Snapshots: Hague, Donskoi, Romanov

With the start of the season fast approaching for the 30 teams that didn’t play overseas, Golden Knights defenseman Nic Hague remains one of two remaining restricted free agents.  Jesse Granger of The Athletic relays (Twitter link) that the blueliner is believed to be seeking an AAV a little under $2MM on a two-year contract or under $3MM on a three-year agreement.  On the surface, those asks are certainly reasonable as Hague had 14 points in 52 games last season while averaging 18:40 per night; that cost for a fifth defender isn’t particularly high.  However, as is quite often the case with Vegas, their cap situation is quite tight which probably isn’t helping things here.

Speculatively, they might prefer a one-year deal that could be closer to the $1MM mark, one that hands him arbitration rights next summer but gives them more flexibility this season.  Either way, the pressure will be on both Hague and the Golden Knights to get something done sooner than later.

Elsewhere around the NHL:

• The Kraken have placed winger Joonas Donskoi on injured reserve, CapFriendly reports (Twitter link). He has been battling an upper-body injury for the last couple of weeks and while his official designation has been day-to-day up to this point, clearly, he’ll be out a little longer.  He’s coming off a tough first season with the team after scoring just twice in 75 games and this certainly isn’t the start to the year he was hoping for.  His absence should allow Daniel Sprong – whose tryout was recently converted to a full contract – to break camp with Seattle.
• The Department of Player Safety announced that Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov has been fined $5,000 for charging, the maximum allowed under the CBA. The incident occurred early in the third period on Rangers center Vincent Trocheck with a minor penalty being assessed on the play.  Romanov was the Islanders’ big acquisition this summer, being acquired back at the draft along with a fourth-round pick from Montreal in exchange for the 13th selection.