NEW YORK —Looking out over the Manhattan skyline Thursday afternoon, Casey O'Brien saw both her past and future.
The 23-year-old was literally at the Top of the Rock in midtown for a photo shoot two days after the New York Sirens made a bold move to trade up and select O'Brien with the third overall pick in the 2025 PWHL Draft.
For O'Brien, the chance to play in The Big Apple is personal.
The highly-skilled center grew up in New York until she was 10-years-old, and skated at Chelsea Piers overlooking the Hudson River as a young girl. That she could see Chelsea Piers from her perch atop Rockefeller Center was not lost on O'Brien.
"Chelsea Piers is my home," O'Brien told reporters at her introductory press conference. "It's the rink I learned to skate on. That's really the rink that built me, so to be able to come back and reconnect with this community and be a part of New York is just a dream of true."
O'Brien is at the center — literally and figuratively — of a fairly major retooling of the Sirens roster this offseason. Veteran forwards Alex Carpenter and Abby Roque, the first players New York signed ahead of the PWHL's inaugural season in 2024, are among those not returning. And neither is star goalie Corinne Schroeder, who signed with expansion Seattle.
Sirens general manager Pascal Daoust then charted a new course for the franchise at the draft Tuesday.
With the first overall pick, the Sirens selected Czech phenom forward Kristyna Kaltounkov, and that wasn't even their biggest move of the night.
Just moments after picking Kaltounkov, the Sirens traded star defenseman Ella Shelton to the Toronto Sceptres in a deal that landed them two draft picks, including No. 3 overall.
With that newly acquired selection, the Sirens drafted O'Brien.
"Obviously, I didn't know that they would make the trade… I think I blacked out," O'Brien said. "I was trying to stay calm, not be too nervous. And then the trade happens and I was like 'oh my god, am I going to New York?' Obviously, I didn't know that my name was going to be called next, but I knew there was a possibility of it, so it was just a lot of shock and a lot of excitement."
It was a bold move by Daoust to trade Shelton, who finished fourth among all PWHL defenseman with 16 points (eight goals, eight assists) last season and scored the first goal in League history on Jan. 1, 2024.
But the chance to select O'Brien, widely-regarded as the best prospect in the 2025 draft class, trumped that. Daoust doubled down on the Sirens youth movement and came away with two of the top three selections in the draft.
Related: Final 2025 NHL Mock Draft: Who follows after Islanders select Matthew Schaefer with No. 1 pick
Credit: Dave Kallmann / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Playing for the Wisconsin Badgers, O'Brien led the NCAA in scoring with 88 points in 41 games, and won the 2025 Patty Kazmaier Award, presented annually to the top player in NCAA Division I women's ice hockey. She was also named WCHA Player and Forward of the Year.
More importantly, O'Brien helped lead Wisconsin to the National Championship.
"Every year at Wisconsin was unique," said O'Brien. "It depends on the team, and there are different formulas for success, but I think I can take everything that I learned, especially as a leader there, and bring it to New York."
O'Brien helped Wisconsin win the NCAA title three times in her five seasons (one extra season per the COVID-19 exemption). She is Wisconsin's all-time leader in points (274) and assists (177). Her career points total is eighth-most in NCAA history.
Her resume speaks for itself. And now the Sirens bring in a talent of her magnitude to add to a young core that is continuing to look more and more dynamic.
In each of the past two seasons, the Sirens finished last in the PWHL standings. But Daoust has a vision of building a youthful group that could be explosive down the road.
O'Brien seems to be fully bought into this vision.
"I think people have to be talking about what Pascal just did in the draft," O'Brien said. "He kept his D-core intact for the most part and completely transformed the forwards.
"I think this team is going to be something special. I think if I was looking at each roster now after the draft, and what players they have, I would want to be on New York 100 percent."
It was just about one year ago when the Sirens drafted forward Sarah Fillier with the first overall pick.
Fillier tied Hilary Knight for the PWHL scoring lead with 29 points (13 goals, 16 assists) this past season, and won the League's rookie of the year award.
However, Fillier's individual success did not translate to team success, and the Sirens tied for the fewest goals scored (71) in the League over its 30-game season.
Now, Fillier gets some much-needed scoring help with the addition of O'Brien and Kaltounkov. O'Brien is excited to not only play on the same team as Fillier, but maybe even be paired on a line with the emerging superstar.
"That's the dream," O'Brien said about playing with Fillier. "I mean growing up, even when I was little, I was hearing her name. I was watching her play youth hockey and then into Princeton and Team Canada, wherever it may be. I'm a really big fan of her game. She can score, she can pass, she can set people up, she can kind of do it all. I'm really excited for the opportunity to play with her, and I hope we can be linemates at some point."
O'Brien is really living out the dream. She has the opportunity to play with some of the most talented women hockey players in the world and gets to do it where her hockey journey all began in New York.
She's already accomplished so much throughout her hockey career thus far, yet now the real work truly begins.
"It's been an absolute whirlwind," O'Brien remarked. "I didn't pack for this, I wasn't expecting this, so to hear my name called by the city that I grew up in, and then to be here in person a few days later, it's surreal. It's amazing."
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