The stalemate is over.
The Vegas Golden Knights finally found common ground with their top-unsigned restricted free agent on Monday, agreeing to terms with defenseman Nicolas Hague on a three-year contract extension worth an average annual value of $2.294 million.
The deal, which now ties Hague to Vegas through the 2024-25 season, comes just hours before the NHL’s roster cutdown deadline and ends a lengthy standoff that saw Hague begin to skate with the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers in order to remain sharp as he missed training camp.
It’s not a complete shock as to why Hague took so long to sign, really.
Deciphering Vegas’ cap situation requires a Ph.D. in quantum physics and an adept knowledge of tax fraud these days. The club is constantly toying with whichever CBA loophole grants them the most financial relief, and with Robin Lehner set to miss the entire 2022-23 season, their LTIR pool is about to balloon to a truly stunning total once the new league year comes into effect.
Back in the summer, the Golden Knights simply couldn’t have signed Hague if they wanted to. Not until they placed Lehner and Shea Weber’s ghost contract on LTIR and opened up roughly $12 million in wiggle room for themselves, along with a few other financial dominos that would make them compliant ahead of 5 PM EST. And when they did, Hague became a priority. The youngster is an important player for the future of the Golden Knights, recently coming off a season in which he logged nearly 19 minutes per night as a 23-year-old while further blossoming into a defenseman with legitimate top-four upside.
