Hart Starts and Hill Backs Up for VGK | Ryan Rose

by Ryan Rose

What Happened

SinBin.vegas published a breakdown on September 9, 2026 laying out the Golden Knights goaltending picture for the coming season. The piece confirmed the depth chart: Hart is the clear starter, Hill is the backup.

This is the fifth straight year the team has entered a season with a defined pecking order rather than a true open competition. Last season it was Hill first and Schmid second. The season before that it was Hill and Logan Thompson. The Stanley Cup year opened with Thompson starting ahead of Hill.

The name that has not changed through any of it is Sean Burke. Burke is the Golden Knights Director of Goaltending. He took that role before the 2022-23 season and he still has it. He is the person who decides who plays and when, and his pattern is remarkably consistent.

Burke does not ride one goalie into the ground. He picks a favorite and then uses the other guy on a regular schedule anyway, even in weeks with no back-to-back games. Over the last four seasons his preferred split has landed around 65 percent of the starts for the number one and 35 percent for the number two. He also swaps goalies for every single back-to-back set, and he has held to that even when the room was banged up.

The first 20 games of each season under Burke tell the story clearly. In 2022-23, the starter got 13 and the backup got 7, with one back-to-back. In 2023-24, it was 12 and 8 with three back-to-backs. In 2024-25, 13 and 7 with two. Last season, 2025-26, it was 13 and 7 with three.

Here is where this year gets interesting. Vegas has only two back-to-backs in its first 20 games, and both of them are road sets. That is a light number by Burke's standards. Fewer back-to-backs means fewer automatic nights off for the starter.

SinBin.vegas projected Hill into the second half of both of those road sets, October 13 at Nashville and November 3 at Pittsburgh. Hart is projected to take the home opener on September 29 against Chicago at T-Mobile Arena, and then to come right back three nights later on October 2 against Anaheim.

Focused ice hockey goaltender in full pads holding the stick across the goal mouth

Run that projection out across the full 20-game stretch and Hart takes roughly 14 of them. Stretch the 65/35 split across a full 82-game season and you land at about 55 starts for whoever holds the number one job and stays healthy.

That number matters because it is rare here. Since Burke took over goaltending decisions, only one Golden Knights goalie has started 50 games in a season, and that was Hill in 2024-25. Go back through the whole franchise history and the only other goalie to pass 50 starts is Marc-Andre Fleury, who started 61 in 2018-19.

SinBin.vegas also published its game by game projection for the opening stretch. Treat it as an educated guess and not a team announcement, because the Golden Knights have not released a goalie schedule. Still, it is the clearest picture available of how the fall could break.

The projection puts Hart in net on September 29 against Chicago, October 2 against Anaheim, October 6 at Seattle, October 8 against Toronto, October 12 at Minnesota, October 15 against Calgary, October 17 against Pittsburgh, October 20 against Tampa Bay, October 24 at Columbus, October 27 against Ottawa, November 2 at Boston, November 5 at Detroit, and November 11 against Utah.

Hill draws October 4 at Vancouver, October 10 against Los Angeles, October 13 at Nashville, October 22 at St. Louis, October 30 against New Jersey, November 3 at Pittsburgh, and November 8 at Buffalo. That is seven starts for Hill and 13 for Hart, right in line with what Burke has done every year he has held the job.

Hockey players in red practice jerseys skating a drill on an indoor ice rink

Why It Matters to Las Vegas Residents

If you have tickets to a Golden Knights game this fall, this is the most useful thing you can know before you buy. Knowing the rotation tells you which nights you are likely to see the number one goalie on the ice.

Season ticket holders in Summerlin, Henderson, and the southwest valley plan their winters around this team. A 41-game home schedule at T-Mobile Arena is a real commitment of time and money. Families trade games, sell a few, and keep the ones that matter most. Being able to guess the goalie helps you decide which nights to keep.

There is also a simple emotional reason this matters. The Golden Knights are the thing that pulled this valley together as a sports town. Las Vegas did not have a major league team until 2017. Now the franchise is entering its tenth season, and the goalie question is the one every fan at a Green Valley coffee shop or a Centennial Hills barbershop has an opinion about.

The workload angle carries real risk, and locals feel that risk. A goalie who plays 55 games is a goalie who can wear down. The Golden Knights are coming off a Stanley Cup Final loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, which means last season ran long and this offseason ran short. Everyone in the building had less recovery time than usual.

Beyond the arena, this team is a real economic engine for Clark County. Home games move people into the resort corridor on weeknights. They fill restaurants, rideshares, and parking structures. When the team plays well and plays deep into spring, that spending stretches for weeks longer. A healthy, settled goaltending situation is one of the quiet things that keeps a season on track.

There is a practical side for parents too. The Golden Knights are the reason youth hockey grew here at all. When a valley kid watches a goalie make 35 saves on a Tuesday night, some of those kids ask to try the position. The rinks in Summerlin, Henderson, and North Las Vegas have been absorbing that demand for years, and it starts with what happens at T-Mobile Arena.

Background and History

Goaltending has been the strangest and most successful part of this franchise since day one. The Golden Knights have never followed the normal script, where a team finds a franchise goalie and rides him for a decade.

Fleury set the early standard. His 61 starts in 2018-19 is still the franchise record for workload, and it is a reminder of how rarely Vegas has leaned that hard on one man in net.

Since Burke arrived before the 2022-23 season, the approach has been different. The team names a starter, keeps a capable backup, and shares the work on purpose. That approach has survived roster turnover at the position over and over again. Thompson, Hill, Schmid, and now Hart have all rotated through the depth chart, and the system has not changed.

