The Vegas Golden Knights are on the verge of having a serious hole in their lineup behind starting goaltender Adin Hill, who is under contract for the next 6 years.
The Vegas Golden Knights have decided to extend starting goaltender Adin Hill for the next 6 years, paying him an AAV (average annual value) of $6.25 million.
And by all indications, backup Ilya Samsonov, who signed a 1-year deal with the Golden Knights last summer, won't be back, meaning there will be a considerable void behind Hill to fill.
While former New Jersey Devils backup Akira Schmid stepped in for Samsonov when he was unavailable due to injury, how comfortable is Vegas having him as the full-time backup behind Hill?
Via Hannah Kirkell of Vegas Hockey Now, Schmid might not be the right candidate.
The issue with Schmid is his inconsistency. He played poorly in 2023-24, finished the season in the AHL, and hasn't managed to play his way back to the NHL since.I'm sure the Golden Knights will give Schmid every opportunity to fight for the backup role. However, he'll need competition- real competition- so that brings us to Free Agency.
Kirkell then suggests names like Detroit Red Wings goaltender Alex Lyon and New Jersey Devils goaltender Jake Allen as prime candidates to fill the full-time backup position, while also throwing out names like Cal Pettersson and Jack Campbell.
Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon is going to have his work cut out for him this summer to not only find the right solution for backup goaltender, but also adding prime talent up front (Mitch Marner, anyone?).
