Could Ottawa Charge trade up in PWHL draft that GM expects to get 'six terrific players'?

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If the Ottawa Charge had first pick in Tuesday’s Professional Women’s Hockey League draft, the decision would probably come down to University of Wisconsin centre Casey O’Brien and Clarkson University defender Haley Winn.

With the New York Sirens choosing first, does coach Greg Fargo urge them to take Kristyna Kaltounkova, who played four seasons for him at Colgate?

Since consensus No. 1 pick Abbey Murphy opted out to put off a pro career to finish her collegiate playing days at the University of Minnesota, O’Brien, Winn and Kaltounkova could very well be the first names called when the league holds its third draft at Ottawa’s Hard Rock Live inside the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

And it’s also quite likely Charge GM Mike Hirshfeld, the PWHL’s most active trader, has inquired about moving up from fifth in the draft order to fill a glaring hole by taking O’Brien, who scored an NCAA-leading 88 points in 41 games last season to win the Patty Kazmaier Award as the top female player in the United States, or Winn, the best defender in the class of ’25 who could answer Ottawa’s need on a depleted blue line and, with 14 goals and 46 points in 38 games for the Golden Knights in 2024-25, for a power play quarterback.

As it stands, Hirshfeld will have to broaden his scope at No. 5.

“We’re looking at all options,” he told reporters attending a media availability Monday at TD Place. “To be honest, we have a lot of spots to fill just because expansion really thinned us out. So I think we’re looking at defenders and forwards. I can tell you we’re not looking at a goalie.”

Star puck-stopper Gwyneth Philips might be relieved to be reminded that the blue line has been a priority for the Charge on draft day.

In 2023, Ottawa’s first three picks were defenders, and, last season, Hirshfeld focused on the position with three of seven picks.

After losing four defenders in the off-season — Ashton Bell and Aneta Tejralova through the expansion draft and Zoe Boyd and Jincy Roese to free agency — the Charge signed two in the last few days: Norway’s Emma Bergesen and Brooke Hobson, who spent the past two seasons with the Sirens.

“Emma was someone we looked at in last year’s draft,” said Hirshfeld. “We felt like she had a little more maturity in her game, and I think (last) year in Sweden, playing consistent minutes and the top line pairing was really good for her. When we look at this year’s draft, I don’t think it’s quite as deep as last year’s, and we have a third-round value on Emma for this year’s draft, so the opportunity to sign her ahead of time really gives us another extra third-round pick.

“Brooke is a seasoned veteran defender who’s tough. She exemplifies the type of hockey that we want to play.”

Among the defenders the Charge will consider with the fifth pick are offensive-minded Nicole Gosling, who was Winn’s D-partner at Clarkson, and Rory Guilday, a 5-foot-11 defensive stalwart who was the captain at Cornell.

“Elite defenders are hard to find, we’ve said that since Day 1,” said Hirshfeld. “We drafted three defenders right at the top of that draft because we identified early that’s where there was a shortage. I don’t think that’s changed into Year 3. I think there’s still a shortage of elite defenders.”

While Hirshfeld and coach Carla MacLeod will handle the drafting, they’ve been “very collaborative” in assessing talent with their scouts for the last two months. They are also being advised by Mel Davidson, who coached Canada’s women’s hockey team to gold medals at the 2006 and 2010 Winter Olympics.

With the Charge roster currently standing at 15 players, Hirshfeld believes the team will wind up with six good ones from the draft.

“We are working hard at this,” he said of restocking a roster that also lost goalie Emerance Maschmeyer and last year’s second overall pick, forward Danielle Serdachny, in the expansion draft, and top scoring forward Tereza Vanisova as well as veteran centre Shiann Darkangelo to the open market.

“We are doing everything we can to field a competitive team. We want to get back to the Walter Cup final this year and win it. No one is sitting back and feeling sorry for themselves. We are all working hard. We’ve been on the phone a lot. We’ve been doing meetings a lot. We’ve talked to a lot of different players. We’ve got a lot of scenarios that are still in play.

“We’re really excited about the draft. We think we’re going to get six terrific players. There are some free agents that are available and we’re still talking to, and there’s some trade discussions going on. So I feel very confident that by early November, when training camp starts, we’re going to have a really competitive team. I understand the disappointment of the fans, but I would ask them to stick with us and trust us. I think they’re going to be really happy with the team that’s on the ice when we start getting the next season.”

Live coverage of the first three rounds of the six-round draft will be available across Canada on TSN, TSN.ca and the TSN app. Full draft coverage will be available live on TSN+ and globally on the PWHL’s YouTube channel.