The 2026 Winter Olympics are now over, but that doesn’t mark the end of women’s hockey for the 2025-26 season. The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) is currently halfway through its third season as an established league. There is still plenty of time to start watching and supporting the latest women’s hockey league.
Unsure which team to follow? That’s the whole purpose of this series: to help you get a better understanding of each team so you know who to support once games start up again this week. First up: the New York Sirens.
Six Sirens Players Participated in the Olympics
Canada
Of the 25 players on the Sirens roster, six of them represented their home countries at the Olympics. Three of them represented Canada.
Sarah Fillier got the chance to represent her home country for the second time at the 2026 Olympic Games. She recorded six points via three goals and three assists. Fillier recorded the second-highest point total in the tournament, just under Toronto Sceptres’ Daryl Watts.
Aside from her success at the Olympic level, Fillier currently has 10 points in 15 games with the Sirens. She was the first overall draft pick in the 2024 PWHL Draft and recorded 29 points in 30 games in her first season. She has been a solid member of the Sirens’ top six, often centering their first line. The season is halfway over, but Fillier is just getting started.
Kristin O’Neill also earned the chance to represent Canada, but this was her first time doing so. She played in seven games and recorded five points, tying with Seattle Torrent’s Julia Gosling for third place in points for the tournament. In the gold medal game, she scored Canada’s only goal shorthanded. Although she typically played center on the fourth line, O’Neill proved that it doesn’t matter what line you are playing on; you can find a way to score.
So far with the Sirens, O’Neill has recorded five points in 15 games. She typically plays in the top six with New York, centering the second line. This is her first season with the team, but she has been finding her footing slowly but surely.
Another first-time Olympian, Kayle Osborne, earned the chance to represent her country at the Olympics. Although she was named to the team, she didn’t see any ice time as Canada relied on Ann-Renee Desbiens and Emerance Maschmeyer to tend the net.
Related: 3 Takeaways From the Sirens’ 4-3 Shootout Loss to the Fleet
For the Sirens, this is not the case. Osborne has played in 15 of New York’s 16 games. She has earned a record of 7-6-1-1 and has three shutouts this season so far. This is the first season she has had to be the Sirens’ starting goaltender, and she has stepped up to the challenge.
Czechia
While the 2024 first-overall pick, Fillier, represented Canada, the 2025 first-overall pick represented her home country as well. Kristyna Kaltounkova played in her first Olympic Games and represented Czechia. She is the first European selected first overall in the PWHL Draft, and she is proud of her Czech heritage. In five Olympic Games, she recorded two points via one goal and one assist. Czechia made it to the quarterfinals, but they were shut out by Sweden and didn’t advance further in the tournament.
In the PWHL, Kaltounkova is having a breakout season. She currently has 12 points via 11 goals and one assist in 16 games. She not only leads the Sirens, but the entire league in goals thus far. It is just her first season in the PWHL, but she is proving why she was selected first overall.
Sweden
Maja Nylen Persson was named to the Swedish Olympic team for the third time in her hockey career. She played in seven games and recorded three assists. She became an excellent two-way defender for her team, finding scoring chances but also making defensive plays. Sweden participated in the bronze medal game but ultimately fell to Switzerland in overtime.
With the Sirens, Nylen Persson has played in 16 games and has recorded four points. She plays on the first defensive pairing, alongside Micah Zandee-Hart. Throughout the season, her defensive play has kept the Sirens in games on more than one occasion. Let’s hope she can continue this now that she is returning from the Olympics.
Switzerland
Nicole Vallario was named to Switzerland’s Olympic team for the second time in her hockey career. She played all seven games but didn’t record a point. The defender did what she does best: focus on defensive plays. She helped her team earn its first medal in 12 years.
Vallario has only played two games with the Sirens thus far, but she made a huge impact when she scored in her first game against the Vancouver Goldeneyes. She has not played since Dec. 3, but when she does step onto the ice, her impact with the team is felt.
The Rest of the Sirens Team
The 2025-26 Sirens team is an interesting mix of veterans and rookies. During the 2025 PWHL Draft, the Sirens traded Ella Shelton and Abby Roque in order to acquire more picks in the draft. Their roster is stacked with rookies, yet they also kept a core veteran group in the mix.
Veteran Presence
During the 2025 PWHL Expansion Draft, the original six teams were allowed to select three players to protect, so Vancouver and Seattle would not have access to them. One of the three players the Sirens chose was their captain, Micah Zandee-Hart. The defender has been their captain since the 2024 season, which demonstrates the kind of person and player she is.
So far this season, she has three assists in 16 games. She is a strong defender, playing on the first pairing, as mentioned above. New York chose to keep Zandee-Hart for a reason: to protect their culture, and so far, it seems like they have made the right choice.
