Golden Knights, Adin Hill agree to 2-year extension: What new deal means for Vegas

The Golden Knights and goaltender Adin Hill have agreed to a two-year contract extension with an average annual value of $4.9 million, the team announced Friday. Here’s what you need to know:

Hill gets $5.6 million in year one (including a four million signing bonus) and $4.2 million in year two. The no-trade list is eight teams in year one and five teams in year two.During the Golden Knights’ run to the Stanley Cup, Hill recorded a .932 save percentage in the first NHL postseason of his career.

The 27 total games Hill played for Vegas and the 25 starts he earned last season were both career highs.

The 27-year-old stepped up in Game 3 of the Edmonton-Vegas second-round series to replace an injured Laurent Brossoit and started the following 14 games.

Vegas keeps its Stanley Cup-winning goalie without giving up a lot of terms. Yes, the price tag may be a bit high for a goalie who’s never started more than 25 games in a season, but the fact that it’s only for two years mitigates the risk.

After signing Ivan Barbashev to a five-year extension Thursday, this deal means they can return pretty much the entire roster from the championship team outside of Reilly Smith, who was traded to Pittsburgh to create cap space.  — Granger

What the extension means for Hill

Hill obviously wanted to take advantage of his sensational playoff run that earned him a sizable raise from his previous cap hit of only $2.175 million, but staying in Vegas was a priority. Not only does he love his teammates, the fans and the city, but he also played the best hockey of his life in that environment.

Bruce Cassidy’s structured zone defense combined with the Golden Knights’ strong blue line brought the best out of Hill. His best-case scenario in order to sustain that success was to stay put, and this extension accomplishes that. — Granger

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Adin Hill is returning to the Vegas Golden Knights after backstopping them to their first Stanley Cup title in franchise history.

The Golden Knights re-signed their playoff hero goaltender Friday to a $9.8 million, two-year deal that carries an annual salary cap hit of $4.9 million through 2025. Hill is the second contributor to the Cup run to get a new deal in Vegas after Ivan Barbashev signed a $25 million, five-year contract earlier in the week.

Hill won 11 of his 14 starts after stepping into the crease as an injury replacement for Laurent Brossoit midway through the second round. The 27-year-old journeyman–who had not played in the NHL playoffs before–led all goalies with a .932 save percentage and two shutouts.

Elsewhere around the league, a handful of teams spent the eve of free agency clearing cap space with big-money buyouts.

The Nashville Predators led the way by buying out Matt Duchene. The 32-year-old center had three years left on his deal at an annual cap hit of $8 million.

Duchene is the latest veteran player to leave Nashville since former coach Barry Trotz took over as general manager, replacing longtime executive David Poile. The Predators also traded Ryan Johansen to Colorado, continuing the path of a rebuild started when Poile dealt away a handful of players before the deadline in March.

The Winnipeg Jets also put former captain Blake Wheeler on unconditional waivers to buy out the final year of his contract. The Boston Bruins did the same with defenseman Mike Reilly, and the Detroit Red Wings took the same step with Kailer Yamomoto a day after acquiring him from the Edmonton Oilers.

Edmonton continued the process of bringing back key players, re-signing forward Mattias Janmark to a $1 million contract for next season. Ken Holland, looking to help reigning MVP Connor McDavid win the Stanley Cup in what could be his final year as GM, has made it clear the Oilers are firmly in win-now mode, so this is likely not the end of their dealings.

“I’m looking to win,” Holland said Tuesday. “I don’t invest in green bananas at this stage of my life.”

Shifting into win-soon mode, the Chicago Blackhawks signed winger Corey Perry to a $4 million contract for next season, a day after acquiring his rights from Tampa Bay. That was the latest step in their plan to surround No. 1 pick Connor Bedard with experienced players, which began earlier this week with a trade with Boston for forwards Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno.

Friday was also the deadline for teams to tender qualifying offers to restricted free agents.

The New York Rangers tendered defenseman K’Andre Miller and 2020 top pick Alexis Lafreniere, among others. They did not qualify defenseman Libor Hajek, meaning he’ll become an unrestricted free agent.

So will 21-goal scorer Daniel Sprong, who along with Morgan Geekie was not qualified by Seattle, despite having the best season of his NHL career. Also surprisingly not qualified were New Jersey forwards Michael McLeod and Nathan Bastian.

The buyout of Wheeler was expected after he looked to be on the outs in Winnipeg for some time. Incoming coach Rick Bowness stripped Wheeler of the captaincy last year in an attempt to fix the locker room culture around the Jets, and GM Kevin Cheveldayoff had been looking to trade the speedy winger who turns 37 on Aug. 31.