Wide action view of an ice hockey game with skaters closing on the goaltender in the crease

Last season showed exactly why the depth matters. Hill got hurt, missed a game, came back, and then was forced out again for a few months. The team kept rotating anyway. Carl Lindbom ended up starting eight times in a 17-game span while the club waited for Hart to become eligible to play.

That stretch is a good argument against assuming any projection holds all year. The plan is a plan. Injuries write their own schedule. Vegas found out the hard way that a third goalie is not a luxury, and Lindbom is the name to remember if something goes sideways this winter.

Hart's road to the top of the depth chart also ran through last spring. Starting all 22 playoff games is about as strong a statement as a goalie can make. A coaching staff does not hand a goalie the entire postseason unless it trusts him completely. That trust is what carried into September.

It is worth noting how unusual the last four depth charts have been. Four different pairings in four seasons, and the team kept winning through every version of it. That is a credit to how Burke develops and manages the position. It is also a warning that the name at the top of the chart in September is not always the name at the top in April.

The 65/35 split is not a rule written on a wall. It is a pattern that has emerged from four years of decisions. The Golden Knights have never publicly committed to a percentage. What we have is the record of what Burke actually did, and that record has been steady enough that fans can plan around it.

What Happens Next

Training camp opens this week, with the Golden Knights working out of City National Arena in Summerlin. Camp is short this year because the Stanley Cup Final run pushed the calendar, and the preseason schedule is thin. That means both goalies have limited game reps to sort anything out before it counts.

The regular season opens September 29 against Chicago at T-Mobile Arena. Watch the first two weeks closely. If Hart takes the opener and then the October 2 game against Anaheim, the projection is tracking. If Hill gets the second game, the split is looser than expected and the season could turn into a true rotation.

The two dates to circle are October 13 at Nashville and November 3 at Pittsburgh. Those are the second halves of the only two back-to-backs in the first 20 games. Burke has swapped goalies on every back-to-back since he took the job, so those are the two nights where Hill is the safest bet.

After that, the numbers take over. If Hart is playing well by American Thanksgiving and the team is winning, he will keep the job and the start total will climb toward that 55-game range. If he struggles, Hill has been a starter in this building before and knows how to carry the load.

The wild card is health. Last season proved that a goalie injury can flip the whole plan inside a week. If either Hart or Hill misses time, Lindbom is the next name up, and the rotation math goes out the window. Watch the injury report as closely as you watch the standings.

One more thing to keep in perspective: none of this is an official team plan. The Golden Knights have not announced a starter publicly or released a goalie schedule. What we have is the depth chart as reported and four years of a very consistent pattern. Any specific date beyond the opener should be treated as a projection. [NOT VERIFIED]

Hockey goaltender in a red jersey down on the ice in the crease ready to stop a shot

Ryan's Take

I sell homes in this valley, and I can tell you the Golden Knights changed what it feels like to live here. Before 2017, Las Vegas was the city everybody visited and nobody rooted for. Now there is a team that belongs to us, and the goalie argument is a real neighborhood conversation.

I hear it when I show houses in Summerlin, especially anywhere near City National Arena. Buyers with kids in youth hockey ask about ice time and rink access the same way other buyers ask about school zones. That is a genuine shift in what people value in a Las Vegas neighborhood, and it has held up for almost ten years now.

I would not claim a goaltending depth chart moves home prices. It does not, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something. What a strong franchise does is slower and more durable. It gives people a reason to stay, a reason to buy season tickets, and a reason to tell friends back home that Las Vegas is a real city with real seasons and real traditions. That matters when families decide where to plant roots.

The practical version of that for a buyer is commute and access. If you are moving here and you know you will go to 15 or 20 games a year, think about how you will get to T-Mobile Arena on a Tuesday in January. Summerlin and the southwest have a straight shot down the 215. Henderson buyers usually take the 215 west or the 15 north. Green Valley and Anthem are farther out but still manageable. Downtown and the Arts District are close enough to skip the car entirely on some nights.

My honest read on this particular story is that it is good news for the fan base. A defined starter with a proven backup is the calmest version of this position the team has had in a while. It removes the weekly guessing game and lets everyone watch hockey instead of arguing about lineup cards.

What You Can Do

If you want to see the goalies up close before the games count, training camp at City National Arena in Summerlin is your best window. The Golden Knights have historically opened camp practices to the public. Check the team's official schedule and social channels for the current session times and any entry rules, since those change year to year.

If you are buying tickets for T-Mobile Arena, use the back-to-back pattern to plan. Nights that follow a road game or sit inside a compressed week are the likeliest backup nights. Home games that stand alone in the schedule, with a day or two of rest on either side, are the likeliest starter nights.

If your kids want to play, Las Vegas has real options now. The Henderson Silver Knights play at Lee's Family Forum in Henderson and are a much cheaper night out than an NHL game. Youth and adult leagues run out of City National Arena in Summerlin and Lifeguard Arena in downtown Henderson. Call the rinks directly for session schedules and learn-to-play programs.

If you want to follow the goalie story closely without chasing rumors, stick to the team's own channels and local outlets that cover the beat every day. Depth charts change fast in hockey. A waiver claim, a trade, or one bad week can reshuffle everything, and social media will run ahead of the facts every single time.

Have questions about how this affects your home or neighborhood? Reach out to Ryan Rose or text/call 702-747-5921 anytime.