Nicolas Hague’s trade market continues to percolate. The Canadiens, Penguins, and Red Wings have joined the previously reported Flyers in demonstrating interest in the Golden Knights’ pending RFA defenseman’s services, according to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period today. Pagnotta added that the Golden Knights have informed Hague’s camp their focus is on a trade rather than a new contract, although a move is “not a guarantee.”
Hague is an intriguing option for teams looking to add a lefty who can cycle into top-four minutes amid a rather weak UFA market. He would slot in the third tier of available left-shot rearguards if he were old enough for unrestricted free agency, along with names like Brian Dumoulin, Matt Grzelcyk, Ryan Lindgren, and Nate Schmidt. He is, of course, younger than all of those options and, although he’s 26 years old, may still have a bit of room to grow into a steadier second-pairing piece. He’s projected to receive a two-year deal worth north of $2.6MM per season this summer, according to AFP Analytics. While that’s a tad prohibitive for the Golden Knights, who have bigger moves in mind, it won’t be a salary-cap hurdle for nearly every interested party.
The 6’6″ defender was Vegas’ own second-round pick in their inaugural 2017 draft class. Hague has spent his entire career in Nevada, almost exclusively as the left-shot option on their third pairing. Buried on the depth chart for years behind Brayden McNabb and now Noah Hanifin as well, his ice time took a small hit this year, averaging 17 minutes per game following three years of seeing 18-plus per game.
A steady 10-20 point producer, that’s not why teams are interested. He’s a good fringe second-pairing option with PK deployability, size, physicality, and historically strong possession metrics. ’Historically’ is doing some heavy lifting there, though. His two-way play wasn’t particularly adept in 2024-25, at least at even strength. His -4.9% relative shot-attempt share was a career-low, especially considering he received rather even offensive and defensive zone deployment. His control of possession quality (expected goals) also fell below 50% at even strength for the first time in his six-year career.
There’s enough of a track record there for reasonable optimism surrounding a rebound, though. The Ontario native enters the summer with 83 points and a +20 rating in 364 career regular-season games, and he logged 18:34 per night in Vegas’ run to the 2023 Stanley Cup.
Perhaps no team among those mentioned needs a cost-effective player like Hague more than Detroit. Negative-value signings on defense over the past few years have hampered their ability to exit their rebuild, with aging names like Ben Chiarot and Justin Holl incapable of having success in anything above a third-pairing role. Hague, while untested in 20-plus minute deployment, would be a younger, cheaper, and better-skating option than any of those other supplemental pieces behind young core defenders Moritz Seider and Simon Edvinsson.
There’s also a clear need for Hague’s services in Pittsburgh. While the Penguins are under far less pressure to contend for a playoff spot in 2025-26 than the Red Wings, they simply need more defenders in the system to avoid overdeploying their younger prospects while also ideally having the flexibility to move on from Erik Karlsson and begin winding down Kris Letang’s workload. The Pens need another pickup on top of just Hague to accomplish that, but he’d go a long way toward helping and would immediately become their top left-shot option ahead of a paper-thin group behind him.
Hague would see a more familiar depth role in Montreal if that’s where he ends up. His acquisition is less about shifting him into top-four deployment – Kaiden Guhle, Lane Hutson, and Mike Matheson are all lefties and have that covered. It would be more about flexing enforcer Arber Xhekaj into a No. 6/7 role while having Hague replace him as the everyday left-shot option on their third pairing.
