Owen Krepps
It may have come the day before the start of the regular season, but the Vegas Golden Knights have finally signed restricted free-agent defenseman Nicolas Hague. The contract extension is of three years and carries an average annual value of $2,294,150.
Additionally, forward Jonas Rondbjerg has cleared waivers and will join the Henderson Silver Knights.
All NHL teams have until 2:00 pm today to submit their cap-compliant opening night rosters. The Golden Knights still have a few decisions left to make with guys like Sakari Manninen, Jake Leschyshyn, Kaedan Korczak, Paul Cotter, Pavel Dorofeyev, and Jake Bischoff.
As for Hague, the 23-year-old 6-foot-6 defenseman has a bright future ahead of him. He will be entering his fourth season in the NHL in 2022-23. Last season he put up four goals and 10 assists for 14 points in 52 games. He’ll likely get some ice time next to Alex Pietrangelo like he did last season.
“Nic loves being a Vegas Golden Knight, and we love having him. It was slower than we would’ve liked. These things sometimes drag on. We’re really looking forward to getting Nic back in town,” said Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon.
Head coach Bruce Cassidy has confirmed that Hague will not play in the Golden Knight’s season-opener on the road in Los Angeles. He had previously trained with the Kitchener Rangers during training camp.
The signing of Hague and the demotion of Rondbjerg put the Golden Knights over the salary cap by $2.4 million. That number is with Shea Weber, Nolan Patrick, and Robin Lehner on LTIR. It also put the Golden Knights just $17 short of the maximum LTIR salary cap.
If the Golden Knights send Korczak, Bischoff, Dorofeyev, Manninen, and one of Cotter of Leschyshyn down, they can barely scrape by with just over $700k in projected cap space.
Stay tuned for the rest of the Golden Knights roster cuts and final lineup decisions today. McCrimmon stated in his media availability that the Golden Knights will roll with 14 forwards, 7 defensemen, and three goalies to start the season. Here’s our current projection.
Reilly Smith- Jack Eichel- Phil Kessel
Brett Howden- Chandler Stephenson- Mark Stone
Jonathan Marchessault- William Karlsson- Michael Amadio
Paul Cotter- Nicolas Roy- Keegan Kolesar
Nicolas Hague- Alex Pietrangelo
Alec Martinez- Shea Theodore
Brayden McNabb- Zach Whitecloud
Logan Thompson/Adin Hill/Michael Hutchinson
Spares; Ben Hutton, Jake Leschyshyn, Sakari Manninen, Pavel Dorofeyev, Kaedan Korczak, and Jake Bischoff. IR; Will Carrier, Laurent Brossoit
LTIR; Shea Weber, Nolan Patrick, Robin Lehner
