The Golden Knights are in somewhat of an unusual spot heading into next season as both of their goaltenders are a year away from becoming unrestricted free agents. To that end, ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reports (Twitter link) that teams are showing interest in both Adin Hill and Logan Thompson.
Both netminders are still relatively inexperienced at the NHL level, all things considered. Hill has played parts of seven seasons but has just 123 career regular season starts under his belt between Arizona, San Jose, and Vegas. Thompson, meanwhile, has even less, with just 95 starts over parts of four years.
Hill played an integral role in the Golden Knights’ Stanley Cup title last year, helping earn him a two-year, $9.8MM contract soon after to avoid him reaching the open market last summer. The 28-year-old saw his numbers drop a bit this season although he still managed a 2.71 GAA with a .909 SV% in 35 games, both above the league average.
He was basically in a time-sharing situation with Thompson, who made 42 starts in 2023-24. His numbers were nearly identical to Hill’s, checking in at 2.70 and .908 respectively. The 27-year-old got the nod to start the playoffs but ceded the net to Hill for the final three games as they bowed out to Dallas in the opening round.
It’s worth noting that Thompson is one of the biggest bargains in the league between the pipes. His AAV checks in at $766.7K, below the minimum salary. With Vegas being quite tight to the salary cap once again this summer, they’d be hard-pressed to be persuaded to part Thompson knowing that whoever replaces him would cut into their already limited flexibility.
With their salary structure, it’s hard to see Vegas being able to afford to keep both goalies beyond the upcoming season. They should be able to afford to keep one of them but combined, they’d likely cost more than what GM Kelly McCrimmon can realistically afford to allocate to that position. With that in mind, it makes sense that teams are sniffing around to see which one might become available, if one is made available at all.
With Jacob Markstrom already having been moved, Linus Ullmark is the next-biggest name in play among NHL netminders and there are several teams who could be on the lookout for help between the pipes. As a result, it could be an intriguing trade market for netminders in the coming days.