At 23 Years Old, Nicolas Hague Has A Bright Ahead Future With Golden Knights

Welcome back to Vegas Hockey Now’s season in review series where we look at every player on the Vegas Golden Knights and their 2021-22 season from Michael Amadio to Zach Whitecloud.

You can catch up on the series here: Michael Amadio, Reilly Smith, Jonas Rondbjerg, Keegan Kolesar, Robin Lehner, Alex Pietrangelo, Nolan Patrick, Shea Theodore, Jake Leschyshyn, Mark Stone, Max Pacioretty, Laurent Brossoit, Mattias Janmark, William Carrier, Jack Eichel, Nicolas Roy, Chandler Stephenson, Jonathan Marchessault, Ben Hutton, and Dylan Coghlan.

Today’s player is Nicolas Hague.

NICOLAS HAGUE

Stats: 52 GP 4-10-14 PTS
Contract: Restricted Free Agent
Games Missed: 30
Status: Injured (Lower-body)
VHN’s Grade: C+

Overall Thoughts

Nicolas Hague is now the highest remaining pick from the 2017 NHL Draft for the Golden Knights as Cody Glass, Nick Suzuki, and Erik Brannstrom have all been traded. The Golden Knights have high hopes for Hague and played him on the top pairing with Alex Pietrangelo as much as they could in 2021-22 as defensive injuries increased Hague to play an average of 18:39 minutes per game.

Injuries in the second half of the season slowed down his development in his third season in the NHL. Still, Hague is a solid young option for the Golden Knights on defense at only 23 years of age. He is just one of the new batch of young defensemen the VGK have as depth in the organization.

Highlights

Hague put up 14 points in 21-22, just three shy of his career-high. Most of his goals came from the blue line, but this one, in particular, came in the slot against the Detroit Red Wings, topped with a falling celly.

Nicolas Hague gets the #VGK on the board! pic.twitter.com/nf5UAXxfUB

— AT&T SportsNet™ | RM West (@ATTSportsNetRMW) November 19, 2021

What’s Next?

Hague has a lot of potential to advance his game with the Golden Knights in 2022-23. But if you ask me, something doesn’t feel right. With how deep the Golden Knights are on defense, and general manager Kelly McCrimmon’s tendency of always being in on the big fish, he could be a player asked for in a trade.

I could see Hague being traded to sweeten a blockbuster deal. If not, he will continue to grow in the Golden Knights organization as a young defenseman.

Hague also needs a new contract, as his entry-level deal is up. He shouldn’t cost much to resign, but the Golden Knights only have around $5.2 million in cap space. Nicolas Roy, Keegan Kolesar, Brett Howden, Jake Leschyshyn, Jonas Rondbjerg, Mattias Janmark, and Reilly Smith all have expiring contracts too.