Now-former Seattle Torrent captain Hilary Knight, who broke Team Canada’s hearts at the Olympics in February, did the same to Torrent fans over the weekend.
Like the chess piece that shares her surname, Knight traveled two spaces forward to the PWHL expansion team in Las Vegas, only to immediately move one space over to the expansion team in Detroit. And left many Torrent followers feeling rooked.
But wait. Didn’t Knight say publicly on several occasions that she wanted to continue her career in Seattle? Yes, she did. Didn’t the PWHL ignore its own rules to allow the complicated transaction that landed Knight in Detroit? Yes, it did.
And couldn’t Knight, the GOAT of U.S. women’s hockey, have prevented a move out of town if she’d wanted to? After all, she didn’t let a little thing like a torn MCL in her knee stop her from scoring the tying goal with two minutes left in the gold-medal game against Canada.
Because of the Byzantine multi-stage process the PWHL created to fill four just-announced expansion teams, whether Knight could have blocked relocation is a harder question to answer.
Torrent Trio Reunites In Detroit
Right now, it hardly matters. Knight has joined former Seattle teammates Hanna Bilka and Cayla Barnes in Motown.
Say, until that franchise gets a nickname, maybe they should be called the Detroit Torrent. Of the four Torrent players who returned triumphant from Milan with gold medals, only Alex Carpenter remains.
That’s a gut punch Seattle women’s hockey fans will need time – a lot of time – to recover from. Just months ago, they formed a love affair with their new heroines like no other in the three-year old PWHL. They repeatedly filled Climate Pledge Arena to capacity, leading the league in attendance. That the club only managed nine wins in 30 games couldn’t stifle their cheers.
Many took to social media to share the pain of separation.
- “Fell to my knees in a Safeway parking lot”
- “I feel stupid for thinking Knight wanted to stay”
- “The Seattle Torment”
- “I am shocked and so angry”
- “The league is running the risk of alienating arguably its most passionate fanbase”
- “This is starting to feel like when OKC stole the Sonics”
Knight Expressed Love For Seattle
Knight’s own recent words heightened fans’ confusion. On the A Touch More podcast in March, she told Megan Rapinoe, “I want to still play for the Seattle Torrent for at least another two years, bring back a Walter Cup championship here.”
Before exiting the ice after the final game on April 28, Knight reinforced that sentiment. She spoke directly to the Climate Pledge Arena crowd.
“It was truly an honor to play in front of you all,” Knight said while twirling around the ice. “You showed up. The environment was electric. We want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We’re going to come back bigger, better and stronger for you next year. Thank you all for an amazing start. So special. We love you!”
Tampering Allegations
DailyFaceoff.com called the cloak-and-dagger maneuvering that landed Hilary Knight in Detroit “fishy” and “unethical” and “tampering at its finest.” Their story blames the former Torrent captain.
“Knight made her intentions known to teammates that she was going to be joining Detroit. Did Knight not realize the hole in her plan, that she could receive an offer from another team?”
That team was PWHL Las Vegas, which apparently will exercise a sign-and-trade in exchange for a 1st round draft pick. “Instead of forcing Knight to stick it out, Las Vegas reportedly agreed to send Knight to Detroit, even though the trade can’t be made official until June 16, when the league-wide trade freeze is lifted.”
Knight’s intentions created a domino effect, facilitating a mini-Team USA reunion. “With the grapevine that Knight was going to Detroit, Bilka and Barnes both jumped ship from Seattle to sign multi-year contracts with Detroit.” So did fellow American Olympian Britta Curl-Salemme from Minnesota.
Torrent GM Says Knight ‘Set The Standard’
“From day one, you built something bigger than hockey in Seattle,” Torrent general manager Meghan Turner said in a statement. “You embraced this community, competed with intensity every night and inspired a generation of young girls across the Pacific Northwest by showing them what is possible when they are seen, invested in and celebrated. Thank you for setting the standard for this organization.”
Turner could have made Knight one of her three protected players. Purely from a production standpoint, it makes sense she didn’t.
Knight will be 37 when the new season starts. That torn MCL kept her out of several Torrent games late in the season. Although she was the IIHF Female Player of the Year as recently as 2024, she scored just five goals for Seattle – compared with 15 for the Boston Fleet the previous season.
GMs get paid to make such cold calculations, but it doesn’t make it hurt less.
Earlier Torrent:
— Torrent GM; Protected Player List Involved Difficult Calls
Earlier Kraken:
— Glenn’s Gems; Kraken Free Agent Expects Many Suitors
