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Nic Hague

Golden Knights Recall Jonas Rondbjerg, Place Nic Hague On IR

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The Golden Knights have placed defenseman Nic Hague on IR, per the NHL’s media site.  With the open roster spot, the team announced (Twitter link) that forward Jonas Rondbjerg has been recalled from AHL Henderson.

Rondbjerg is no stranger to the NHL-AHL shuttle in recent years as he has played in at least 13 games with Vegas in each of the last three seasons.  In 2023-24, the 25-year-old got into 20 games with the Golden Knights, recording two goals and an assist while averaging 11:17 per night.  Overall, he has three goals and seven helpers in 63 career appearances in Vegas.

While he hasn’t been a big point producer in the NHL, Rondbjerg has been much more effective offensively in the minors.  Last season, he had nine goals and 16 assists in 48 appearances with the Silver Knights and is off to a decent start this year with two goals and two assists in his first seven games, helping to earn this recall.

As for Hague, the 25-year-old last played on Saturday and has been out with an undisclosed injury since then.  He’s off to a quiet start to his season, notching just one goal in nine games along with 12 blocks and 13 hits while averaging just over 16 minutes a night, a number that skews a bit low due to missing time due to injury in two straight games.  Assuming they back-dated the IR placement to Sunday, Hague will be available to return as soon as Monday against Seattle.

While Rondbjerg’s cap hit actually comes in slightly below the league minimum salary, his recall does push Vegas into using LTIR, meaning they’ll stop banking cap space for the time being.  Accordingly, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him at least papered back to the minors on Saturday to get them back under the $88MM Upper Limit again.

West Notes: Spurgeon, Hartman, Brossoit, Hague

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Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon returned to practice Friday for the first time since being sidelined after two games with a lower-body injury related to his surgeries last season, relays John Shipley of the Pioneer Press.  It’s unlikely that he’ll suit up today but the team is hoping that the captain could return on Tuesday in Pittsburgh.  Spurgeon has been a key cog on Minnesota’s back end for the better part of the last 15 years and will give them a boost when he’s able to return.

Meanwhile, Michael Russo of The Athletic adds (Twitter link) that the Wild have sent forward Ryan Hartman back to Minnesota, meaning he will miss the final two games of the road trip.  The 30-year-old suffered an upper-body injury a week and a half ago and while he has been listed as day-to-day in that stretch, his recovery is seemingly taking a bit longer than anticipated.  He has two goals in four games so far this season.

Elsewhere out West:

  • While the Blackhawks were hoping Laurent Brossoit wouldn’t miss much time to start the season, that’s not going to be the case. Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times relays (Twitter link) that the netminder won’t begin skating until next week and will need a couple of weeks from there to be game-ready.  Brossoit suffered a knee injury in late August during offseason training, delaying what’s expected to be a legitimate opportunity at Chicago’s number one job after putting up a 2.00 GAA and a .927 SV% in 23 games with Winnipeg last season.
  • Golden Knights defenseman Nic Hague left yesterday’s game with a lower-body injury but it doesn’t appear that it’s particularly serious. Speaking with reporters postgame including Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, head coach Bruce Cassidy wasn’t able to rule the blueliner in or out for their game tonight against San Jose.  Hague has one goal in eight games so far this season, that coming last night against Ottawa.

Golden Knights Re-Sign Nic Hague

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It took basically all of training camp but the Golden Knights have worked out a deal with RFA defenseman Nic Hague, announcing that they’ve signed him to a three-year contract.  The deal will carry an AAV of $2,294,150 which allows them to best maximize their LTIR pool once season-opening rosters are submitted later today.  PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that the deal breaks down as follows:

2022-23: $750K salary, $1.95MM signing bonus
2023-24: $775K salary, $707,450 signing bonus
2024-25: $2.7MM salary

Hague was an early second-round pick (34th overall) back in 2017, Vegas’ first year of participating in the draft.  He has turned out to be a solid selection as the 23-year-old has quickly become an important piece on their back end.  Last season, he played in 52 games, recording 14 points while averaging a career-high 18:40 per game.  In his three-year career, he has 10 goals and 32 helpers in 142 contests.

