The Golden Knights blue line is going to look a lot different this season than it has for quite a while. Alex Pietrangelo is expected to miss the entire 2025-26 season, and Nic Hague was traded to the Nashville Predators last night.
Pietrangelo has appeared in 329 of Vegas’ 384 regular season games over the past four seasons, and Hague has played in 326. There have only been five games since the start of the 2020-21 season in which VGK have been without both Pietrangelo and Hague.
Amazingly, though, the Golden Knights haven’t missed a beat when they’ve been without Pietrangelo or Hague, or both.
| Record | Points Percentage | Goals Per Game | Goals Against Per Game | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 229-118-37 | .645 | 3.27 | 2.73 |
| w/ Both | 163-87-26 | .638 | 3.21 | 2.72 |
| w/o Pietrangelo | 38-14-3 | .718 | 3.45 | 2.71 |
| w/o Hague | 31-18-9 | .612 | 3.36 | 2.76 |
| w/o Both | 3-1-1 | .700 | 3.00 | 2.40 |
Despite playing in the #1 defenseman role for his entire career in Vegas, the Golden Knights have a stellar .718 points percentage without Alex Pietrangelo. The numbers dip a bit without Hague, but not significantly enough to be concerned about.
In the playoffs, Vegas have only been without Pietrangelo twice, once for a suspension and once for an illness, both against Edmonton. They lost the game this past postseason and won in 2023. They were without Hague for nearly the entire Dallas series in 2024 as he was injured in Game 1. VGK went on to lose that series in seven games. Hague was a healthy scratch during portions of the 2021 playoff run as well. They went 5-5 with him in the lineup 5-4 without him.
The trade with Nashville brought Jeremy Lauzon, who may slot in on the 3rd pair in Hague’s absence, and free agency could bring more additions to the Vegas blue line before Opening Night 2025.
Defense will be one of the biggest question marks for the Golden Knights as they head into the 2025-26 season. On paper, the defense corps will certainly look worse than it has since Pietrangelo arrived, but the numbers indicate the issues may not be as deep-seated as they appear.
Frank
Surprisingly the numbers are pretty close to even and actually a bit better without either or both in line up…. Makes one wonder… Is Pietrangelo on the block too? Or is he really headed to LTIR? Either way, we need to shed his salary and/or perhaps someone elses too….. Looking at these stats, it makes the move to get Marner kind of a no-brainer.
trade
Wonder if Whitecloud will be moved up to play with Hanifin. because it would be a lot of pressure on the kid Korczak to try to play him every game against top line opponent forwards.
and remember, Ben Hutton replaced Petro in game 5 vs Edm after Petro got suspended, and the Vgk beat the Oilers at T Mobile in game 5 easily, and then won the series in game 6 in Edm. Hutton came up big in the biggest of playoff situations for the Vgk, and I have confidence in him because of that.
trade
from Vegashockeynow–
TODAY is the day!
It began last summer when the Golden Knights and the Toronto Maple Leafs discussed a trade. Those discussions never progressed, as the Maple Leafs wanted Shea Theodore; Vegas obviously said no.
Then, at the 2025 Trade Deadline, the two teams resumed the Marner trade talks and even brought in the Carolina Hurricanes. Again, the trade never made it across the finish line, but it wasn’t for lack of interest.
The discussions resumed with a vengeance at the Draft Combine, with the Golden Knights expressing interest in trading for Marner’s rights. The talks began again and continued through the NHL Entry Draft.
On Sunday, Elliotte Friedman reported that should the Golden Knights simply sign Marner in Free Agency, the Maple Leafs could go after them for tampering. Now, a trade seems imminent.
On Monday’s episode of Sportsnet 590 The FAN Hockey Show, Elliotte Friedman said that he expects the saga to come to an end before Free Agency. Friedman believes the trade will happen today, June 30th, with Nic Roy going back the other way.
former season ticket holder
Losing N Roy would be a significant loss for the 4th (+ any line he’s put on) his presence is felt on the ice around the net
JB
Roy has been a good player, but is inconsistent. He has disappeared for a number of games at a time. Hague has somewhat digressed after the cup season.
Emmanuel
Anyone who went thru the 91-present expansion period knows team defense is the first thing you can build on. Adding guys like Theo or Pietro allows your blue line to improve the transition game but it reallyndoesnt add tomdefense. A two way LW or D are the most scarce and valuble players to acquire but they have to be legit two way players, none of this “so and so magically became a two way player last year”.
Emmanuel
I have no idea why my previous post is a reply to JB, glitch?
But since im here yes some of these guys are being glazed by posters.
Vic
With Petro, the VGK was overloaded with offensive minded defenders. Hague was a nice draft pick, defended his teammates, was a key part of the VGK’s success, however, he was a bit slow so didn’t get open to shoot the puck, and he didn’t play angry enough for a guy his size. Happy for him as he’s set for life.
TD
What kind of shit website is this where there is no story of development camp going on right now. Nothing but fluff pieces and commenters spewing their MAGA bullshit. Garbage
ThG
only bull shit here is you TS clone
Bob Hobrough
According to Elliot Friedman the deal is done