How a deal goes down and how it affects the players

Article content

More than any other general manager in the PWHL, Michael Hirshfeld has proven he’s not afraid to make a trade.

Article content

Article content

Of the five consummated in league history heading into Thursday’s dealing deadline, the Ottawa Charge shots-caller pulled the trigger on three of them.

Not only has “Trader Mike” actively tried to shake up his team, but he’s done quite well for himself with no worse than a 66 percent success rate — or .666 batting average — in the process.

Article content

And the chance of him being 3-for-3 is still very much alive, pending the final evaluation of the deal he made with Toronto Sceptres GM Gina Kingsbury on Dec. 30, 2024.

Hirshfeld was especially active at the deadline last year — and we’ll get to the particulars of that in a moment — but first let’s look at the unique swap the Charge and Sceptres the day before the teams faced each other at Toronto’s Coca-Cola Coliseum.

That one saw Ottawa send defender Savannah Harmon and forward Hayley Scamurra to the Toronto for forward Victoria Bach and veteran defender Jocelyne Larocque.

Bach has scored the only two goals of the four players to this point, while Larocque has steadied the Ottawa back line.

But since the trade Toronto is 7-2-3-5 for 28 points and Ottawa is 6-1-3-6 for 23 points.

So if a winner had to be declared now, it would be the Sceptres by a sliver.

How did the deal go down?

Asked recently for a general timeline, Hirshfeld provided some behind-closed-doors background from his room at Hotel X in Toronto, where the Charge was staying, when push came to shove.

He and Kingsbury had been holding numerous conversations and discussing multiple scenarios, as GM’s do in all leagues, before finally reaching an agreement.

Article content

“The first thing we do is notify the players that we’re trading,” said Hirshfeld. “I called Savannah and said you’re traded to Toronto. I called Scamurra and said you’re traded to Toronto. Then I called both their agents to tell them. Players first, then the agents.

“Savannah wasn’t surprised,” he added. “I think Scams was.”

After that, he waited for Kingsbury to call and tell him that she has notified Larocque and Bach, so he could reach out to them.

Once all four players knew, the trade became public and was announced through the Charge and Sceptres media teams.

“And then I can talk to the new players,” said Hirshfeld.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Play Video

Meanwhile, getting busy was Olivia Giardetti, the director of hockey operations for the Charge.

She arranged for both Scamurra and Harmon to move out of the hotel rooms they were sharing with an Ottawa teammates into two separate quarters at Hotel X “so they could have some space from Charge, if that makes sense,” said Hirshfeld.

“I don’t know where they moved, maybe a couple floors away, and they got their own room for that night,” he added. “And then we asked all four players if they wanted to play in the game on December 31.”

Article content

Article content

All four said yes, so then the equipment managers on both teams were contacted so they can move the players’ gear.

“It’s easy in this case, because we’re literally moving it from one dressing room to another,” said Hirshfeld. “Then it’s making sure that the new jerseys get done, making sure that the name bars get on, all that stuff.

“So the equipment side is done. Then there’s the medical side. When players leave your team, they have to do an outgoing medical with our trainers and then an in-going medical with their new team, just to make sure they’re coming in healthy.”

Harmon is the only one of the four that is an American, so as far as immigration paperwork for Ottawa is concerned, it just transfers to Toronto.

Meanwhile, both Larocque and Bach were stunned upon finding out they were on the move.

When recalling that day earlier this week, Larocque said she was at a side gig on the ice coaching young players when she noticed she had missed about four calls from Kingsbury.

“I was like, oh, that’s weird,” she said. “I actually thought that I had been suspended, because last year I got suspended, and she called me a bunch of times, so that’s just where my mind went. But then I thought, I didn’t do anything the game before to get suspended.

Article content

“The conversation was pretty brief because I didn’t have anything to say. She actually had to ask me if I was still on the line. I said, yeah, and she kind of just gave me some information and said that Mike would be calling me. Then I just said, have a good night, and we ended the call.

“I remember at first thinking, couldn’t this have been done after the game?” added the 36-year-old Larocque, who is shown on a YouTube clip becoming quite emotional when the news sunk in. “But honestly, I think it was the best thing. It was almost like ripping off a band aid. You play your team that you were just on the next night. Nothing is going to be weirder or harder than that. If I would’ve played with Toronto that night and then met up with the Ottawa players, it would have been, oh, when do I play Toronto next? Like, you just got it done with.

“And after that, you’re just like, boom, I’m a Charge. I am no longer a Scepter. So the transition was incredibly fast. But you know what, the team, the staff here in Ottawa …. I was hopeful that it’d be welcoming. I had played with (coach) Carla (MacLeod) in the past. It was a long time ago, but I played with her. So I know her. I played with (assistant coach Haley) Irwin. I know a lot of players on the team, so I was hoping that it would be pretty smooth, but it’s been better than I even expected. Within a week I was like, this is my team. Honestly, it’s been great.”

Article content

Bach, 28, was sitting down for dinner with her parents when Kingsbury called.

