June 30: Vegas has confirmed Hill’s extension at $4.9MM per season over two years. PuckPedia confirms the breakdown of his contract:
2023-24: $1.6MM base salary, $4MM signing bonus, eight-team no-trade list
2024-25: $4.2MM base salary, five-team no-trade list
June 25: The Vegas Golden Knights captured their franchise’s first-ever Stanley Cup earlier this month, and while he didn’t end up winning the Conn Smythe Trophy the work of netminder Adin Hill played a significant role in getting Vegas over the line.
Now it appears Vegas is nearing a contract extension agreement with Hill, 27, who was set to hit the open market July 1st. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman has reported that Hill is “looking at an extension in Vegas around the 2x$4.9M range,” and that nothing is official at this time.
PuckPedia made a point that will be central to the reception of this contract, which is that Hill’s reported $4.9MM cap hit “would put him just outside a top 16 starter in Cap Hit. Based on last season, at that cap hit he would be expected to play 50+ games.” That’s potentially going to be an issue for Hill, as the last time he was a true full-time goalie for a full season was with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks back in 2015-16.
In recent years Hill has consistently battled injuries, and even though he had injury troubles this season as well he actually set a career-high in NHL games played with 27.
The six-foot-four 27-year-old played quite well in those 27 games, posting a 16-7-1 record and a .915 save percentage, but those numbers won’t deliver enough return on Vegas’ $4.9MM AAV investment unless he can handle a higher workload.
Even with those concerns about availability, it’s abundantly clear why Vegas made the choice to extend Hill and reward him for his playoff heroics. Hill’s playoff performance stepping in after an injury to Laurent Brossoit was genuinely stunning, and his .932 save percentage in 16 games is a testament to that. Hill’s out-of-this-world save on Nick Cousins to set the tone for the Stanley Cup Final is going to be a moment long remembered in hockey history, and while NHL clubs probably shouldn’t let sentimentality influence major financial decisions, Vegas’ desire to keep their playoff hero around for longer than just one season is completely understandable.
There are going to be fans that snicker at Hill receiving a per-year cap hit nearly as high as what Darcy Kuemper, a tried-and-tested, durable NHL starter received on the open market after winning his own Stanley Cup. That’s an understandable point of view given just how spotty Hill’s track record has been in past years. He was let go by San Jose last summer for a mid-round draft pick, after all.
But in the end, this is a player who shouldered a significant amount of responsibility in high-leverage moments and led his team to a Stanley Cup. 26-year-old Logan Thompson, who impressed as a rookie this past season, will cost Vegas just $766k against the cap for the duration of this Hill contract extension. So assuming Vegas runs a Hill-Thompson tandem, they’ll be paying their netminders under $6MM combined, a totally affordable number.
The presence of Robin Lehner and his $5MM cap hit on Vegas’ books complicates things, especially if he plans on returning to the ice after missing the season due to hip surgeries. But with the start of free agency looming, locking up Hill and therefore a two-goalie tandem for the next two seasons is a solid bit of business, assuming Hill can stay healthy.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
I hope that Vegas pays accordingly, They would be foolish to get into a bidding war for an easily replaceable backup, I’m aware of Hill’s playoff performances this past spring but it is a very tiny sample size of success.
You actually got something right, Wilf. Congratulations.
Come on! I always have something interesting to say!!!! Lol.
Interesting and correct are not always the same thing
Lehner is an interesting trade target.
Probably costs nothing to acquire but you take the risk of his hip not healing.
And get him away from the snake farm….good luck!
Lehner Is likely to land on LTIR, Wherever he ends up he will be a huge distraction, The last thing I read about Lehner not including his Injury issues was that he bought an exotic snake farm and that he’s filing for bankruptcy. Always an interesting guy as long as he’s not on your payroll.
Bit of an overpay. Thompson is at a bargain price right now, so the tandem is still very reasonably priced, but still, this is going to make it difficult to add an impact forward.
Assuming Thompson is healthy, I’d expect about a 50/50 splint. If Hill has a solid season it wouldn’t shock me to see Vegas sell-high and try to trade him next off-season.
It’s a HUGE overpay to someone who had a good half-season. The saving grace is the short term.
Keep him in the west. More opportunity for us fans to see the goalie fight between him and Binnington. If both of those lunatics are going to keep pulling the BS that they do, we deserve to see them have a punch in the face contest.
Nice haul for a backup, Thompson is clearly more talented and is the starter as far as I’m concerned.
Guessing that the Knights are not worried about your concerns.
I mean, they canned Smith for Hill…..not what I would have done. Really curious to see what Jarry gets
overpayment for a backup who was only good for a couple weeks
His improvement is 100% from working with Sean Burke. Watch Vegas turn into a goalie factory. Burke has been a product of Allaire and Jacques Caron. Hill using his size to his advantage and became patient in the net.