The Vegas Golden Knights have acquired goaltender Adin Hill from the San Jose Sharks for a fourth round pick in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft. The move comes on the heels of injuries to Robin Lehner and Laurent Brossoit.
It is expected that Hill will be the back up to Logan Thompson when the season begins on October 11. With Lehner out for the season recovering from hip surgery and Brossoit still recovering from his own hip surgery, the Golden Knights were potentially set to go with Thompson and Michael Hutchinson between the pipes.
The move does give the Golden Knights some relief when it comes to their goaltending situation. “This puts another really good goalie in our organization and in our mix. It gives us a lot more comfort going into the year. I believe Adin has a lot of ability and he has really good size,” stated Vegas general manager Kelly McCrimmon.
This also means Hutchinson will likely remain as the starter for the Henderson Silver Knights in the AHL when the season begins.
Last season with the Sharks, the six-foot, six inch goaltender played in 25 games, starting in 22 of them, and had a 10-11-1 record with a .906 save percentage and a 2.66 goals against average. In the final three months of the season with the Sharks, Hill dealt with a lower-body injury himself, which limited him to just a single game during that time frame. He comes into the 2022-23 season with a clean bill of health.
In his NHL career, Hill has a record of 29-32-5 with 5 shutouts, a ,908 save percentage and 2,74 goals against average. Prior to his tenure with the Sharks, Hill bounced between the Arizona Coyotes in the NHL and at AHL Tucson. The Connox, British Columbia na
tive became expendable for the Sharks as they also had James Reimer and Kaapo Kahkonen on their roster.
As for the cap space situation with the Golden Knights, Hill is due $2.175 million on the final year of his contract this season. With Lehner and Shea Weber both on the LTIR, the team has approximately $2.5 million of relief left. The team is still actively trying to re-sign restricted free agent Nic Hague, who has been a mainstay for the defense since its inception. The Golden Knights also just signed veteran forward Phil Kessel to a one-year deal just last week worth $1.5 million.