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West Notes: Hague, Makar, Booth

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In a recent interview with Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nashville Predators defenseman Nicolas Hague spoke about the end of his tenure with the Vegas Golden Knights. According to Hague, it doesn’t sound like he was given a particularly warm goodbye from the only organization he had ever known.

Even before the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs, Hague believed he would be extended by the Golden Knights, saying, “I thought I had a deal done with Vegas done before the playoffs, and we had agreed on what it was going to be. On both sides, it was a word agreement. Obviously nothing was signed. Because I said to them, ‘We’re going into the playoffs. That’s the No. 1 priority right now and we’ll reconvene and get this done after the season.’ It was all good.”

As it turns out, Vegas pivoted away from their purported verbal agreement with Hague, needing to open the necessary cap space to acquire Mitch Marner from the Toronto Maple Leafs in a sign-and-trade. The day before the trade was made for Marner, the Golden Knights traded Hague to the Predators for Jeremy Lauzon, Colton Sissons, and a 2027 third-round pick. Hague subsequently signed a four-year, $22MM extension in Nashville.

Other notes from the Western Conference:

  • Earlier today, Meghan Angley provided a brief injury update regarding Taylor Makar, the younger brother of Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar. Makar is recovering from offseason upper-body surgery, and Angley asserts that he’ll be ready in the next few weeks. In the meantime, he’ll continue skating with the team in a non-contact jersey.
  • One defensive prospect for the Los Angeles Kings is looking to avoid the dreaded “sophomore slump” this season. In an interview with Anthony Collazo of The Mayor’s Manor, prospect Angus Booth spoke about his mission to avoid the slump, saying, “I think you just don’t want to think about. The more you think about it, the more it could happen. So, I think you just focus on the moment. You practice, you play hard, you do what you’re going to do usually, and it should… it should be avoided.” The former fourth-round pick spent last season with the AHL’s Ontario Reign, scoring two goals and 13 points in 50 games with a +6 rating.

Avalanche Sign Taylor Makar To Entry-Level Deal

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The Avalanche announced they’ve signed forward Taylor Makar to a one-year entry-level contract for the 2025-26 campaign. The younger brother of Colorado superstar Cale Makar will finish the season on a tryout with AHL Colorado. His contract carries a cap hit of $925K and breaks down to an $832.5K base salary, a $92.5K signing bonus, and an $80K minors salary, per PuckPedia.

Colorado selected the Makar in question with their seventh-round pick in the 2021 draft. The 6’4″, 209-lb forward was coming off an injury-plagued junior ’A’ season with the Brooks Bandits of the Alberta Junior Hockey League at the time, but he was solid when dressed with 19 points in 16 games. The Bandits, of course, are where Cale played his junior hockey before Colorado selected him fourth overall in 2017.

Like his older brother, Taylor committed to UMass and jumped to the collegiate ranks after being drafted. The grinder never found much of a role on the squad, though, and recorded 15-7–22 in 85 games before entering the transfer portal following his junior season. After landing with the University of Maine for his senior year, the 24-year-old managed to outproduce his totals with UMass in just 38 games. He finished second on the No. 3 team in the country in scoring, posting 18-12–30 in 38 appearances with a +24 rating. Maine’s season ended last Friday after they were upset by Penn State in the regional semifinals of the national tournament.

Makar is a long shot to crack the NHL roster next year, given the weakness of his collegiate resume as a whole, but his senior year breakout is promising as he looks to capture a significant AHL role. He’ll be a restricted free agent in 2026. Colorado now has 30 players under contract for next season.

College Transfer Updates: Pohlkamp, Benoit, Makar, Kukkonen

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As college seasons have largely wound up aside from the four teams participating in the Frozen Four next week, activity in the transfer portal has picked up.  Here’s a rundown of the recent transfer news involving NHL prospects, via Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald.

  • Sharks prospect Eric Pohlkamp has transferred from Bemidji State to the University of Denver. The 20-year-old defenseman was a fifth-round pick last June, going 132nd overall after a strong season offensively with Cedar Rapids of the USHL.  Pohlkamp had a productive freshman year for a blueliner, notching 11 goals and 13 assists in 32 games for the Beavers and will now join Denver, a program that has three of the top 15 blueline scorers in Division I.  Two of those could be turning pro soon which would open up a spot for Pohlkamp to play a prominent role.
  • Wild blueliner Nate Benoit is looking for a new school as he has entered the transfer portal. Drafted in the sixth round in 2021 (182nd overall), Benoit only made his college debut this season with the University of North Dakota but was limited to just 19 games and just 8:31 per night.  The 21-year-old will undoubtedly be looking to find a program where he can play a more prominent role.
  • After three years at UMass, Avalanche forward Taylor Makar is off to the University of Maine. The 23-year-old, who is Cale’s brother, was Colorado’s seventh-round pick in 2021 (210th overall) but hasn’t had much success so far at the NCAA level and tallied just four goals and five assists in 36 games this season.
  • After Kyle Kukkonen’s sophomore year at Michigan State didn’t go anywhere near as well as his freshman campaign, he has transferred to Wisconsin. The Ducks drafted the 21-year-old in the sixth round in 2021 (162nd overall) and things were looking up last year when he had 18 goals and nine assists in 39 games.  However, the center was limited to just a goal and 11 helpers in 27 contests this season, leading to the change of scenery.

Central Notes: Wood, Snuggerud, Tanev, Makar

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In recent days, reports indicated that Nashville Predators’ prospect, Matthew Wood, would be entering the transfer portal to move on from the University of Connecticut. Having now made his decision, we can independently confirm that Wood is expected to choose the University of Minnesota as his new destination.

Over two years in Connecticut, Wood appeared in a total of 70 games, scoring 27 goals and 62 points overall, leading to his selection as the 15th overall pick of the Predators in the 2023 NHL Draft. Unfortunately, outside of some personal success, Connecticut has failed to compete with other schools within the Hockey East Conference, likely leading to Wood’s decision to move on.

Moving to Minnesota, Wood will be joining a better program, and arguably joining a stronger Conference too in the Big Ten. This year, the Gophers finished with a 23-11-5 record, losing to Boston University in the Regional Finals of the Frozen Four Tournament.

Other Central notes:

  • Staying at the University of Minnesota, the team will carry a familiar face on the roster next season, with the St. Louis Blues announcing that Jimmy Snuggerud would spend another year with the program. After being selected 23rd overall by the Blues back in the 2022 NHL Draft, Snuggerud has been on the Gophers roster ever since. This past season, Snuggerud was once again one of the best players in the NCAA, scoring 21 goals and 34 points in 39 games.
  • Moving back to the NHL, Brien Rea of Bally Sports Southwest reports that Dallas Stars defenseman Chris Tanev was a full participant at practice today making his return imminent. Although Tanev did not miss any time, there was some cause for concern as Tanev left the team’s most recent game against the Seattle Kraken early due to an arm injury. Luckily, now that Tanev was a full participant in today’s practice, he should be able to play in the team’s game tomorrow night against the Edmonton Oilers.
  • In more movement at the NCAA level, Taylor Makar, brother of Colorado Avalanche phenom Cale Makar, will be transferring away from the University of Massachusetts (X Link). Being the 220th overall pick of the 2021 NHL Draft, Taylor has not lived up to the standard set by his brother. In 36 games for Massachusetts this past season, Taylor scored four goals and nine points in total.

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