“I was like, Whoa, that’s weird, I wonder why she’s calling me at 7:30 the night before a game,” she remembers. “I answered the call, and she told me that I traded to Ottawa, so obviously I was extremely surprised.

“The craziest part about it all is that she was like, ‘you’ll probably be playing in the game tomorrow against your former team.’ Yeah, it was a crazy 24 hours. I don’t think I slept, if I’m being honest with you.”

With two days off following the game, Larocque and Bach had to take care of some logistics before moving to Ottawa and start practising with the Charge before the team’s next game, in New York on Jan. 7.

After packing up, they drove to Ottawa, where the league would pay for them to stay at a hotel for two weeks and the team would help them find a place to live.

They wound up getting an Airbnb together at a spot near TD Place.

“It is challenging,” said Larocque. “For myself, I have a home and a partner, and she’s still there, and now I have to pay rent  here. So it’s not ideal in that sense, but it’s just part of the pro sports, the lay of the land. I had heard last year, there were some players that throughout the trade they were paying double leases. I guess I’m kind of doing that, but it is a mortgage, so it’s a little bit different.

Article content

“We we’e looking for fully furnished. I’m like, I’m not buying dishes and plates, and oh my gosh …  I don’t need double of things. So (getting the Airbnb) was really great. I just had to bring my clothes.”

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Play Video

Bach was living with her folks, so she didn’t have to worry about getting out of rent in Toronto.

“It’s hard getting traded … you’re trying to organize everything after like your whole life kind of just changed in a blink of a second,” she said. “So just kind of navigating that, and then obviously the emotions that come with it.

“I think it’s actually special that people are getting traded because that’s what we strive for, that’s what we wanted, having a professional league like that. So trades are a part of the business, and it’s going to happen. But it was emotional. I had a lot of really good friends on Toronto, a lot of good memories, and it’s my hometown. But coming here, I felt so welcome. I’ve really enjoyed my time with the team and the city and the fans. It’s honestly been incredible for me.”

Particularly nice for Bach is that, after needing two to drive to work and back each day, she is now a short walk from the rink, although seeing the snowbanks along way was something new.

Article content

Bach was familiar with most players on the Charge, because she too has had them as teammates with the national program, and she has played for MacLeod in the past.

“I would say the transition was pretty smooth,” she said.

Meanwhile, at the dealing deadline one year ago, Hirshfeld swung two trades.

He sent diminutive defender Amanda Boulier to the Montreal Victoire for forward Tereza Vanisova, which looks like a big win for Ottawa now.

Boullier was effective for Montreal last season but she’s been hampered by injuries in 2025. Vanisova is the Charge’s top goal score with nine, and her feisty style of play is evident by the fact she leads the PWHL with 34 penalty minutes.

That same day Hirshfeld moved Lexie Adzija and the rights to Caitrin Lonergan to Boston for Shiann Darkangelo, a trade that was extremely unpopular among the customers at TD Place as Adzija was one of the team’s top scorers and a fan favourite.

In the final seven games of the season with Boston she had one goal and two assists, and through 21 games this year she has no goals and four assists.

Lonergan has not played a game in the PWHL.

Article content

Darkangelo, meanwhile, has five goals and three assists this season and plays important minutes as one of the Charge’s best all-round players.

Another victory for Ottawa.

“There’s been only a handful of trades, so it was super unknown,” said Darkangelo, recalling the day she was told she’d be relocating. “Not a lot of knowledge going in, not really sure, not expecting to be traded, and then all of a sudden getting a phone call an hour after the deadline (from Boston GM Danielle Marmer) being told I was traded to Ottawa. It was kind of a shock, to be honest.

“And then I got a call from Mike just to welcome me to the team and say where I was going next, which happened to be within 24 hours, going to New York for a game. So packing up everything where I lived, driving to New York and going there to meet the new team.

“Everyone was super welcoming and awesome in that aspect. I can’t say enough good things about that. But you know, it’s a lot. With the salaries, and the length of the season, it’s just a different landscape in women’s sports. In the NWSL, where you have trades only in the off-season … this was a weird thing, that far into the season, I think there were six games left with Ottawa so it kind of just felt weird. Obviously, it’s pro sports, it’s going to happen, but until it does … Some girls that were traded before me that were in Boston had reached out, as soon as they heard the news, to kind of warn me, like ‘hey, this is how it goes and if you need anything let me know,’ so that was helpful, but it’s definitely the unknown waters when it happens.

Article content

“I think now every trade that happens, more and more people are there to support each other, those that have been traded, but it’s definitely difficult going towards the end of the season.”

There’s also the fact that Darkangelo, a 31-year old product of Royal Oak, Michigan, owns a house in Toronto from her playing days with the Six in the National Women’s Hockey League.

“Again, I understand that’s professional sports and people are trying to make a playoff push and things like that, so maybe that’s why there’s movement and things,” said Darkangelo. “But with saying that, it’s definitely not an easy thing with where we’re at right now.”

Article content