Hill is 5-3-0 in nine appearances this season with a 1.97 GAA, .926 save percentage and one shutout.
While it might seem obvious that a 6-foot-6, 202-pound goaltender with broad shoulders and vast athletic skills, chosen in the third round (No. 76) of the 2015 NHL Draft, should succeed in the NHL, that was far from a given for Hill.
Remember, for a long time, it wasn't certain that he would clear the upper-reaches of five feet. And short goalies do not find their way on to too many NHL rosters these days.
When Hill arrived in training camp with Portland of the Western Hockey League as an invitee, he was 15, still short, still under-developed. Though his father was just over 6-feet and his mother was 5-foot-8 and his feet were large, no one quite knew when Hill might shoot up.
Then, suddenly, the growth spurt that didn't seem to stop.
In the span of about a year, Hill shot up. He was 5-foot-4, then 5-foot-10, then 6-foot-4, and now is listed at 6-foot-6.
"I knew I was going to grow, for sure, I just didn't know I was going to grow so much," Hill said. "When I was 15 my feet were like size 12, so they were pretty oversized for my height. They're still the same size now.
"Now my feet look a little more normal with my legs."
When his body grew, his game had to adjust, as well. He had the fundamentals down, and the athletic abilities needed to survive as a shorter goaltender. He just needed to marry his old skills with his new frame.
"You could see he almost didn't really seem comfortable in his own body," Cardinal said. "We had to make some adjustments with his depth, how high he was playing in the net. We definitely brought it back a little bit. At the same time, because of his athleticism and because of the technical structure, it was just more so going back through with tactics to make things more efficient for him."
Hill no longer had to resort to pure athleticism to make saves. He became more structured. He adapted.
"Back then I played a lot more of a scrambly game, kind of all over the place, trying to be fast and quick," Hill said. "In that time, I've had to change my game a lot. That game doesn't translate well to pro hockey. I grew and that definitely helps - you want to be big as a goalie - but at the same time, I had to make a lot of adjustments to my game, make it more simple, more controlled, try not to be diving and sliding all over the place.
"It's been a big change for my game, but I feel like I'm still making the steps in that direction."