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NHL Trade Rumors

Friedman Says Teams Are Wondering If Golden Knights Are Up To Something

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Bill Foley and Kelly McCrimmon Vegas Golden Knights owner and general manager (Photo- Vegas Golden Knights via Twitter)

Nicolas Hague.

He’s a player we have been discussing a lot over the past couple of weeks as he remains the Vegas Golden Knight’s only remaining restricted free agent with training camp underway.

The Golden Knights are playing hardball on Hague’s extension and have not budged from their qualifying offer. Term doesn’t appear to not be the issue; it’s money.

On Friday, Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman speculated if Hague’s delayed extension has anything to do with the Golden Knights making a bigger move.

“I don’t think there is any doubt that Vegas wants the player. But with all these injuries they have a bit of cap room now. You know how Vegas is, they are always wanting to do thing. So there are a couple of teams wondering if Vegas is up to something,” said Friedman on the 32 Thoughts Podcast.

With the announcement of Nolan Patrick, Robin Lehner, and Shea Weber all heading to LTIR, the Golden Knights have roughly $3.8 million in cap space, plenty of enough space to sign Hague.

So what’s up? Are the Golden Knights up to something? Who is even out on the trade market?

Golden Knights Trade Rumors

It’s hard to speculate on who the Golden Knights are after, if anyone at all. Notable players in the final year of their contracts in 2022-23 include David Pastrnak, Vladamir Tarasenko, and, of course, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews.

This past offseason, the Golden Knights shed three scoring wingers in Max Pacioretty, Evgenii Dadonov, and Mattias Janmark. They have only really replaced these three with the Phil Kessel signing and hope that captain Mark Stone will be 100% for the upcoming season.

So will the Golden Knights be going after a big name winger? It’s tough to say, especially given that training camp just started and teams are just getting adjusted to their opening night rosters.

I wouldn’t bet on a trade. But keep in mind which team we are dealing with here, as the Golden Knights are seemingly always in on the biggest fish on the NHL trade market.

Here’s the full podcast. Great stuff from them, as always. VGK talk is 16 minutes in.