Hilary Knight is headed to PWHL Detroit after a behind-the-scenes expansion fight that ended with a sign-and-trade tied to Las Vegas’ first-round pick. The move is the latest turn in a process that had left her future unsettled for days and could still depend on how the league handles draft timing.
Knight had long been linked to Detroit from the opening day of Phase 2 signing, and she was believed to have agreed to a contract there. But the plan ran into the reality of expansion rules, and the timing of Las Vegas’ Expansion Franchise Offer and Detroit’s created the problem: Knight was informed she would be assigned to Las Vegas after she had already committed herself to Detroit.
That detail matters because Knight was not eager to play in Las Vegas at all, even as she was told that was where she would land. A member of the Seattle Torrent roster said Knight had told people close to her she was going to Detroit, a sign that the forward was already expecting one outcome while the league’s expansion machinery was pushing another.
According to The, the eventual solution is for Knight to move to Detroit in exchange for Las Vegas’ first-round pick. That is where the deal gets tricky. PWHL draft picks cannot be traded until June 16, and the league has not yet announced the draft order, even though expansion rules say teams must have five players under contract at the end of Phase Two.
Las Vegas would not have had five players under contract by the end of that phase without Knight, which helps explain why her name sits at the center of the dispute. She did not take Detroit’s EFO and instead is believed to have agreed to a deal like Brianne Jenner’s, a reminder that expansion signings in this league are still being sorted out in real time rather than through a clean, finished system.
Knight brings star power wherever she lands. She tied for the PWHL scoring lead in 2024-25 with 29 points in 30 games while captaining the Boston Fleet, then signed in expansion last season with the Seattle Torrent and finished with 14 points in 22 games. She was the inaugural captain for both Boston and Seattle, and internationally she has two Olympic gold medals, three silver medals, 10 World Championship gold medals and five silver medals.
She also missed a chunk of the PWHL season after suffering a knee injury that she played through while captaining Team USA to Olympic gold in Milan, which makes the timing of this move even more striking. By June 16, the league’s trade freeze on draft picks lifts, and until then Detroit’s path to completing the deal may require patience, a rule adjustment or both.
