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.