The Pens want to add via trade, and Vegas’s Nic Hague looks like a good place to start
The NHL’s decision to hold a “decentralized” draft this year, where teams remain in their home cities (akin to the NFL draft) instead of the traditional venue where they all meet on the same floor at the host city means that the recently completed NHL draft combine was the event where all the managers were in the same place at the same time.
Given that the trade market resets and teams start to think about the moves needed for cap compliance now, wheels are starting to turn about which pieces are going to fit where. Penguins GM Kyle Dubas acknowledged as much that younger players may no longer be a fit with their current teams and could be targets for the Pens.
One such name is Vegas defenseman Nicolas Hague. Nick Kypreos tied Pittsburgh and the Montreal Canadiens as two teams interested in the 26-year old defender.
Fourth Period’s Dave Pagnotta set the stage last week to give more detail on the situation. As usual, Vegas is tight to the cap but still has ambitions to wheel and deal in order to aggressively seek improvements. That could price Hague out for them, considering that the Golden Knights already have Shea Theodore and Noah Hanifin as high-end (and high-priced) left side defenders. Brayden McNabb is an unheralded but very nice fit with the club as well, marginalizing Vegas’s need for Hague even further as the defender begins to become more expensive in his approach to unrestricted free agency.
Speaking of Vegas, the Golden Knights have just over $9.6 million in salary cap space and a few decent holes to fill. Word on the street is they are entertaining calls on defenceman Nic Hague, who is set to become a restricted free agent July 1 and is due for a solid paycheck.
Multiple sources indicated this week that Vegas has already started to engage in trade discussions involving Hague, who brings size, accountability and a championship pedigree to any club looking to strengthen their defensive corps. Several teams will be poking around, and this should be something to keep an eye on leading up to Draft weekend.
For the Pens, someone like Nic Hague makes a lot of sense. Young, has incredible size and could be the type of stay-at-home partner for one of their right shot blueliners of Erik Karlsson or Kris Letang.
Pittsburgh’s left side defense outlook for next year is incredibly weak with only Ryan Graves, Ryan Shea and Vladislav Kolyachonok signed for next season, along with prospect Owen Pickering waiting in the wings. Dubas has outright said that addressing that very weak position is a task that he has this offseason. Hague isn’t Chris Pronger or anything, but he should be able to be a 18-20 minute second pair type of defender that will acquit himself a lot better than the names like Graves and Shea that the Pens have available.
Hague is also something of a redemption candidate, he didn’t have the best 2024-25 and his ice time went down to a 17 minute average. That’s usually the case with “buy low” type of candidates, they wouldn’t be available if they were coming off incredibly strong seasons.
If the Pens could get Hague back towards his results and impact in 2023-24 as a capable defender, his value as a potential future trade chip to a contender or value on the ice to them as a competent NHL player would be a nice addition for either way they wanted to take it. Vegas should be a very motivated seller since their blueline is stocked and they need the certainty of keeping salary cap space clear for future moves. It’s been rumored that Montreal, and in some places Philadelphia might also be in the running to add Hague, which will make his destination something to track and monitor as the draft draws close on June 27th.
Debating the merits of a player like Hague and what he may be able to add to the organization ought to be a topic of conversation for Pittsburgh in the coming days and weeks as they conduct their pro scouting meetings and also incorporate the feedback of new coach Dan Muse to figure out how well a player like this might (or might not) fit within the new schemes and strategies that the Pens will be using. If it’s a fit, it could be a nice opportunity to improve.