Adin Hill: a similar story to Miikka Kiprusoff

Adin Hill has been the Vegas Golden Knights’ biggest revelation since the start of the playoffs. He’s been simply breathtaking in front of the net, saving his team on numerous occasions in recent games.

But where does Adin Hill come from?

Hill is 27 years old. He was traded from the San Jose Sharks to the Golden Knights on August 29 in exchange for a fourth-round pick in 2024. Since the start of the playoffs, he’s been sparkling and proving that he can be an elite NHL goaltender.

His story is as similar as Miikka Kiprusoff’s.

Miikka Kiprusoff was traded from the Sharks to the Calgary Flames for a conditional pick on November 16, 2003, at the age of 27. He immediately became an important goaltender for the Flames, helping them reach the Stanley Cup Final that same year.

It was a bad move by the Sharks, but how could they know? A goalie’s development is so hard to follow.

Bob Hartley explained on BPM Sports that you have to give a goalie as many chances as possible before you can define his true potential. We’ve often seen goalkeepers wander around the NHL only to explode elsewhere. The problem is, it’s often short-lived.

If Adin Hill can keep up this pace next year and the years to follow, the Golden Knights will be able to boast of having hit a home run. In fact, they already can, because without Hill, I don’t know if it was possible for them to reach the finals.

On the other hand, there’s still a lot of work to be done if Hill is to have a career similar to Kiprusoff’s. The former Flames goaltender maintained a 2.46 goals-against average and 0.913 save percentage in nine seasons with Calgary.

Adin Hill’s playoff run also resembles Jordan Binnington’s in 2019. Binnington was in his very first full NHL season and guided his team to a Stanley Cup conquest. That’s exactly what Adin Hill could do if the trend continues.

The San Jose Sharks must already be regretting the transaction. Had they known, they could have asked for much more in return for Adin Hill.

In brief

– Two incredible events.

That looked familiar 😉

Congrats to Nick Taylor on winning the Canadian Open 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/n87YN3PHPy

– Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) June 12, 2023

– The former Jays star is having trouble negotiating with his team.

– Sometimes you can’t speak too soon.

“The advantage we Europeans have is that we play each other with high-level matches all the time. When we get to the World Cup, we’re ready, whereas Brazil and Argentina don’t have that level of preparation in South America.”

Europe 0 in 2 since those words from Mbappé. 😘 pic.twitter.com/a3YYF2YTPR

– Arcadio Marcuzzi (@_marcuzzi) June 12, 2023