The Vegas Golden Knights, perhaps freeing up some salary-cap room to take a run at free agent forward Mitch Marner this week, dealt veteran defenseman Nicolas Hague to the Nashville Predators late Sunday night, in exchange for blueliner Jeremy Lauzon and center Colton Sissons, according to multiple reports.
Hague, a prototypical defensive defenseman, then signed a four-year deal with his new club that will pay him $5.5 million per season, according to TSN and SportsNet.
A 26-year old who finished with five goals and 12 points last season in Vegas, Hague is a 2017 second-round pick who played in 68 games last season, averaging 17:33 time on the ice along the way.
He has only ever played for the Golden Knights, and his career-best offensive season came in 2022-23 there, when he played in 81 games and finished with 17 points.
On Tuesday, Hague would have become a restricted free agent, but Vegas decided to ship him before negotiations cranked up. In return, they add defensive depth in Lauzon, 28, who played in just 28 games last season, and face-off help in Sissons, 31, who had seven goals and 21 points in 72 games with the Predators.
Hague will be viewed upon to aid a leaky defense that allowed 274 goals last season, the seventh-worst total in the Central Division.
