Nic Hague traded by Knights to Predators, gets $22M deal

The Golden Knights are moving on from Nic Hague.

The Knights traded the 6-foot-6-inch defenseman to the Nashville Predators on Monday for forward Colton Sissons and defenseman Jeremy Lauzon.

Hague, a restricted free agent, signed a four-year, $22 million contract with the Predators.

The Knights are also sending a 2027 third-round pick to Nashville that will become a second-round selection if the Knights win two rounds in the playoffs next season.

Nashville is retaining 50 percent of Sissons’ cap hit of $2.857 million.

The Knights have eight defensemen under contract after adding Lauzon, though there are questions surrounding the status of defenseman Alex Pietrangelo.

Hague, 26, was selected No. 34 overall in the second round as part of the franchise’s first draft class in 2017. He scored 83 points in 364 games with the Knights and helped the team win the Stanley Cup in 2023.

Hague’s offense never blossomed, but he was a solid stay-at-home defenseman who used his towering presence to carve out a role in the NHL. His new deal will make him the third-highest paid blue liner on the Predators behind 2020 Norris Trophy winner Roman Josi ($9.059 million) and Brady Skjei ($7 million).

Lauzon, 28, was a second-round pick of the Boston Bruins in the 2015 draft. He spent parts of three seasons playing under Knights coach Bruce Cassidy in Boston before being selected by the Seattle Kraken in the 2021 expansion draft. He has 45 points in 316 career games, and was limited to 28 appearances this past season because of a lower-body injury.

Lauzon, listed at 6-3, 225 pounds, should give the Knights some extra physicality. He has 760 hits the past three seasons, the eighth-most in the NHL in that span, despite appearing in only 174 of a possible 246 games.

Lauzon has one year remaining on his deal with a $2 million cap hit.

Sissons, 31, is a bottom-six center who has played 690 games for the Predators since being drafted in the second round in 2012. He had 21 points in 72 games last season.

Sissons has one year left on his contract.

The Knights, with the two additions and the retention, have $2.186 million in cap space remaining with 12 forwards, eight defensemen and two goaltenders under contract. That could change if Pietrangelo, who missed 11 regular-season games last season with various injuries, needs to go on long-term injured reserve.

Pietrangelo, 35, has an $8.8 million cap hit the next two seasons.

Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.