Golden Knights' Hague Linked To Interesting Team In East

The Vegas Golden Knights may not have it in their best interest to keep RFA Nic Hague this summer as they have five other everyday defensemen, Kaeden Korczak is ready for an everyday role, and Ben Hutton did better than expected this season as an injury replacement. Instead of signing Hague and dealing with that hassle, the Golden Knights are reportedly looking at options to move him.

If they are to do that, new contract or not, Elliotte Friedman has linked the Philadelphia Flyers to Vegas as a potential landing spot. The Flyers are an interesting team as they have some talented young pieces and should be looking to get better.

The Flyers have six NHL defensemen under contract, Cam York is a RFA they have to deal with, and Ryan Ellis' money is on the books, but his playing career is done. While Travis Sanheim, Rasmus Ristolainen, and Nick Seeler are under contract for at least two more years, Jamie Drysdale, Emil Andrae, and Yegor Zamula all have one year left before becoming RFAs.

The Flyers' defense absolutely needs to get better and Oliver Bonk isn't able to come in and make the impact the team projects just yet. Ristolainen got right triceps surgery and is expected to miss the start of next season, so at the very least, Philadelphia wants to explore better options to replace the loss so they don't fall behind.

If the Flyers were to acquire Hague, there would have to be someone departing, whether that be in the trade, which I think is unlikely because Vegas has a full defense, or somehow else. The Flyers aren't going to buy anyone out, but the most likely moves to make room would involve Seeler or Zamula. I would argue that they both hold the least value, whether that be right now or for the future.

Hague could make a difference on the Flyers' back-end and considering he's a big left-shot defenseman that plays the left side, Seeler or Zamula being moved makes even more sense. We'll see exactly where Hague ends up, but I strongly believe his time with the Golden Knights has come to an end.