According to former player and current NHL insider Nick Kypreos, the Montreal Canadiens and the Pittsburgh Penguins are both interested in acquiring Vegas Golden Knights’ supersized blueliner Nicolas Hague.
The 26-year-old Kitchener, Ontario native stands at 6-foot-6 and weighs 240 pounds. Hague is by no means an offensive defenseman; in fact, he only put up 12 points in 68 games last season, but a team does need some stay-at-home defensemen, and having one with that kind of frame would certainly tick a couple of boxes for the Habs.
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Hague is a rare homegrown product for the Vegas organization, which has accustomed us to trading picks rather than making them, but here’s living proof that they do use their pick from time to time. The towering defenseman was selected 34th overall in the second round of the 2017 draft.
While some may be surprised to hear that the Canadiens are chasing yet another left-shot defenseman, it’s essential to realize that Hague has proven in the past that he can patrol the right side of the blueline just as well as the left.
In that sense, Hague may be a replacement for the recently retired David Savard. After all, Kent Hughes has repeatedly said that he cannot load his teams with rookies if the Canadiens’ organic growth is to continue.
Watching the Laval Rocket play in the playoffs, David Reinbacher and Logan Mailloux do have the makings of NHL defensemen, but they might just not be ready to step into the big league just yet. Blueliners can sometimes take more time to develop, and it’s essential to allow them the time to develop correctly. There’s no need to rush them.
At 26, he aligns with the Canadiens’ timeline of opportunity, and he has extensive playoff experience, having skated in four Spring tournaments with the Knights, logging 44 games and capturing the Stanley Cup in 2023.
Despite his hulking size, Hague wasn’t a hit dishing machine; this season, he only dished out 82, far behind team leader Keegan Kolesar, who served up 237. The 82 collisions would have given him the 12th place on the Canadiens. That was a down year for him, however, as he did have 153 in 2023-24 and 117 in 2022-23
He could also be that the Canadiens’ GM feels he has evaluated the left side of his blueline enough and feels it cannot shoulder the load without experienced help. Hughes could also be getting ready to trade away some of his left-shot defenseman after having had another year to evaluate personnel.
Photo credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
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