Seattle Torrent lost Hilary Knight to PWHL Las Vegas. 💔

PWHL Detroit signed Britta Curl-Salemme but it’s rumored that they will be trading a draft pick to acquire Hilary Knight.

PWHL Hamilton is basically the Ottawa Charge.

Detroit, Hamilton, and Las Vegas all cooked. 👩‍🍳 San Jose… still raw ingredients. 🥕

Not only did Torrent finish in last place and not get the first overall draft pick, but they also lost 4 players. 😭 Somehow the Goldeneyes somehow didn’t lose a single player. 🙌

We have a lot to talk about today. Hang in there, at least Phase 2 is over now 🙂 ❤

Watch my full Phase 2 recap + Expansion Team Rankings! 👇

I’m wishing Hilary Knight all the best. She put in so much work to build the Seattle Torrent, both as a leader on the ice and as a part of the Seattle community. I wish her time in Seattle could be longer, but the inaugural season of Torrent will always be special.

Hilary Knight has been signed by Las Vegas using an Expansion Foundational Offer (EFO), but according to AP News, she will be traded to PWHL Detroit for their first-round draft pick.

After being left unprotected, Hilary Knight was in talks to sign with PWHL Detroit, and it’s a major reason Barnes and Bilka signed with Detroit. However, after this, it was revealed that Las Vegas used their EFO on Knight. An EFO is a contract that can be offered to any unprotected free agent. The player has to sign an EFO.

The solution is to trade Knight to Detroit for a first-round pick in the PWHL draft. Considering that this draft is stacked, this could be a good deal for Las Vegas.

Read more about the situation from The Hockey News.

I would like to personally apologize to you all for telling you not to freak out that Knight was left unprotected.

Maybe I was just being delusional as a means of coping, but I genuinely believed that she wouldn’t be selected as an EFO. I expected the expansion teams to use the EFOs to sign younger players who would serve as long-term foundational players for their team (such as the Detroit EFO of Daryl Watts).

In a way, Las Vegas is the victim in this situation. According to the expansion rules, they had a right to sign Knight to an EFO. As part of the PWHL, Knight is subject to the expansion rules and now they are getting screwed over because she doesn’t want to play there. Yet, Knight has contributed so much to the PWHL as a whole, and I personally feel like she’s earned the right to be in control of her own destiny at this point of her career.

Las Vegas selecting Knight with an EFO is legal, according to PWHL expansion rules. Even so, my gut reaction was that I didn’t like it. 🤷 I’m just personally glad that Knight is ending up in Detroit, which seems to be what she wants.

EDIT: I think another big part of the conversation when we talk about player autonomy in the PWHL compared to other pro sports leagues is the compensation. Yes, Knight would get paid 100K to play in Las Vegas. But is that really worth it? Other pro sports leagues may have less autonomy, but players are being paid millions.

Overall, this expansion felt extremely disorganized. This confusion could have been avoided if EFOs were their own phase. I don’t like EFOs because they remove player choice from free agents (although that is by design), and there is a lack of transparency as to how players were selected.

Watch my full take 👇

The Frost lost 3 players: Kendall Cooper (Las Vegas), Mae Batherson (Las Vegas), and Britta Curl-Salemme (Detroit). Kendall Cooper and Mae Batherson are amazing defenders, but overall I’d say losing Curl is a net-positive for this fanbase, who has wanted her off of their team for a long time.

The Goldeneyes somehow lost 0 players?! I actually don’t know how this is possible, but Goldeneyes fans are so lucky.

The Sceptres lost 2 players: Daryl Watts and Jesse Compher (both to Detroit). Daryl Watts is a huge loss for Toronto, but we saw this coming ever since Toronto failed to re-sign her in Phase 1. Jesse Compher has played in every single game for the Sceptres since their debut.

The Sirens lost four players: Kristin O’Neill , Anne Cherkowski, and Maddi Wheeler went to San Jose, while Kayle Osborne went to Hamilton. O’Neill, Cherkowski, and Wheeler all joined the Sirens last year during the draft, while Osborne stepped up into the role of the starting goaltender last year and became beloved by the fanbase. OZZY OZZY OZZY! OY OY OY!

The Fleet only lost one player, but it was fan-favorite Alina Müller (Hamilton), who was their first-ever draft pick and their all-time leading scorer.

The Victoire lost three players: Hayley Scamurra (Las Vegas), Erin Ambrose (Las Vegas), and Nicole Gosling (Hamilton). Erin Ambrose has been a key part of the Victoire leadership since its debut. Meanwhile, Hayley Scamurra and Nicole Gosling have become fan favorites over the past year, and were key to the Victoire winning the Walter Cup.

The Torrent lost four players: Hilary Knight (Detroit via Las Vegas), Cayla Barnes (Detroit), Hannah Bilka (Detroit), and Corinne Schroeder (San Jose). Hilary Knight served as the captain of the Torrent, while Knight, Barnes, and Schroeder were 3/5 of the first 5 signings of the Torrent.

I fully expected that Barnes, Bilka, and Schroeder would leave after they were left unprotected. The departure of Hilary Knight took me by surprise although maybe I should have expected it. I’m happy for her to have a new opportunity in Detroit, but the thought of Las Vegas using their EFO on her still makes my stomach turn!

Expansion has been tough for me as a Torrent fan, but I can only imagine how much worse it was for Ottawa Charge fans. The Charge lost 3 players: Emily Clark (Hamilton), Brianne Jenner (Hamilton), and Rory Guilday (San Jose).

Emily Clark and Brianne Jenner were two out of three of the inaugural signings for the Charge, and served as alternate captain and captain, respectively.

The twist of the knife is that, in addition to leaving Jenner unprotected for Phase 2, the Charge apparently had no plans to offer Jenner a contract during any round of the expansion process.

The Charge also lost Rory Guilday, who was their first-round draft pick last year.

Kyle Cushman is my go-to person for all things PWHL. He is an expert on this year’s upcoming draft class. Watching the draft is so exciting, but it can be confusing if you’ve never watched a draft before. I am so excited to chat with Kyle in real-time and also answer any questions you all have while the draft is ongoing!

Find Kyle on Twitter, Instagram, and substack!

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