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 US, 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 NHL teams spent Friday clearing out salary cap space with some big-money buyouts on the eve of free agency.
The Nashville Predators led the way by buying out Matt Duchene’s contract. The 32-year-old centre had three years left on his deal at an annual cap hit of $8 million US.
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 defenceman 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.
Shifting into win soon mode, Chicago 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.
Among other moves around the league, the New York Rangers tendered qualifying offers to defenceman K’Andre Miller and 2020 top pick Alexis Lafreniere, among others. They did not qualify defenceman Libor Hajek, meaning he’ll become an unrestricted free agent.
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