The PWHL offseason has been highlighted by new team names and logos and more than a dozen signings from the 2024 draft class. But perhaps the most anticipated player remains unsigned.
Sarah Fillier, 24, is widely considered to be the best player in the class of 2024 and was the No. 1 prospect in The Athletic’s PWHL Draft ranking. She has already helped Team Canada win three world championships — and was named MVP at the 2023 tournament — and an Olympic gold medal.
Still, Fillier has yet to sign with the New York Sirens team that drafted her first overall in the June 2024 PWHL Draft. She is the only first-round pick — and one of three players selected in the first three rounds — to remain unsigned ahead of training camps, which begin Nov. 12.
The proposed length of the contract has been the major stumbling block in negotiations between the two sides. According to a person briefed on the negotiations, Fillier wants to sign with New York, but she wants a two-year deal, rather than the three years preferred by the team. Fillier has declined multiple three-year contracts from New York, including an initial deal offered to her before she was selected, the source said.
New York GM Pascal Daoust confirmed that negotiations were ongoing but wanted the details to remain confidential. “We’re confident that we will come to an agreement,” he told The Athletic.
The PWHL does not currently mandate the kind of entry-level contracts that we typically see rookies sign in the NHL, which means Fillier is not required to sign her first deal with New York for a specific term. Most top players in 2023 signed three-year contracts via the draft and free agency for a minimum of $80,000 — multiple players are making at least $100,000 on those deals. That kind of money does not exist for top picks in 2024 — most teams’ salary caps are tied up with those top six foundational signings — with most first-rounders expected to make closer to $50,000 in 2024-25. Exact salary terms of PWHL player contracts are not disclosed, per the players association.
Becoming a free agent in two years would allow Fillier to maximize her earning potential after significant money frees up across the league with those three-year deals set to expire after the 2025-26 season. By then, Fillier could have another Olympic gold medal on her resume and might be one of the very best players in the world — if she’s not already there.
A two-year deal would also provide flexibility if the PWHL were to expand by 2026-27, and give Fillier time to see if New York is the right long-term fit.
The Sirens had a disappointing inaugural season with a league-worst record, which landed them the right to draft Fillier with the No. 1 pick. While most teams were setting various attendance records, New York moved between three game rinks in three different states — UBS Arena in New York; Total Mortgage Arena in Connecticut; and Prudential Center in New Jersey — and struggled to draw fans, save for two games at Prudential, which will be the Sirens’ new home in 2024-25. New York’s head coach, Howie Draper, parted ways with the team at the end of the season, and as the losses piled up, the dynamic within the team began to fracture.
According to a story in The New York Times, during a losing streak, Daoust addressed the team following a practice, saying that “while the players were all great friends and good people, they were not always being great teammates.”
For New York, the goal would be to sign Fillier for as long as possible. She’s a game-breaking talent who profiles as a top-of-the-lineup PWHL player capable of making an immediate impact on a franchise that struggled to score goals and win hockey games last season. It’s also been common practice for first-round picks to sign for three years. Three of the five first-rounders signed from the 2024 draft — Danielle Serdachny, Cayla Barnes and Hannah Bilka — are locked in for three years. Claire Thompson — the Minnesota draft pick who plans to return to medical school in two years — and Julia Gosling (Toronto) have both signed for two years.
The 2024-25 season isn’t expected to begin until the end of November at the earliest — with the final roster deadline set for Nov. 27 — so there is still time for both sides to get a deal done. If the parties cannot agree on a two- or three-year contract, perhaps they can settle on a one-year deal in the interim.
A one-year deal wouldn’t mean Fillier is a free agent at the end of the season. The league confirmed to The Athletic that a newly implemented rule gives teams ownership of their draft picks’ rights for at least two years, which would stop players from hitting the open market after only one season. This was the case with Ottawa’s sixth-round pick in 2023, Daryl Watts, who signed in Toronto this offseason. New York, per those rules, will own Fillier’s rights for two seasons.
(Photo: Dennis Pajot / Getty Images)
