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Golden Knights Free Agency

As Training Camp Nears, Talks With Hague Are Reportedly Slow

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Nicolas Hague Goal Celebration Vegas Golden Knights

There are currently nine restricted free agents in the NHL that need new contracts for the 2022-23 season. While most of the focus is on Dallas Stars sniper Jason Robertson, the Vegas Golden Knights, have one player on this list, defenseman Nicolas Hague.

Capped Contracts

As pointed out by Jack Manning, the Golden Knights currently have 49 players under contract with Phil Kessel and Adin Hill now in the mix. The maximum number of contracts an NHL team can sign is 50, so the last remaining spot for the VGK will go to Hague, once he signs.

Little Talks

But the current issue is getting a deal done. According to Fox 5 Vegas’ Vince Sapienza, there have been “very few talks between both parties,” and there has also been “very little dialogue since early July.”

He also reports that if a deal is not done by training camp, he expects Hague to not participate in camp and train elsewhere. Golden Knights training camp starts on Wednesday, September 21.

During his media availabilities that announced the Phil Kessel signing and Adin Hill trade, Golden Knight’s general manager said that signing Hague would be “priority number one” for the team.

Cap Space

With Kessel and Hill now in the mix and Robin Lehner likely set to move to LTIR, the Golden Knights have roughly $1.3 million in available cap space.

It’s hard to speculate on exact numbers when it comes to Hague’s contract extension. But what we can do is compare him to other young defensemen in the NHL and on the Golden Knights.

In October 2021, 24-year old defenseman Zach Whitecloud signed a six-year extension worth $2.75 million per season. Just today, the Los Angeles Kings signed Mikey Anderson, a top-four RFA defenseman to a one-year $1 million deal.

D-Corps

The Golden Knights blue line is one of the strongest in the NHL. Losing Hague to either a trade, contract holdout, or offer sheet would be a tough blow, but the VGK have pieces to replace him. Ben Hutton, who signed as a late free agent, proved to be a reliable D-partner for Alex Pietrangelo last season.

Alec Martinez and Brayden McNabb provide solid two-way play whilst Whitecloud and Shea Theodore are two of the team’s top young defensemen. The Golden Knights also have several solid young defensive prospects that are ready to make the leap into the NHL such as Kaedan Korczak, Daniil Miromanov, and eventually Lukas Cormier