Hilary Knight Signs With Vegas, Traded to Detroit
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- Hilary Knight will sign a foundational contract with Las Vegas (guaranteeing at least $100,000) before being traded to Detroit for the team's first-round pick in the June draft, with the deal pending the trade freeze lifting June 16.
- The 36-year-old Knight captained Team USA to Olympic gold in Milan in February, deflecting in the game-tying goal late in the third period of a 2-1 overtime win over Canada.
- This is Knight's second straight PWHL offseason move — she left Boston for Seattle's expansion team last year, but the Torrent could protect only three players and didn't select her over Alex Carpenter, Anna Wilgren, and Hannah Murphy.
- In Detroit, Knight reunites with U.S. gold medal teammates Britta Curl-Salemme, Hannah Bilka, and Cayla Barnes, playing under coach Josh Sciba (a U.S. Olympic assistant) and GM Manon Rheaume, the first woman to play in an NHL exhibition game.
- Knight holds U.S. Olympic career records for goals (15) and points (33), was the 2024 IIHF Female Player of the Year, and has 10 world championship golds with tournament records of 67 goals, 53 assists, and 120 points.
- Las Vegas lands a first-round pick in a draft class led by five U.S. national team members including defender Caroline Harvey, while filling its remaining expansion slots with Montreal's Hayley Scamurra and Erin Ambrose.
Why it matters: The PWHL's most decorated active player lands on a Detroit team that has stockpiled U.S. national team talent — three gold medal teammates plus the U.S. Olympic assistant coach — instantly reshaping the expansion-team hierarchy. Knight's foundational contract guarantees at least $100,000, and Las Vegas extracts Detroit's first-round pick in a draft loaded with five U.S. national team members.
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