Hilary Knight knows the excitement Seattle holds for professional women's hockey. With the founding five members of PWHL Seattle in place, that feeling of anticipation, and the buzz surrounding the league and team has only grown, and it's something Knight is thrilled to be part of.
"It's honestly a dream come true to be able to start pro hockey in the Pacific Northwest and be a part of this build," Knight said. "I know everyone's extremely excited. When the PWHL announced that this would be an expansion city there was...a lot of buzz among players. So really excited, really honored at the opportunity to be part of this build and looking forward to the future and what's to come."
While she's excited for the next stage of her long and storied career, Knight is also looking back at her career. It has to date included winning Olympic and World Championship gold medals as a member of Team USA, and becoming the founding captain of the PWHL's Boston Fleet. Her time in Boston will always hold special meaning to Knight, who this season tied for the PWHL scoring lead.
"Obviously, Boston always holds a special place in my heart," Knight said. "You know the team out there, all of my teammates and my friends. You know, that's what's tough about it, right?"
But Knight said she's also looking at the other side of that coin, one where she gets to play alongside new teammates, and reunite with others like Alex Carpenter and Cayla Barnes, two other founding signings of PWHL Seattle who have been Knight's longtime American teammates.
At 35, Knight has already punched her ticket to the Hockey Hall of Fame with a plethora of team and individual accolades to her name, including being named the first ever IIHF Female Player of the Year in 2023. This year she was, for the third time in her career, named USA Hockey's Bob Allen Women's Player of the Year. At this stage, some aspects of Knight's career are beginning to wind down, including her Olympic participation as Knight recently announced the 2026 Olympics would be her last.
But Knight doesn't plan to hang up her skates after 2026. She's at the beginning of a new stage in her career in Seattle, and she plans to continue her professional career beyond the 2026 Olympics in Milano Cortina. Not only is she not done yet, but she sees herself possibly staying in Seattle despite finding herself on only a one year contract.
"I will say I'm not necessarily planning on going anywhere after just one year," Knight said. "It was just kind of where, what made sense right now, for the time being? I know I just came out with Olympic retirement announcement for post 2026, and yeah, my plans, professionally, as of now, are to continue to play."
Knight has been one of the many women working to build professional women's hockey to a sustainable point for years. And she's not limiting herself to a single season of building in Seattle either.
"The term doesn't really reflect my commitment or my my promise to what we want to build and be a part of in the city of Seattle," she said.
When she graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 2012 there were no truly professional options. Knight joined the CWHL with the Boston Blades and later Montreal Canadiennes, and also spent two seasons with the NWHL's Boston Pride. The game has come a long way since then.
"I'm just so grateful for all the people that came before us to be able to have this league and the work that's continuously being done to to put this league in the limelight and expand and provide us the things that we need to, you know, create a space for people to be fans of hockey, and to create a space for us to to do this as a career and deepen the pool at the grassroots level, and you know I'm really excited, for where the sport is right now, and incredibly grateful."