Nic Hague stands tall on Golden Knights’ blue line

Looking back, Nic Hague feels bad for his dad.

Hockey isn’t the cheapest sport for a kid to play. It’s even worse when said child grows every year and keeps needing new skates. Hague reached adult sizes faster than any of his friends in Kitchener, Ontario, which means he also got more expensive quicker.

“My dad, credit to him, he would always make sure I wasn’t squeezing my feet in,” said Hague, the Golden Knights’ tallest player at 6 feet 6 inches. “I tried to wear them as long as I could when I was younger, but it was kind of every year or year and a half I’d probably need to get a pair of new skates.”

Hague’s hockey career ultimately became well worth the investment. The 22-year-old defenseman is starting to establish himself as a regular his second NHL season after playing 38 games as a rookie. He should be part of the Knights’ blue line for years.

That’s in part because of the rare size he brings to his position. It’s also because of the long hours he worked to make sure his stature wouldn’t hold him back.

“Every kid in Ontario wants to be in the NHL,” said James Richmond, Hague’s junior coach with the Ontario Hockey League’s Mississauga Steelheads. “But not every kid wants to put the time in and the work that needs to go into it to make it to that level. Nic, he was all-in.”

Sprouting

Hauge isn’t sure if he was the tallest kid in all of his classes growing up. At the least, he was always up there.

He said he never had a huge growth spurt that suddenly made him tower over everyone else. He just kept adding an inch or an inch and a half every year. By the time he was drafted into the OHL at age 15, he was listed at 6-4½.

His size ticketed him for the blue line at an early age. Hague doesn’t remember when he started playing defense full time, but he never complained. His huge frame made it easy for him to clear out the front of the net. His long reach created turnovers.

He looked to larger defensemen such as Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman and St. Louis’ Colton Parayko, each listed at 6 feet 6, for inspiration. He eventually realized he might have a chance to play in the same league as the two. He said he was first approached by an NHL scout the season after the OHL draft, which started to open his eyes to what his future could look like.

“It was never really something I thought about when I was younger,” Hague said. “Of course, every kid has that dream, but I didn’t really realize I was going to be able to live it.”

Finding a stride

Hague faced one key obstacle between him and his goals: His skating.

Size offers a lot of advantages in hockey. But it’s still a sport that requires fast transitions between offense and defense. It takes a lot of coordination for defenders to flip between skating forward and backward, and vice versa, smoothly and quickly. One hitch in the process can lead to a breakaway.

It was a bigger challenge for Hague than most maturing defensemen to keep his long limbs compact and efficient. Former Knights assistant coach Mike Kelly once said Hague looked “kind of like Bambi on ice” during his first NHL development camp.

So Hague made his stride a primary focus. Richmond said he and Hague spent extra time on his skating almost every day with the Steelheads.

The keys were improving Hague’s balance and leg strength so he could control his feet more.

Taller players often want to stand straight up on the ice, which makes their skate blades lay flat and puts their weight on their heels. Richmond worked with Hague on bringing his chest forward so he would be over the top of his knees. That way he could better utilize the inside edges of his skates, which guide power and balance.

“He was a tall, skinny kid that looked like a new fawn on ice,” Richmond said. “He’s grown nicely into his frame, and there’s still work there to be done, but he’s put the time in.”

Standing tall

Hague’s skating has gotten to the point where he doesn’t feel out of place in the NHL. It’s still something he thinks about and works on every day, but it’s no longer an issue.

That allows his other gifts to shine. It puts him in position to use his “fishing rod” of a stick, as his defensive partner Zach Whitecloud terms it. He can knock away pucks if opponents get too close and force them to the edges of the ice.

“You go against him once (in practice), and he’s got a really good gap and he’s got a really long stick, so you have to be aware every single time you’re going against him,” center Cody Glass said. “He’s very difficult to play against just with his size.”

Hague’s stride also is leading to opportunities on offense. He has the confidence to join the rush when he sees open ice and the tools to do damage in the offensive zone. His howitzer of a shot — which earned him the nickname “Haguer bomb” — has him tied for second among Knights defensemen with three goals.

He used it to score 35 goals in 2017-18 for the Steelheads, the most by an OHL defenseman since 1997-98.

“He’s improved a lot over the last couple years we’ve been together,” said rookie defenseman Dylan Coghlan, who also played with Hague in the American Hockey League. “I think him being (in the NHL) the majority of last year really helped him.”

Growing still

Hague’s total package of skills make him a player the Knights can be excited to build around. There are only five skaters in the league who are listed as taller than he is.

He’s far from a finished product, though. His skating and transitions can tighten. He can cut down on his occasional habit of reaching or lunging with his stick.

“It’s about constantly learning and trying to get better,” Hague said.

But he has come a long way. By improving one of the major weaknesses in his game, he now can focus on attention to details.

“All those hours that he put in extra in the morning, coming in and working on skating, working on puck protection, all those things, look what’s happening now,” Richmond said. “He’s on one of the best teams in the NHL, and he’s playing some good minutes.”

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.