Seattle’s new PWHL team could be ‘scary’ good

Seattle's brand-new women's pro hockey team is coming together.

The yet-to-be-named franchise hired its first players, including league star and Olympic gold medalist Hillary Knight, last week. They added to the roster in yesterday's expansion draft. KUOW’s Kim Malcolm checked in with Seattle Times reporter Kate Shefte for some PWHL hiring updates.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Kim Malcolm: Let's start with who got hired, and how the draft went. What stands out for you right now?

Kate Shefte: Let's start with Hillary Knight. She is a living legend. Team USA captain, one of the most recognizable faces in the sport, and at 35 she just tied for the PWHL scoring lead with 29 points last season. She was a heck of a first player on this PWHL Seattle team. After her, they went out and signed Danielle Serdachny, who was a former Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award winner. That’s given to the top female college ice hockey player in the United States. And they signed Cayla Barnes, an Olympian at 19, the youngest player for Team USA, who won a national championship at Ohio State. She’s a young, very experienced defender who is probably going to anchor their blue line for years to come, perhaps. If this doesn't get people excited for the PWHL in Seattle, I don't really know what will.

And then the draft took place yesterday. One of our colleagues here at the station said it was "so awesome" to watch. Did you feel the same way? What stood out for you?

It just blew my mind how much talent they were picking up. They just kept adding to an impossible seeming degree. The new GM, Meghan Turner, really took advantage of these expansion draft rules and just signed a really enviable team. It's not like they picked up the scraps here. If the goal was to make expansion teams competitive immediately, which supposedly it was, they succeeded. But that’s at the cost of ticking off the inaugural six teams, because some of them are just gutted. This will probably be the last expansion draft with that particular format.

And, the Hockey News has PWHL Seattle as the Walter Cup favorite next season, with just 12 players, half a team, signed. They have to fill in a little bit, build through the draft, build through free agency, get the rest of those roster spots filled up. But this is a heck of a blueprint for a very scary team. I have to think that they probably blew a lot of their budget already, so they might be kind of top heavy, but that's a pretty small critique of this team. They look very, very good.

Such a strong start for a brand-new team here. But how good will it all be when they hit the ice? That's kind of an X factor.

It really is. You never know. I mean, teams can look amazing on paper and then kind of fail to get out of the gate, but a lot of these players already have familiarity with each other. They signed Hillary Knight's Boston Fleet teammate, Hannah Bilka. They dipped from every single team except for Minnesota. And so, a lot of these people know each other. And I like to think that that will translate. I'm sure they hope it does.

Before we let you go, Kate, the team doesn’t have a name yet. Are there any updates on what they could be called?

No updates. They have half a team. They really only have one official front office employee. That process is ongoing. Apparently, they're close to hiring a coach. They said they're comfortable with maybe going into the season just as PWHL Seattle and PWHL Vancouver. That is how the inaugural six played their first season. They want to nail it. They want to get it right, you know, and especially in a city where the Kraken — I think we can safely say, no matter what they've done on the ice — the Kraken branding is very strong, and you want to match that energy. Not to plug it, but I did write a long history piece on the Seattle Vamps.

I was about to ask you. Do you think the Vamps would fly as a name now?

Personally, I would love it. I don't think there's anything scandalous about that word anymore, and it's kind of a ‘wink wink’ to what the rest of the country thinks of us, which is ‘Twilight’ country. I think it would be hilarious and very cool and kind of powerful and kind of, you know, just kind of moody. I think it's very Seattle. One thing, I know it has nothing to do with the water, and that wouldn't really fit in with most of our teams. I will acknowledge that.

Listen to the interview by clicking the play button above.