The Vegas Golden Knights are committing to the goaltender that held down their crease during the team’s Stanley Cup run.
Adin Hill will return to Vegas on a two-year contract with a $4.9 million salary cap hit. The 27-year-old appeared in a career-high 27 games during the regular season, posting a .915 save percentage and +8.0 GSAA.
His work in the playoffs is what got him paid, though. Hill delivered a .932 save percentage in 16 postseason games after returning from a lower-body injury that caused him to miss the first round.
As a result of this deal, Hill now has the 19th-highest cap hit among all goaltenders. That could seem like a lot for a player with fewer than 100 regular-season starts in his NHL career (88), or it might be a bargain if what we just saw from Hill is reflective of what he will do in the next two years.
The extension leaves the Golden Knights with -$1.437 million in cap room, meaning the team has some work to do before the 2023-24 season starts. Vegas already had to make one significant cost-cutting move this offseason, trading Reilly Smith to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
From Hill’s perspective, this deal is a bit of a bet on himself as he may have been able to secure a longer term deal considering his relative youth and playoff heroics. It could be a savvy one, though, as in two years he will still be just 29, and by that time he may have put together a more sizeable track record.
The salary cap also projects to be $8.5 million higher in 2025-26 than it is this year. Hill might have a better chance of scoring a big contract in a market with more money flying around.
For now, this looks like a win-win as Hill gets the first significant contract of his career and has a good chance to cash in again. Vegas gets to bring back a player who was crucial to its championship run at a price that could be a strong value if he establishes himself as a solid starter.
