While the San Jose Sharks did make some notable additions in free agency this year, they've only made one major trade so far, acquiring goaltender Adin Hill from the Arizona Coyotes. In the deal, the Sharks gave up a second-round pick in next year’s NHL Draft, along with goaltender Josef Korenar, while also acquiring a seventh-round pick for next year.
Given where the Sharks are right now and the fact that they don’t have a surplus of picks, parting with what could potentially be an early second-round pick is a fairly big move for the team. That said, the organization clearly believes Hill can be a long-term solution in net.
Hill played 19 games with the Coyotes this past season, managing a .913 save percentage. It’s a good stat, but Hill has still played just 49 career NHL games over the last four seasons (managing just a .909 save percentage overall), and the netminder also has yet to play even 20 games in a single NHL season. He’s also just 25 years old, which is still relatively young for a goalie and realistically, Hill certainly shouldn’t be expected to come in and take over as a 60-game starter.
The good news is, the Sharks have a capable backup goalie in James Reimer, who can take on a high number of games, if needed. Ideally, the Sharks will give Hill every opportunity to take the starting role, given that Reimer won’t be a long-term fix. That said, it’s still helpful that the team has someone to turn to at times, so they don’t overwhelm Hill with a huge workload right away.
As a result, I think it’s reasonable to expect Hill to take on somewhere in the range of 45 games next season. If he can take on a little more than half the workload with the Sharks, it would be a big step in terms of transitioning him into a long-term starter in the years to come.
As for statistical markers, I think Hill managing anything around a .910 save percentage would be a success. We can expect that San Jose probably won’t be significantly better defensively next season and if Hill can get close to the .910 mark, it’s likely the equivalent of having much better numbers elsewhere.
The key here is that the team shouldn't rush Hill into a role that he isn’t ready for. We can expect that Hill and Reimer will share the workload next season, with Hill potentially taking on more games as the year goes on, if things are going well for him.
***NOTE: We've launched a HockeyBuzz Sharks Twitter account! For anyone interested, you can follow @HB_Sharks for updates on articles, Sharks news, etc.***
How many games do you expect Adin Hill to play next season?
San Jose Sharks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»