Vegas hasn’t had particularly strong goaltending in the early going this season with starter Adin Hill struggling, in particular. Now, they’ve added a third netminder to their roster as the team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled Akira Schmid from AHL Henderson.
The Golden Knights acquired the 24-year-old from New Jersey at the draft along with winger Alexander Holtz in exchange for center Paul Cotter and a 2025 third-round pick. Schmid was then non-tendered by Vegas to avoid giving him arbitration eligibility but he quickly signed a two-year, $1.75MM contract to stick around with his new team.
Schmid made quite an impact with New Jersey in 2022-23, playing to a 2.13 GAA and a .922 SV% in 18 games, even seeing some action in the playoffs. However, he didn’t have anywhere near the level of success last season, posting a 3.15 GAA with a .895 SV% in 19 outings and was eventually assigned to the minors when Jake Allen and Kaapo Kahkonen were acquired at the trade deadline.
While it originally looked like Schmid might be the backup to Hill when he was acquired, Vegas went out and signed Ilya Samsonov in free agency which put an end to any thought of that. Instead, the Golden Knights utilized his waiver exemption to get him to the Silver Knights. However, he has struggled with them in the early going this season, putting up a 3.56 GAA and a SV% of just .885 in his first six outings. Notably, Schmid is eight NHL appearances away from being waiver-eligible. SinBin.Vegas notes (Twitter link) that Samsonov is not on the ice for practice today which is what led to Schmid’s promotion.
Vegas had an open spot on its active roster so no corresponding move needed to be made to add Schmid.