Chaos, nerves and excitement: How one PWHL player navigated expansion

Leading up to last week, Kayle Osborne felt the anxiety of the unknown.

The 24-year-old goaltender just finished her second professional season, and her first as the starter with the PWHL's New York Sirens. Under a big workload, Osborne played her way on to the Canadian Olympic team, where she's a contender to be the team's goaltender of the future.

But like so many players in the PWHL, she wasn't sure what to expect as the league began a multi-phase expansion process to fill out the rosters of four new expansion teams launching next season in Hamilton, Detroit, San Jose and Las Vegas.

"There was just so much uncertainty to try to wrap your head around," Osborne told CBC Sports on Monday. "You couldn’t really have conversations because that wasn’t allowed in the rules. You had to wait until a certain day, but then things moved so fast. So it was just very chaotic."

When the dust settled, Osborne was one of five players to sign as a foundational player in Hamilton.

Osborne had hoped to stay in New York, but wasn't among the three players protected by the Sirens last Wednesday.

New York opted to keep three young forwards who'd been top picks in the last two drafts: Sarah Fillier, Kristýna Kaltounková and Casey O'Brien.

"They protected three really quality players," Osborne said. "I definitely understood that. But I think then at that point, I was kind of grasping that this is a new chapter, it’s a new opportunity and then with that came excitement."

Women's sports are booming, but are athletes getting paid enough?

When she was able to talk to expansion teams on Friday, Osborne liked what she heard from Hamilton GM Meghan Duggan.

"We’re very aligned on a lot of the things we think about hockey in terms of identity and