Team Canada star forward Sarah Fillier has signed a one-year contract with the New York Sirens, the team announced on Friday.
The news marks an end to a months-long negotiation between Fillier’s camp and the organization since she was selected with the No. 1 pick at the 2024 PWHL Draft in June.
It is official.
Sarah Fillier is going ✨to NY ✨ pic.twitter.com/cDBBMuKM7W
— PWHL (@thepwhlofficial) November 1, 2024
Fillier will now head to New York’s training camp — which opens Nov. 12 — with a contract. The length of the deal, though, is unusual for a player of her caliber.
The 24-year-old has widely been viewed as a generational talent and the best of the incoming class of talent to the PWHL ahead of the 2024-25 season. Fillier is a talented and highly intelligent center with high-end offensive tools, capable of leading a turnaround of a New York franchise that disappointed in its inaugural season.
She has already helped Team Canada win three world championships — and was named MVP at the 2023 tournament — and an Olympic gold medal.
Players of Fillier’s ilk exclusively signed three-year contracts — the maximum term allowed under the CBA — last season. Most top players from the first round of this year’s draft also signed long-term contracts — save for Minnesota’s Claire Thompson, who is expected to return to medical school after the 2026 Olympics, and Toronto’s Julia Gosling.
So why the short-term deal for Fillier?
According to a person briefed on the negotiations, Fillier wanted a two-year deal, rather than the three years preferred by the team. Fillier declined multiple three-year contracts from New York, including an initial deal offered to her before she was selected, the source said.
Fillier, according to the source, wanted flexibility if the PWHL were to expand in the next few years — which is looking more likely than ever — and time to decide if New York is the right long-term fit.
The team, of course, wanted a star player locked in as long as possible.
Neither side was willing to budge, so they met in the middle with a one-year term.
This deal doesn’t mean Fillier will be a free agent at the end of the season. The league confirmed to The Athletic in October 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.
It sets up another set of negotiations next offseason, which could lead to a variety of outcomes like Fillier signing another one-year contract — and potentially walking in free agency in 2025-26 — or ultimately signing long-term in New York.
(Photo: Daniel DeLoach / Utica Observer-Dispatch / USA Today)
