There was an interesting trade made on Tuesday in the Professional Women’s Hockey League. The Montreal Victoire have traded forward Kristin O’Neill of Oakville, Ontario to the New York Sirens for forward Abby Roque according to the Professional Women’s Hockey League website. In addition to O’Neill, the Sirens received the fourth round pick in the PWHL Draft from the Victoire. The Sirens selected Callie Shanahan.
O’Neill had one goal and four assists for five points last season for Montreal. She struggled mightily defensively however, as she was a -12 on a very good Montreal team that had the best regular season record in the PWHL. O’Neill won 234 faceoffs, had one shorthanded goal, one game-winning goal, and 35 shots on goal. The game-winning, shorthanded goal came in a 3-1 Montreal win over the Boston Fleet on December 30. O’Neill scored from Claire Dalton of Toronto, Ontario with two minutes and 48 seconds left in the second period to put the Victoire up 2-1 at the time. Roque had six goals and 11 assists for 17 points with the Sirens.
Over the last five years, O’Neill has been a fixture on Team Canada. She won the gold medal for Canada at the 2021 Women’s World Hockey Championship in Calgary, Alberta, the 2022 Women’s World Hockey Championship in Frederikshavn, Denmark, and the 2024 Women’s World Hockey Championship in Utica, New York.