Vegas now $11 million over the cap after trade with Sharks

In case you missed it last night, the Vegas Golden Knights acquired goaltender Adin Hill from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for a 4th round draft pick.

The 26 year old goalie from Comox, BC will be tasked with carrying the load for Vegas this upcoming season, as starting netminder Robin Lehner is expected to miss the entire season while he recovers from hip surgery.

Hill spent the 2021-22 campaign in San Jose and appeared in a career-high 25 games with the Sharks, posting a 2.66 GAA and .906 save percentage with two shutouts. Before his time in San Jose, Hill played four seasons with the Coyotes after being drafted by Arizona in the third round (76th overall) of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft. The goaltender has seen action in a total of 74 NHL contests, earning a 2.74 GAA and .908 save percentage.

It's expected that Hill will share the crease with 25 year old netminder Logan Thompson in a bit of a 1A/1B scenario... albeit a bit of a step down from the Marc-Andre Fleury and Robin Lehner 1A/1B that Vegas boasted just a short time ago...

With Hill and his $2.65 million annual salary now on the payroll, the Golden Knights are nearly $11 million over the salary cap. Technically they're $10.2 million over the cap, but they'll get cap relief when they place Shea Weber's (yeah... remember that trade?) $7.8 million salary on long-term injury reserve (LTIR) and ditto for Lehner and his $5 million annual salary. It's also looking like Nolan Patrick will be placed on LTIR as well, which will free up a further $1.2 million. So... in effect, the Golden Knights have about $3 million in cap space if you include Patrick's salary.

It's also worth noting that RFA defenseman Nicholas Hague remains unsigned, but we can presume that he'll ink a new deal before the season starts. He's also not likely to break the bank on a new deal. There were reports however that other teams were interested in him on the trade front earlier this offseason.