Hilary Knight has officially signed to a one-year Expansion Foundational Offer. Now however, the star must wait to be traded until trades are permitted on June 16.
PWHL Las Vegas has signed forward Hilary Knight received an Expansion Foundational Offer. The deal was for one year.
Knight however, is known to be heading to PWHL Detroit. It was a behind the scenes saga where Knight left Seattle heading into expansion with the intention of joining PWHL Detroit. That however, backfired when Knight agreed to sign in Detroit without an EFO to join Hannah Bilka, Cayla Barnes, Daryl Watts, and Britta Curl-Salemme.
After the Watts signing, the EFO offer in Las Vegas went to Knight, which put her in a situation of having a binding contract with PWHL Las Vegas. Knight made it clear she wasn't going to Las Vegas, forcing the PWHL and PWHL Las Vegas' hand to make a trade.
The sign-and-trade however, was not mentioned by the PWHL in their release, as it's a future deal that cannot be completed at the moment as all teams needed to leave Phase 2 with five signed players, and Phase 4 with 10 players signed. As well, draft picks, which is the reported return for Knight, cannot be traded until June 16.
Knight scored 14 games in 22 games last season missing time due to a knee injury. She won gold with USA at the 2026 Olympics, captaining Team USA.
The 36-year-old Idaho product began her PWHL career captaining Boston and in 2024-25 tying for the PWHL scoring lead with 29 points in 30 games earning nominations for league MVP and Forward of the Year. Knight went on to captain the Seattle Torrent last season in their inaugural campaign as well.
Internationally, Knight has played in five Olympics and is Team USA's all-time leading scorer at both the Olympics and World Championships, where she's won 10 gold medals at Worlds, and two Olympic gold medals.
Las Vegas signed, and will keep Mae Batherson, Kendall Cooper, Erin Ambrose, and Hayley Scamurra.