
Kayle Osborne — Photo courtesy PWHL
It was a busy day for the Sirens, who announced one-year extensions for Osborne and alternate captain Jaime Bourbonnais earlier Tuesday morning. Osborne is signed through 2027-28; Bourbonnais, in her third season with the Sirens, is signed though 2026-27.
“For us, it’s not only a big step towards excellence, toward our standard, but also a way to show the fans, show the League, that New York is the place where we want to be and we want to build and want to shine,” Daoust explained. “And that was also in line with signing our draft picks.”
More roster decisions are on the way, as New York must finalize their 23-player active roster by Wednesday at 5 p.m. EST.
The Sirens released camp invites Alexis Paddington and Kira Juodikis, paring the training camp roster down to 25 players.
The remaining camp invites — defenders Olivia Knowles and Nicole Vallario — are the most likely candidates to be released after New York announced the latest wave of rookie contracts. However, the Sirens could retain one of Knowles or Vallario if they place fourth-round pick (No. 25 overall) Dayle Ross on injured reserve to begin the season.
Ross played through a torn ACL during her 2024-25 senior season with St. Cloud State University, getting surgery in the offseason. Although the 22-year-old has been skating in a non-contact jersey at practice, Daoust confirmed that she will not be available for New York’s regular-season opener Saturday in Ottawa against the Charge.
“She’s going to miss a couple of games at the beginning,” Daoust explained. “She’s not preparing herself for a single season. She’s preparing herself for a great career. We’re going to let her have the rest after the medical clear first, and then we’ll take care of business later.”
