Hilary Knight has a new home.
The five-time United States hockey Olympian is heading to the PWHL’s expansion team in Detroit after a sign-and-trade deal with Las Vegas, the Associated Press reported Monday.
Knight will sign a foundational contract with Las Vegas, part of Phase 2 of the league’s expansion signing process, and then she will be traded to Detroit in exchange for its first-round pick in next week’s draft.
The deal, first reported by the Associated Press on Monday, kicks in on June 16 after the PWHL’s trade freeze lifts one day before the draft.
Detroit has not yet confirmed the transaction.
“I can say that Hilary Knight is one of the most accomplished players in hockey, and I have so much respect for what she did for the game of hockey,” GM Rheaume said, according to the Detroit News. “But at this point, she’s under contract with another team. So, I’m not gonna speak more than this.”
In Seattle last season, Knight recorded five goals and 14 points in 22 games. She missed the last two months of the season with a lower-body injury. The year prior, she finished with 29 points, which was tied for the league lead, recording 15 goals and 14 assists.
Knight is going to a new team for the second consecutive offseason. Last summer, she signed with the expansion Seattle Torrent to be closer to her offseason Idaho home after spending her first two PWHL seasons in Boston.
Now, she’ll move closer to where she grew up in Lake Forest, Ill.
This year has been an eventful one for Knight, the two-time goal medalist and three-time silver winner. In February, she captained Team USA to another gold medal in the Winter Olympics — scoring the game-tying goal in the final game against Canada — and got engaged to American speed skater Brittany Bowe.
Knight’s score against Canada, her 15th goal and 33rd point of her Olympic career, set U.S. records in both categories.
Knight deflected in the late goal that sent the gold medal contest to overtime before the U.S. won 2-1.
Knight confirmed that the Milan Olympics would be her last, but at age 36, her professional hockey career will continue stateside.