With Vegas being tight to the cap even with Shea Weber, Nolan Patrick, and Robin Lehner all on LTIR for the entire season, a short-term bridge deal was the expected route for both sides to take.  This deal ensures that the Golden Knights will still have Hague under team control at the end of it as he’ll have one RFA year remaining where he’ll be owed a $2.7MM qualifying offer with salary arbitration rights.  As for that cap situation, this contract puts them within $17 of their fully-maximized LTIR pool; Laurent Brossoit will then likely be added to that pool tomorrow to create room for extra recalls until he’s able to return.

Snapshots: Hague, Donskoi, Romanov

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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.

West Notes: Milano, Robertson, Hague

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Forward Sonny Milano turned some heads when he signed a PTO with the Calgary Flames this fall, in part because many believed that the former Anaheim Duck would receive a full NHL contract offer from a team. Last season Milano set career highs in production, scoring 14 goals and 34 points in 66 games, but that contract offer never materialized.

Milano was recently released from his PTO after an underwhelming preseason, but that may not mean the end of his NHL journey. Per Thomas Drance and Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic, (subscription link) the Vancouver Canucks invited Milano to their training camp before he ultimately chose to go to Calgary, and they “still like” Milano as a player. But given the complex roster and cap situation that the Canucks’ front office will need to manage in the coming days, Drance and Dhaliwal do state that the team isn’t able to acquire Milano at this moment. The bottom line, though, is that despite how rapidly his stock seemed to decline over the course of this summer and preseason, there still are teams who believe Milano can contribute in the NHL.

Now, for some other notes from the Western Conference:

  • One of the biggest contract sagas of this offseason reached its conclusion this week, as Dallas Stars forward Jason Robertson signed a four-year contract to remain in victory green. In order to get there, it seems some compromise was required. Today, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet speculated on the 32 Thoughts Podcast that Robertson’s camp had been eyeing an AAV “in the tens” on any max-term deal. Due a $9.3MM qualifying offer after his new contract expires, Robertson seems to have set himself up nicely to break into that range once this current deal expires.
  • While Robertson’s contract saga came to an end earlier this week, the contract standoff between the Vegas Golden Knights and restricted free agent defenseman Nicolas Hague is still ongoing. Per Friedman on 32 Thoughts, the Golden Knights’ desire to maximize the cap benefits they gain from long-term injured reserve is not considered to be a barrier to getting Hague’s deal done. The 23-year-old former Mississauga Steelhead had a breakout season of sorts in 2021-22, seeing time with Alex Pietrangelo on the team’s top pairing, and it looks like the main obstacle to getting a deal done is based more on value disagreements than anything related to the Golden Knights’ cap management.

Latest On Nic Hague

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There are just a handful of restricted free agent negotiations still going on and at least one of them doesn’t appear to be headed to the finish line. According to Jeff Marek of Sportsnet, Nicolas Hague has left Vegas and will start training with the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers tomorrow, the junior team located in his hometown.

Hague, 23, has played 142 games in his NHL career to this point, but hasn’t yet cracked the 19-minute mark for average time on ice. That’s because of the huge minutes that players like Alex Pietrangelo and Shea Theodore log, keeping Hague buried deeper in the lineup than perhaps he could be somewhere else. With the Golden Knights also not in a place to spend much on a multi-year deal because of their cap situation, it’s a difficult needle to thread.

Still, skating with a junior team is certainly not NHL training camp, meaning whenever he does sign, Hague is going to be behind the rest of his competition. As we’ve seen in the past, players who miss training camp are usually slow starters. In the case of a player like William Nylander, who sat out the first part of the season, it was basically a lost year.

Generally, these negotiations are completed by the time the season starts, and with Vegas’ long-term injured reserve issues, they will have more flexibility just before training camp ends. But at this point, it doesn’t seem as though you’ll see the young defenseman on the ice with his teammates for a little while.

Latest On Nic Hague

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While Jason Robertson takes most of the headlines regarding unsigned restricted free agents at this point, there are a number of other players still waiting to see if they’ll be under contract when training camp opens next week. One of those is Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Nic Hague, who, according to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period on Thursday, was no closer to a deal. Hague is in Vegas but will likely return home if there is no deal at the start of camp, Pagnotta adds.

This isn’t a surprise, as the news all offseason has been pointing at a significant divide between the Golden Knights and the RFA defenseman. A week ago, reports emerged that the two sides had had “very little dialogue since early July.”

