Danielle Serdachny signed by PWHL Seattle in Exclusive Signing Window
By Silvia Leija-Rosas, edited by Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - Danielle Serdachny is a name Seattle hockey fans will soon know well, and for good reason. The 24-year-old forward has already made waves in the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) and on the international stage with Team Canada. Now, as the first-ever player signed by Seattle's new PWHL franchise, she's making her mark on Seattle sports history. The news about Serdachny came an hour before news that Hilary Knight had signed came out, so technically we got the Serdachny news first but the team is positioning Knight as the first signing in franchise history.
The Edmonton-born forward was selected second overall by the Ottawa Charge in the 2024 PWHL Draft. In her rookie PWHL season (2024–25), Serdachny appeared in all 30 regular-season games and marked eight points, two goals and six assists. She proved to be a consistent depth piece for the Charge and contributed two assists in eight playoff games this past season as the Charge fell just short of winning the Walter Cup.
Serdachny is not a stranger to making her mark in team history. At Colgate University she became the program's all-time leading scorer with 237 points (81 goals, 156 assists) in 179 games over five seasons. In her senior year alone, Serdachny tallied 61 points in 40 games.
In 2023, the forward earned the inaugural recipient of the Wayne Dean Sportsmanship Award, highlighting her leadership and integrity both on and off the ice and was a and a top-three finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award. PWHL Seattle general manager Meghan Turner highlighted leadership as a characteristic she’d be looking for when constructing this roster, and that appears true here with Serdachny.
Internationally, Serdachny earned a gold medal in the 2019 IIHF U18 Women's World Championship, and a silver medal at the 2023 World Championships. In 2024, she scored the overtime game-winning goal against the United States to secure gold at the IIHF Women's World Championship.
Seattle’s pick to make Serdachny their inaugural player is a consistent move to GM Meghan Turner’s aim to develop a team around strong leadership and consistency. Serdachny in turn, will get the ability to develop into a cornerstone of women’s hockey in Seattle. Largely a depth player during her brief time in Ottawa, Danielle Serdachny is viewed as an underutilized forward that should be seeing more time in a prominent role with Seattle as they look to make some noise during their inaugural season.
Seattle fans have shown some concern with the number of signings, and big name ones at that, made so far by Vancouver on the first day of the signing window, but indications have been made that the expansion franchise has a second signing already lined up and that they’re a favorite to land Hilary Knight at some point in this process. Reminder for the exclusive signing window: Expansion teams will be granted a five-day exclusive window to sign a maximum of five players. There is no required minimum number of players who must be signed during this window. Any unprotected player or any player on an expiring contract is eligible to be signed.
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Check out our previous PWHL Seattle articles here.
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Cover photo of this article via the PWHL.
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