The Vegas Golden Knights have traded defenseman Nicolas Hague and a conditional 2027 third-round pick to the Nashville Predators in exchange for defenseman Jeremy Lauzon and forward Colton Sissons.
The third-round pick will become a second-round pick if Vegas wins two playoff rounds. Nashville is also retaining 50 percent of the final year of Sissons’ contract, which carries an average annual value of $2.857 million.
The deal, which was completed late Sunday night and confirmed by both clubs on Monday, comes in the midst of ongoing speculation regarding Vegas’ potential sign-and-trade deal for Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner.
Hague’s name has been included in recent rumors with Vegas facing an expected cap crunch due to Marner’s projected cap hit of at least $12 million.
Hague was set to become a restricted free agent on Tuesday when his current three-year contract is set to expire.
The 6-foot-6, 245-pound rearguard inked a four-year extension with the Predators on Sunday. The deal carries an AAV of $5.5 million, a significant raise over his current cap hit of $2.294 million.
Originally drafted in the second round (No. 34) of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, Hague has played his entire career with the Golden Knights organization. The 26-year-old made his debut in the 2019-20 campaign and played a critical role on Vegas’ rock-solid third pairing en route to the club’s first Stanley Cup championship in franchise history.
Hague played more games in a Vegas sweater than any other player drafted by the Golden Knights. He never shied away from dropping the gloves to defend his teammates, and he was known for maintaining his composure in heated playoff clashes.
Known for his “Haguerbomb” blast from the blue line, Hague finishes his Vegas career with 20 goals and 83 points in 364 games as well as 10 points in 44 postseason contests.
In return, Vegas landed a physical defensive defenseman in Lauzon, who logged one assist in 28 games in an injury-shortened campaign this past year. Lauzon is a wrecking ball who led the NHL in hits in 2023-24 and averaged 4.54 hits per game this year. He has one year remaining on his contract, which carries an AAV of $2 million.
Sissons, a bottom-six defensive forward, scored seven goals and 21 points in 72 games last season and won 54.8 percent of his faceoffs. The 6-foot-1, 200-pound center has one year remaining on his contract; with the 50 percent retention, Sissons currently carries a cap hit of $1.429 million.
The two players’ combined $3.429 million cap hit leaves Vegas with $2.186 million in cap space, according to PuckPedia.
Alex Pietrangelo is expected to miss the entire 2025-26 season, which will allow Vegas to move his $8.8 million cap hit to long-term injured reserve.
Even so, the Hague trade could be the first of several as the Golden Knights try to pull off a potential Marner acquisition.
In his 32 Thoughts podcast on Sunday morning, SportsNet’s Elliotte Friedman revealed new information regarding the Marner situation, including the fact that Toronto may accuse Vegas of tampering if Marner signs directly with the Golden Knights.
Friedman, who stressed repeatedly that he has no proof that Vegas has done anything wrong, said he believes this could lead to a sign-and-trade between the two clubs ahead of free agency.
“There’s been some talk that if Marner goes to Vegas, the Maple Leafs will go after Vegas for tampering,” Friedman said. “Again, I have no proof that Vegas is guilty of anything. But it’s a time around the league where teams are extremely sensitive about it, and, as a couple of GM’s told me on Saturday, they think the NHL is itching to try to make an example out of someone. Once again, I’m going to stress, I don’t have any proof that Vegas is guilty of anything, but if they make a deal with Toronto and send a good player or two to Toronto, I’m betting any chance the Maple Leafs file for tampering goes away.
“So all those reasons — getting to Marner [ahead of July 1], clearing cap space, Toronto gets good players, and eliminating any possibility of any tampering investigation, which is being whispered everywhere around the league — all of that goes away if this deal gets done. We’ll see. No promises. No assurances. That’s what I think is going on.”
The players Friedman was referring to were Nicolas Roy as well as Hague, who has since been removed from the equation. However, the assets acquired from Nashville could be included in a Toronto package.
If the Golden Knights do land Marner, Friedman suggested that his contract could be in the neighborhood of four years at $12 million, though it could also be seven or eight years depending on how this all unfolds.
Following the trade, the Golden Knights have three pending restricted free agents remaining in Alexander Holtz, Cole Schwindt and Jonas Rondbjerg, while Tanner Pearson, Victor Olofsson and Ilya Samsonov will be unrestricted free agents.
Free agency opens Tuesday at 9 a.m. PT.