Did the Golden Knights Just Find Their Future Goaltender?
The Vegas Golden Knights may have just come up with an answer to their goaltending dilemma.
On Monday, Vegas acquired 26-year-old goalie Adin Hill from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for a fourth-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. The former Sharks and Arizona Coyotes netminder will have an opportunity to compete for playing time this season in Sin City.
As everyone knows by now, Robin Lehner, the Golden Knights’ starter from a season ago, will miss the entire 2022-2023 campaign, leaving this team with a gaping hole at one of its most important positions.
Laurent Brossoit and Logan Thompson would presumably be the starter and backup for Vegas this season, but don’t discount just how impactful Hill could be.
Adin Hill could be the Golden Knights’ solution in goal.
Last season, behind a bad Sharks defense, Hill played in 25 games (22 starts) and went 10-11-1 with a 2.66 goals against average (GAA) and a .906 save percentage. In his career, he has appeared in 74 contests and has recorded a respectable 2.74 GAA and a .908 save percentage.
By no means are Hill’s numbers dazzling, but consider the fact that he has been stuck playing for the Coyotes and Sharks the entire time. All things considered, I’d say he’s made out pretty well.
The Golden Knights are a far superior team, and if he gets the chance to suit up, he could prove to be a long-term answer in Vegas.
He reminds me a little bit of Darcy Kuemper in the sense that he has struggled to get consistent minutes and has taken his lumps on underwhelming teams. Kuemper often flew under the radar on bad rosters, but once added to a stronger roster, he helped his team win the Stanley Cup.
While Hill does not have the numbers that Kuemper did in some of his early seasons, I think the potential exists for the 2015 third-round pick to take a similar step forward with the Golden Knights.
He is scheduled to make $2.175 million this season, which seems steep given the state of the Golden Knights’ salary cap situation. With that said, his deal expires after this season, so Vegas is not locked into anything.
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Having options in goal is never bad, and Adin Hill is the newest option for the Knights. If he can earn some minutes and emerge as a reliable netminder, Vegas may find that they’ve fixed their goaltending in the short-term as well as the long-term.