For the past 48 hours or so, Nicolas Hague has been the talk of Montreal. The Golden Knights defenseman, who is a restricted free agent in the making, has been linked to the Habs by Nick Kypreos… and naturally, that’s getting a lot of attention.
What’s interesting about Hague is that he has a profile that the Habs don’t really have on their roster right now: a giant-sized defenseman. The Habs have some good defensemen on their squad, but they don’t really have a true colossus.
Guys like Kaiden Guhle and David Reinbacher are big, but not as big as the Knights’ defenseman.
The other interesting aspect is that Hague is a left-handed defenseman… and that’s already a congested position in Montreal. Lane Hutson and Kaiden Guhle, two other left-handers, are on the top-4 to stay, and we’re already wondering whether Mike Matheson has a long-term future in town.
Hague’s arrival would probably mean Matheson’s long-term future is over… but when you look at the whole thing objectively, you have to think that acquiring the big defenseman would mean Arber Xhekaj has no future in town.
This was mentioned on today’s The Shaun Starr Show.
If the Habs get Hague, they’ll have their three left-handed defensemen of the future in Hutson, Guhle and Hague. In an ideal world, these three guys would stay on their good side, and at the big limit, we could see one of them go to the right (but, ideally, this would be on a temporary basis).
So, in addition to Matheson, guys like Xhekaj and Jayden Struble wouldn’t really have a place in Montreal. And that’s without mentioning that Adam Engström is a prospect who has also gained a lot of points in recent months, but especially in recent weeks.
What’s also interesting is that Kypreos mentioned that the Habs would be battling with the Penguins for Hague’s services… and if he’s right, the Habs have good reason to believe in their chances of getting the defenseman for one simple reason: they have a lot more trade chips for the Golden Knights.
And you almost have to wonder if a guy like Xhekaj, who wouldn’t fit in the city in the long term, could be on the table in such a deal…
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