Reign Transfer Jordyn Huitema to Chicago Stars, Sign Ruby Hladek

The Seattle Reign made a sizable shakeup on Thursday, sending Jordyn Huitema to Chicago after four seasons with the team for a $500 thousand transfer fee and signing Utah Valley University forward Ruby Hladek to a short-term deal.

The return for the Huitema transfer was composed of $300 thousand in intra-league transfer funds and $200 thousand in allocation money. The move is the fifth-largest intra-league transfer of the offseason [1] and the largest known transfer total in Reign history, double the 2020 transfer of Crystal Dunn to the Thorns for $250 thousand, though it's unknown how much the Reign paid in their transfer fee to PSG when they first got the Canadian international.

Huitema scored 13 NWSL goals (16 all comps) during her four years with the Reign, though it's worth noting that she joined the team midway through the 2022 season. She played well during 2022 - when the Reign took home the NWSL Shield - and had her best season in 2023 as the Reign went to the NWSL Championship, though lost it to Gotham. After Megan Rapinoe's retirement, Rose Lavelle's signing with Gotham, the team's retool/rebuild for 2024, and a mid-season injury derailed Huitema for that season, and although 2025 was better, the Reign evidently saw more value in trusting a trio of forwards in Maddie Dahlien, Mia Fishel, and Emeri Adames.

Perhaps Huitema will go down as one of the Reign's biggest what-ifs. What if Ji So-yun maintained her play quality from her Chelsea prime, better connecting with Huitema and the rest of the top line in a year that was intended to be more of a retool than a rebuild? What if she didn't have that injury in 2024? And so on and so forth. We'll never know, but now Seattle is moving on.

Ruby Hladek, a forward out of the Division I Western Athletic Conference's Utah Valley University Wolverines, had already been training with the Reign preseason as a non-roster invite. Like many of Seattle's players (and unlike the outgoing Huitema, who was solely a striker), Hladek has a fair amount of positional versatility. She is primarily a left winger but has also logged games in the number 10 role for UVU, and ended the 2025 season with 13 assists, 15 goals, and 73 shots. Her assist total led the WAC, while her goals and shots were both second to teammate Faith Webber's 22 and 150, respectively.

Webber and Hladek worked as a unit during their time at UVU, with Hladek often (definitely not always, see Hladek's shots and goals above) being the one to drop back and set up the plays even when both were heading a 4-4-2, a tendency that leads me to believe Hladek might play some time as a number 10 in addition to supplementing Maddie Dahlien on the left side. It's worth noting that Hladek's contract only extends through June, so the first half of the season is going to be a testing ground for the newly-signed Reign to see if she can play at the top level.

Meanwhile, top level for the Reign is going to require them to utilize their newfound transfer money. Sending Huitema to Chicago was a clear indication that the team is willing to shake things up in search of a return to the top echelons, but they have to cash in the chips. The NWSL is ever-defined by its stars, and Seattle may need a new one to complete the team up top. There are burgeoning talents in Fishel, Adames, Dahlien, Sam Meza, Sally Menti, and so forth - and the Reign already boast the starting USWNT keeper in Claudia Dickey - but perhaps a splash will be what turns this team from good to great.

In the meantime, Groundhog Day: the Reign open the 2026 season in Orlando on Sunday for their third straight meaningful game against the Pride.

1. Claire Hutton to Bay FC for $1.1 million, Croix Bethune to Kansas City for $1 million, Ludmila to San Diego for $800 thousand, and Emily Sams to Orlando for $650 thousand.