Like any negotiation, things can swing quickly with a single phone call. In this case specifically, it’s hard to see how sitting on the sidelines will benefit the 23-year-old.

Hague has played in 142 games through parts of three seasons, scoring ten goals and 14 points. But given the fact that the Golden Knights already have six defensemen signed to one-way contracts, and young players like Kaedan Korczak (or even junior superstar Lukas Cormier) ready to push for NHL minutes, there is a chance that the team will find ways to fill the lineup without him.

It’s that leverage, along with the fact that Vegas is perpetually in a salary cap crunch, that makes it a difficult situation for Hague. There is no one really doubting his talent but with relatively low offensive totals, a recent injury history, and the team’s financial situation, landing a multi-year deal for a significant raise seems unlikely.

As with any unsigned RFA, Hague will need to have a deal in place by December 1 in order to play this season.

Nicolas Hague, Vegas Golden Knights Not Progressing Towards Contract

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After an offseason where navigating a tricky salary cap situation dominated the headlines for the Vegas Golden Knights, the team is down to their last remaining restricted free agent, and one who we documented earlier today: defenseman Nicolas Hague. Although the organization has done a good job thus far of working within their restraints, they’re left in a bit of a tough spot with their remaining cap and one of their bright young defensemen. At the moment, Vegas sits just around $10.24MM over the upper limit of the NHL’s $82.5MM. salary cap. Somewhat fortunately, they will be able to cancel out around $12.86MM in cap hit by placing defenseman Shea Weber and goaltender Robin Lehner on LTIR, leaving them with $2.64MM in available space. The issue there is whether it will be enough to get Hague signed.

Of concern, it sounds like it may not. As Fox 5 Vegas’s Vince Sapienza reports, things apparently are not progressing between team and player, who apparently have had “very little dialogue since early July.” Sapienza adds that though Hague is in Las Vegas and ready to join the team for the start of training camp on September 21st, he and his representatives are becoming concerned with the lack of communication. Sapienza also notes that if no deal is reached by the start of training camp, Hague is expected not to report and will instead train elsewhere in the interim.

Seeing that the two sides have apparently had very little communication since the early parts of the offseason is absolutely worrisome for those following the Golden Knights. The organization has made its moves to stay below the salary cap and get creative doing so, but those tough decisions, like the one to move Max Pacioretty to the Carolina Hurricanes for merely future considerations, were seemingly meant to allow the team to extend key players like Hague. Should Hague hold out by not attending Golden Knights training camp, that itself wouldn’t be a concern, the practice happening regularly for unsigned RFAs.

If Vegas were to be without Hague into the regular season, they could field a complete roster, having six defenseman signed and on the NHL roster right now (not counting Weber, who won’t play), with several depth options available to close the gaps, but none as good, and experienced, as Hague. Looking closer at the numbers, it wouldn’t be a shock to see Vegas be able to sign Hague for less than the $2.64MM they will have available after utilizing LTIR, but the 23-year-old Kitchener, ON native has shown an ability to play reliable minutes in his own zone with his offensive ability still progressing, so an affordable deal may not be easily found. But, with the possibility of forward Nolan Patrick also landing on LTIR, Vegas could increase its available space to $3.84MM, likely enough to bring back the hulking defenseman.

Last year, Hague had four goals and 10 assists in 52 games while averaging 18:40 per night, and sports a respectable 10 goals and 32 assists in 142 career NHL games. A 2017 second-round pick of the Golden Knights, Hague just finished the final year of his ELC.

Classifying The Remaining Restricted Free Agents

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When the calendar flips to September, it’s time to start paying some attention to who’s left unsigned in restricted free agency.  Usually at this point, two months have elapsed since the start of free agency (it’s six weeks this summer) which is typically more than enough time to get a deal done.

There are currently 13 remaining RFAs that haven’t signed elsewhere for next season.  As is usually the case, those players can be grouped into a few tiers which are as follows.

