First stop: Las Vegas. Next stop: Detroit.
Hilary Knight signed a one-year foundational contract offer with the PWHL’s expansion team in Las Vegas on Tuesday in the first step that will eventually land the five-time U.S. Olympian in the Motor City.
Las Vegas announced the signing June. It revealed the sign-and-trade agreement to send the 36-year-old Knight to fellow expansion team Detroit on Tuesday, in which it will receive the third overall pick in return.
For Knight, the foundational contract guarantees her making at least $100,000 next season. She made $106,090 last year.
Knight is on the move for a second straight PWHL off-season. After spending her first two PWHL seasons in Boston, she left the Fleet to sign with the expansion Seattle Torrent to be closer to her off-season home in Idaho.
The move to Detroit brings her closer to her hometown of Chicago.
Knight is coming off captaining the United States to a gold-medal victory at the Milan Cortina Games in February, in which Knight deflected in the championship game-tying goal late in the third period of a 2-1 overtime win against Canada.
Though Knight said the Olympics in Milan would be her last, she planned on continuing her pro career.
Knight finished last season with five goals and 14 points in 22 games with Seattle, while missing the final two months with a lower-body injury. A year earlier, she finished tied for the league lead with 29 points (15 goals, 14 assists). Overall, she ranks 12th in the PWHL with 54 career points (26 goals, 28 assists) in 76 games.
