For the first time since the PWHL Draft, free agency, and a pair of major trades that reshaped the New York Sirens roster, the team took to the ice as a full team on Tuesday. 

"It felt good to get everyone back and be at a full roster," head coach Greg Fargo told The Hockey News. "It was a pretty good pace out there for day one. So we're pretty excited about it."

Fargo said that enthusiasm was shared by veterans as they left the ice following a team scrimmage. For those returning to the Sirens this season after the team finished last overall in both of the PWHL's two seasons, something felt different on day one of came.

"What stands out to me and to a lot of people, is just the energy; the energy, the excitement, the pace," said Fargo. "So far, it looks to be a group that has a lot of speed, it's pretty tenacious. There's a good mix of physicality and skill, which is really cool."

Along with 2024 first overall pick Sarah Fillier, the Sirens now have 2025 first overall pick Kristyna Kaltounkova, and other top picks on board. It was a notable offseason for the Sirens who watched a chunk of their veteran core leave via expansion, and then sent Abby Roque and Ella Shelton north of the border in trades that returned Kristin O'Neill and draft picks that turned into Casey O'Brien, Maddi Wheeler, and Callie Shanahan.

While New York's youth will be front and center this season, Fargo is counting on veterans including captain Micah Zandee-Hart to help show the group the way. Fargo is aware there will be bumps along the way, but believes this season, more than ever before, the Sirens have the right mix.

"It's going to be an ongoing learning process for a lot of our younger players," said Fargo. "Obviously, they've never played at this level before. But the great thing is, in my eyes, and kind of in our eyes here, is that you've got Micah Zandee-Hart as our captain, and some other great leaders in the room as well that I think have a real opportunity now to continue to build upon a standard of how to do things and how we want to go about our business day in and day out."

Fargo pointed to Zandee-Hart, Jaime Bourbonnais, Sarah Fillier, and others who will help guide the Sirens through their early transition.

"Although a lot of them are young and inexperienced, I don't think that learning curve is going to be too deep, because they've got some great role models," he said.

Sirens Prepared To Sing The Same Song

The New York Sirens showed glimpses of brilliance in their first two seasons, including Fillier's Rookie of the Year performance last year. The Sirens however, were unable to perform consistently, nor was their roster able to get on the same page, or as the organization has said, singing the same song.

"Looking back at last year, obviously there's turnover, so there's a lot of personnel changes, but I think one thing that we started to do last year was build an identity, being a possession team, being a team that is aggressive and tenacious, but we didn't see that every day, on a consistent basis," said Fargo.

"I think now, after going through the offseason, going through the draft, I think you can look up and down our lineup and really feel and see that we've got a group now that will play to this collective identity as a team. I think we had a lot of those pieces, but now you have even more. And so now when everybody's singing the same song, it's going to sound a lot better than than having three different songs being being sung at the same time."

New York's roster had turmoil in their first season which resulted in the team parting ways with inaugural head coach Howie Draper. While many of the offseason moves the team underwent following year two were hard for fans to swallow, from the organization's perspective, they were necessary to get the Sirens moving in not only the right direction, but the same direction.

"The most exciting part is when we talk about our identity and who we want to be and how we're going to do it, it feels like there's alignment up and down the lineup, and we're just putting players in positions where they can be themselves and and play the game that that they are meant to play."

With the offseason work complete, the real task for Fargo and his staff, is to turn the skill and excitement they see in training camp, into regular season results. While the Sirens enter the year with realistic expectations, the team for the first time feels as though they're heading in the right direction, and one that will ultimately translate in a more exciting product on the ice, better results in the standings, and a clear identity Sirens fans will appreciate.

New York will open their 2025-26 PWHL season on November 22 on the road in Ottawa. They'll play their home opener a week later on November 29 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey against offseason favorites the Vancouver Goldeneyes.