Star Players

Jason Robertson (Dallas)

Generally speaking, there are usually more players in this group at this time but the 23-year-old is the only star player in need of a new deal.  He’s coming off a 41-goal campaign that has the asking price justifiably high – team owner Tom Gaglardi acknowledged it’s in the $7MM range.  The Stars would likely prefer to do a long-term deal that buys out some UFA years but that could push the AAV past $9MM and they don’t have the cap space to do that.  At this point, what GM Jim Nill does or doesn’t do on the trade front might dictate what ultimately happens with Robertson; if they can free up some money, a long-term agreement becomes palatable but otherwise, it’ll almost certainly be a bridge contract.

Underachieving Former First Rounders

Erik Brannstrom (Ottawa), Kirby Dach (Montreal), Barrett Hayton (Arizona), Rasmus Sandin (Toronto)

Dach and Hayton were both top-five picks in their respective draft classes but have yet to show the type of offensive consistency to put them in the category of core players.  Dach was traded to Montreal at the draft after a quiet season that saw him put up nine goals and 26 points, both career-highs.  Despite that, it appears that the Canadiens are at least pondering a medium-term agreement that would run for four years but still leave him RFA-eligible at the end.  Something a little shorter in the $2.5MM range is also an option.  Hayton has just this last season in terms of being a regular under his belt and could fit in a different category than this but his performance relative to draft stock has been concerning.  He’s a prime candidate for a bridge contract and with fewer than 100 NHL games under his belt, he simply doesn’t have the leverage to command anything longer.  A two-year deal around the $2MM range should be where his deal falls.

As for Brannstrom, he was billed as an offensive defender but has yet to be able to produce with any consistency since joining Ottawa back in 2019.  He has just two career goals in 116 career games but that hasn’t stopped his camp from seeking a multi-year agreement in negotiations which are likely playing a role in this delay.  Sandin could also fit in a different category but the 2018 first-rounder has exhausted his waiver exemption and doesn’t appear to be a fit in their top six next season.  His agent recently bemoaned the lack of progress in negotiations.  Teammate Timothy Liljegren’s two-year bridge deal that has a $1.4MM AAV seems like a reasonable comparable but with playing time being a potential concern, might Sandin be looking for more certainty before putting pen to paper on a new deal?

Young Regulars

Michael Anderson (Los Angeles), Alex Formenton (Ottawa), Nicolas Hague (Vegas)

Formenton played his first full NHL season in 2021-22 and it was a good one as the 22-year-old speedster chipped in with 18 goals and 14 assists in 78 games.  The Sens have ample cap space this coming season so there are some options beyond the bridge contract.  If GM Pierre Dorion thinks that Formenton is part of their long-term core, a longer-term pact that buys out a UFA year or two in the $3.5MM range might be a better way for them to go.

Hague has done well in a limited role on the back end for the Golden Knights over the past two seasons and is coming off a year where he logged close to 19 minutes a night.  They’ve already spent most of the LTIR ‘savings’ so Vegas isn’t in a spot to give him a long-term deal.  But is Hague better off taking a one-year contract that would be below market value to acquire arbitration eligibility next summer?  Such a deal would be in the $1.25MM range with the promise of a better payout later on.  Otherwise, a bridge pact that’s closer to $2MM is probably in the cards.  Anderson has logged over 20 minutes a night for the Kings for the last two years but doesn’t have the offensive numbers to support a pricey bridge deal.  Los Angeles’ cap space is quite limited so, like Hague, a one-year deal in the $1.25MM range might be where they wind up settling.

Not Fully Established

Sean Durzi (Los Angeles), Ryan McLeod (Edmonton)

McLeod figures to be a part of the long-term plans for the Oilers after a promising rookie campaign but doesn’t have much leverage at this point.  Edmonton’s issue here is cap space as they’re already in a spot where they need to clear money out.  If they can move someone out, a multi-year bridge contract becomes their preferred route but otherwise, he’s a strong candidate for a one-year deal around that $1.25MM threshold as well, perhaps a tad below that.

Durzi quietly put up 27 points in 64 games last season but it’s his only taste of NHL action so the track record isn’t strong enough to command a sizable contract.  A two-year bridge deal makes a lot of sense for him as a repeat performance over that stretch would have him well-positioned to seek $4MM or more two summers from now.  However, with the cap situation for the Kings, they might be forced to push for the one-year, ‘prove it’ contract that would fall in the same range as Anderson.

What’s The Holdup?

