Lou Orlando
For the second straight offseason, the New York Sirens have the unenviable task of selecting three players to protect in expansion.
The PWHL revamped the process in 2026 ahead of an unprecedented four-team expansion, abandoning the traditional expansion draft format in favor of a complex six-phase process with numerous signing windows. While existing teams will ultimately be able to protect a total of six players by Phase 3, the first step bears a striking resemblance to the 2025 protection format.
Teams may protect three players in Phase 1, which began Monday with a preliminary negotiation period. Any player left unprotected — regardless of contract status — can sign with an expansion team in Phase 2, provided they are on that club’s 20-player exclusive negotiation list. Each existing team must submit its initial three-player protection list by 5 p.m. EST on Wednesday.
It’s a lot to digest, and it places considerable pressure on a Sirens organization that desperately wishes to keep its young core intact after a bold roster overhaul in the 2025 offseason.
Still, New York seemingly faces an easier decision than it did just one year ago. Last offseason saw Alex Carpenter and Corinne Schroede ink deals with the Seattle Torrent during the exclusive signing window after general manager Pascal Daoust elected to protect Sarah Fillier, Ella Shelton, and captain Micah Zandee-Hart with his first three slots. Jessie Eldridge was later nabbed in the expansion draft after Daoust used his fourth and final slot on then-rookie defender Maja Nylen Persson.
The Sirens once again have some pieces worth building around, but Fillier, KristĂ˝na Kaltounková, and Casey O’Brien are in a tier of their own and should be handled accordingly. Anything else would mean sacrificing a true game-breaking offensive talent in a League where scoring comes at a premium.
Here’s why New York can’t afford to do that.
Sarah Fillier
The Sirens protected Fillier from expansion in 2025, and there’s no reason to think they’ll veer off that path in 2026.
You can count the number of PWHL forwards better than Fillier on one hand. In fact, you might only need one finger.
With 52 points in 59 career games, Fillier’s .881 point-per-game pace ranks second all-time, trailing only future Hall of Famer Marie-Philip Poulin (.957). She tied Hilary Knight for the League lead in scoring as a rookie in 2024-25, and became the second-fastest player to reach 50 career points in 2025-26, again behind Poulin.
The 2024 No. 1 overall pick navigated a 14-game goal drought this season and still finished fifth in the League with 23 points (nine goals, 14 assists). Her scoring touch kicked in after the Olympic break, as the 25-year-old nearly dragged New York into the playoffs singlehandedly. The Sirens ultimately finished eight points shy of a postseason berth. Then again, they wouldn’t have been in the race to begin with if not for her late-game heroics over the final month.
The only real wrinkle is her current contract situation. Fillier signed a two-year extension last July, putting her on track to become an unrestricted free agent in 2026-27. If the Sirens don’t believe they can retain her beyond next season, would they consider protecting a player with more long-term control — especially after embracing a rebuild last summer?
The answer is almost certainly no. Daoust invested heavily in Fillier last July, making her the second-highest-paid player in the PWHL in 2025-26 with a cap hit of $125,000. The organization clearly values her, and given New York’s lackluster track record in free agency, letting a player of Fillier’s ilk slip away would be a difficult gamble to justify.
The term “generational” is thrown around too hastily in sports media, but make no mistake: it applies here. Fillier is the type of talent that every franchise dreams of building around, though few ever get the opportunity. The Sirens should not hesitate to protect her.
Kristýna Kaltounková
New York again landed the No. 1 overall pick in 2025, selecting Kaltounková from an impressive crop of prospects. It didn’t take long to see why.
Kaltounková entered the Olympic break as the PWHL’s leading goal scorer, notching 11 goals in 16 games. A knee injury suffered in Milan-Cortina hindered her performance in the second half and ultimately sidelined her for the final nine games of the season, but the Sirens have surely seen enough to protect her without a second thought.
The Colgate University alum is uniquely tailored to thrive in the PWHL. A stunning blend of speed, skill, and size, the 5-foot-10 forward was a physical force on both ends of the ice and came equipped with a rocket shot to boot. That physicality occasionally worked to her detriment, as the 24-year-old led all skaters in penalty minutes per game. But considering everything she brings to the table offensively, New York will happily stomach a bad penalty here and there.
Elite goal scorers aren’t easy to come by, particularly in a League where goaltending has such a prominent edge. That’s what makes Kaltounková’s rookie success so impressive.
The Czech native led all first-year players with 11 goals in just 21 games, finishing with the second-best goals-per-game rate (.524) in the League. Prior to her Olympic injury in February, Kaltounková was scoring at a historic rate, trailing only Natalie Spooner’s 2024 season (20 goals in 24 games).
The Sirens averaged 1.6 goals in the nine games that Kaltounková missed due to injury. That alone should convey how important she is to this lineup.
Casey O’Brien
It might seem unusual to protect three players from one position group, but O’Brien leaves New York with little alternative. The Sirens would be foolish to let a true top-line center walk out the door.
O’Brien was one of three players named a finalist for PWHL Rookie of the Year after leading all first-year players with 22 points (seven goals, 15 assists). An exceptional playmaker with elite vision, the 24-year-old also won faceoffs at a 53.6 percent clip and logged significant time on both the power play and penalty kill.
Coach Greg Fargo didn’t hesitate to use her extensively. O’Brien’s average time-on-ice (ATOI) of 20:37 ranked fourth on the team and second among Sirens forwards, behind Fillier. She earned every second, playing one point shy of a point-per-game pace over her final 22 contests.
The New York City native product boasts an incredibly polished game for a rookie, with potential to develop into one of the League’s premier two-way centers. Championship squads are typically built down the middle — and O’Brien knows a thing or two about that. She won three national titles as a centerpiece on some dominant University of Wisconsin teams, and possesses all the necessary tools to do the same in the PWHL.
O’Brien is a restricted free agent this offseason, meaning the Sirens will need to reach a deal with her during Phase 1 to protect her. That appears the most likely outcome, especially after Daoust and O’Brien expressed mutual interest in an extension at exit day interviews.
Sirens must risk losing Kayle Osborne to protect top forwards
Protecting three forwards leaves the Sirens susceptible to losing key players at other positions — namely, starting goalie Kayle Osborne — but that’s a risk worth taking to ensure that Fillier, Kaltounková, and O’Brien remain on the team next season.
Osborne started 27 of 30 games for New York in 2025-26, proving herself a capable PWHL starter in just her second pro season. If left unprotected, she’ll be a prime candidate to draw interest from expansion teams.
Ian Kennedy of The Hockey News reported that teams are prioritizing goaltending in expansion talks and specifically cited Osborne as a player receiving calls from other teams. The 24-year-old Olympian is under her rookie contract through 2026-27, making her an appealing target for expansion teams that can offer a starting role and a pay raise.
Osborne won’t be an easy piece to replace, particularly for a New York team that lacked reliable goalie depth in 2025-26. Still, it’s easier to find another starting goalie than it is to find a top-line forward with the skill and upside of Fillier, Kaltounková, or O’Brien.
The same goes for a power-play quarterback like Nylen Persson, who is sure to draw interest from expansion teams this offseason. The Sirens would hate to see her go, but she doesn’t move the needle over three forwards that Daoust drafted high in the first round.
New York will inevitably lose several impact players this offseason. That’s unavoidable in a four-team expansion process like this. But protecting Fillier, Kaltounková, and O’Brien is the clearest path to keeping its rebuild on track.
