PWHL Las Vegas signs Nicole Hensley to two-year contract
One of the star goaltenders in the game is heading to the desert.
On Wednesday, PWHL Las Vegas announced that the team has signed goaltender Nicole Hensley to a two-year contract, which will carry through the 2027-28 season.
Hensley, Las Vegas’ first netminder, is the second player signed by the expansion team in Sin City in Phase 3 of the Expansion Roster Distribution Process, as defender Megan Carter was signed to a two-year deal earlier in the day. It gives Las Vegas seven players on its inaugural roster, as they join defenders Erin Ambrose, Mae Batherson and Kendall Cooper, as well as forwards Hayley Scamurra and Hilary Knight, as the new team’s first batch of signings. However, it’s expected that Knight will be traded to Detroit ahead of the 2026 PWHL Draft next week.
The 31-year-old has spent the first three seasons with the Frost, but was left unprotected once the expansion process began. Instead, the Frost elected to protect her longtime goalie partner Maddie Rooney, as well as forwards Kelly Pannek and Taylor Heise.
Hensley and Rooney put together one of the best goaltending tandems in the league’s young history, leading to immediate success in the State of Hockey. It was Hensley who won the all-important fifth game of the first-ever Walter Cup Final against Boston, helping Minnesota win the league’s first championship. While Rooney has started to take the reins as the team’s 1A goaltender over the past two years, the Lakewood, Colo. native has shown she can be a starting goaltender now and again.
This past year was tough for Hensley. Despite winning seven games for the third year in a row, she went just 7-4-2 in 13 appearances, with a career-worst 2.89 goals-against average, along with a .908 save percentage, and one shutout.
In 38 regular-season games, the former Lindenwood Lion has a record of 21-13-4, with 2.46 GAA, a .910 SV% and three shutouts. She also has a 4-4 postseason record, with a 1.57 GAA, a .928 SV% and two shutouts.
Las Vegas can add one more player in Phase 3 of the expansion process, which is scheduled to end on June 12 at 3 p.m. ET.