Cayden Primeau (Montreal), Adam Ruzicka (Calgary), Parker Wotherspoon (NY Islanders)

Ruzicka played in 28 games last season for the Flames and did reasonably well with ten points but it’s not as if he’s in a position to command a sizable raise.  He’s waiver-eligible but not a guarantee to be claimed if he passes through.  The holdup might be along the lines of making next season a one-way or two-way contract with any subsequent season(s) being a one-way agreement.  Even so, it’s odd this is taking so long.

Wotherspoon’s presence on here is arguably the most perplexing of the bunch.  He opted to not file for salary arbitration which would have gotten him signed weeks ago.  He has cleared waivers in each of the last two seasons and has yet to play an NHL game.  Haggling over NHL money would be pointless as a result so accordingly, it’s safe to suggest his NHL pay would be $750K.  At this point, AHL salary or guaranteed money is the only sticking point.  In all likelihood, the gap probably can’t be more than around $25K which is a pretty small one to justify being unsigned this long.

Primeau is coming off a strong showing in the AHL playoffs but struggled mightily in limited NHL action with the Canadiens last season.  Even so, he’s viewed as their potential backup of the future as soon as 2023-24 when he becomes waiver-eligible.  This is a contract that should be a two-way pact next season and then one-way after that as a result and there are enough of those comparable contracts around the league for young goalies that the general framework should basically have been in place before talks even started.  As a result, this is another case that feels like it should have been resolved weeks ago.

There’s still plenty of time to work something out with training camps still a couple of weeks away and several of these players should come off the board by then but there will likely be a handful still unsigned when camps get underway.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Golden Knights Notes: Goalie Tandem, Lehner, Hague

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Following last night’s signing of Phil Kessel to a one-year deal, Vegas Golden Knights GM Kelly McCrimmon spoke to the media and answered questions on a wide variety of topics. One of the most pressing topics he addressed was the team’s goaltending. As relayed by The Athletic’s Jesse Granger, McCrimmon stated that the team will run a goalie tandem of Logan Thompson and Laurent Brossoit for the entirety of next season, if possible. McCrimmon elaborated on that decision, stating that the timing of Lehner’s surgery all but made adding a goalie through free agency impossible and that the organization believes that this tandem can get them where they want to go.

For a team that is desperate to return to the playoffs next season, a Thompson-Brossoit tandem seems like a risk, at least on paper. Thompson, 25, did nearly single-handedly save the Golden Knights’ playoff hopes last spring but has just 20 NHL contests under his belt. Brossoit, 29, has served as a lightly-used backup goalie for the past few seasons, and is currently rehabbing from hip surgery. McCrimmon stated that Brossoit’s rehab has been going well and that he should be ready early next season, if he’s not ready for opening night, but even at full health this tandem is one that carries significant downside risk. With each passing day, it looks more and more likely that the Golden Knights’ hopes for next season will rest on Thompson’s shoulders.

Now, for some other notes regarding the Golden Knights:

  • The goalie previously slated to be the Golden Knights’ starter, Robin Lehner, will miss the entirety of next season after undergoing hip surgery. Today McCrimmon elaborated on the nature of Lehner’s operation, stating that he is undergoing double hip surgery and has already had the procedure on one of his hips. Much has been made of the difficulties goaltenders face when recovering from hip ailments, and one has to assume that recovering from double hip surgery is even more difficult. But with all the talent Lehner possesses, his recovery from these injuries will be extremely important to the future of the Golden Knights.
  • One other topic McCrimmon touched in his press conference is the status of restricted free agent defenseman Nicolas Hague. Hague is coming off of a two-year stretch where he has established himself as a quality NHLer, and is undoubtedly looking for a contract that reflects his newly-proven value. McCrimmon stated that “priority number-one” for this offseason is getting Hague under a contract, and with Lehner now set to hit long-term injured reserve he should have the necessary wiggle room under the cap to get a deal done. Given the Golden Knights’ ever-present need for salary-cap space (even with Lehner’s eventual placement on LTIR) a bridge deal could make the most sense, though one cannot rule out a long-term pact. The Golden Knights have previously shown a willingness to lock-up young blueliners to long-term pacts, as they did with Zach Whitecloud, so perhaps Hague receives a similar (albeit likely more expensive) deal.

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