Ahead of the 2025-26 season, Jaime Bourbonnais was named an alternate captain. Another defender who has been with the team since their first PWHL season, Bourbonnais currently has five points in 14 games and is helping to establish a strong culture within the Sirens. Fillier was named as one of the alternate captains this season as well.
Taylor Girard has been a great asset to the forwards this season. She opened the season with a hat trick against the Ottawa Charge on Nov. 22, adding insult to injury when New York shut Ottawa out on home ice. In addition to her hat trick, she has recorded three more points this season. She made a huge impression in the first game, and although her scoring has since slowed down, she has been great in her third PWHL season.
Girard was assessed a four-game suspension after she came off the bench to partake in an on-ice altercation, following the Sirens’ game in Washington, D.C., against the Montréal Victoire. This was later knocked down to a three-game suspension, and she will return on Thursday, Feb. 26.
A newcomer to the Sirens this season, Jincy Roese played with Ottawa for her first two seasons in the PWHL. She was a free agent after the 2024-25 season and signed a one-year contract with the Sirens. The defender has recorded six assists in 16 games. Roese’s veteran presence has been a great addition to the blue line this season, alongside Zandee-Hart and Bourbonnais.
Rookies Are Shining
Although the Sirens elected to protect Ella Shelton during the PWHL Expansion Draft, during the 2025 Entry Draft, they traded her to the Toronto Sceptres in exchange for their third overall pick. With the pick, they selected Casey O’Brien. She had a slow start to the season, recording two assists in her first seven games. At the Dallas Takeover Tour game on Nov. 28, O’Brien scored her first goal and didn’t stop there, scoring her first hat trick as well. In her last seven games, she has scored one goal and recorded five assists. She might have had a slow start, but O’Brien is certainly picking up the pace now.
In addition to the third overall pick, New York also acquired Toronto’s fourth-round pick and selected forward Maddi Wheeler. She had a strong start to the season, recording an assist on each of Girard’s three goals in her first game with the Sirens. On top of that, she has a total of eight points in 16 games. She has had excellent chemistry with Girard, but also a solid addition to the Sirens’ bottom six with Girard out of the lineup. She has found her footing in her first PWHL season.
Anne Cherkowski was another forward the Sirens selected in the 2025 PWHL Draft, selecting her in the second round. In her 14 games thus far this season, she has recorded six points via two goals and four assists. As the Sirens get ready to return to the ice, Cherkowski is currently on a two-game goal streak. Let’s see if she can extend it on Thursday.
Selected in the fifth round of the 2025 PWHL Draft, Anna Bargman came into the league with pressure on her shoulders. She was the captain of Yale University’s team in her senior year and became one of just six players to record 100 points during her time at the college. Bargman had a slow start, recording her first assist on Dec. 31, but just one game later, she scored her first goal. She also recorded an assist on Jan. 25, bringing her point total to three so far this season. Bargman is getting ready for the second half of her first season in the PWHL, and so far, she has been bringing the star power.
During the 2025 PWHL Draft, the Sirens shocked everyone when they traded Abby Roque to the Montréal Victoire in exchange for Kristin O’Neill and their fourth-round pick. With the pick, the Sirens selected goaltender Callie Shanahan. As mentioned above, Osborne has been the iron stead for the Sirens this season, but the rookie goaltender finally got her first game in net on Jan. 20. She earned a save percentage (SV%) of .810 and made 17 saves on 21 shots. For her first game in the PWHL, that’s pretty good. Hopefully, she’ll get some more chances during the remaining half of the season to prove her abilities in net.
Dayle Ross was the lone defender the Sirens picked up in the PWHL Draft. She suffered an injury in her final semester of college and was kept out of the lineup for the start of the 2025-26 PWHL season. She made her debut on home ice on Jan. 6 and played the next five games. To begin, she averaged five minutes per game. In her last two games, she has picked up more minutes, playing 11 minutes and eight minutes, respectively. She has already been stellar on the blue line, and as she has had another month to recover from her injury, it’ll be exciting to see what she can do as she picks up more ice time.
Sirens’ Current Standings
As the team gets ready to head back to the ice, the Sirens are in fourth place overall. They are sitting in the middle of the pack and are currently in a playoff spot. Considering the Sirens were in last place in their first two seasons, this is a pretty good spot for them to be in.
The Sirens have a great mix of rookie players and veteran talent making up their roster. They have a solid foundation for their team, and have the potential to make the postseason for the first time, which would make them the last of the original six teams to play in the playoffs. At the same time, the race is very tight, and anything could change at a moment’s notice within this league, which makes it all the more exciting.
Sirens Back in Action on Thursday
The Sirens will be one of the first two teams back on the ice, as they get ready to host the Victoire on Thursday, Feb. 26. This marks the first game back from the Olympic break.
