Don Waddell put rumors to bed over the weekend and traded David Jiricek along with a 5th round pick for the Minnesota Wild’s 2025 1st round pick (top 5 protected), Minnesota’s 2027 2nd Round Pick, Colorado’s 3rd Round Pick in 2026, Minnesota’s 4th round pick in 2026 and young D prospect Daemon Hunt.
How do you figure Nic Hague would work in the Evason system? Would he be a potential target in the off-season assuming the big fish all go somewhere else?
Alternatively, if Vegas chooses to trade Whitecloud in order to keep Hague, would Whitecloud make sense as a target?-
Also, where would you put Jordan Spence in the line-up?
I can't say I'm overly familiar with Nic Hague's game though obviously his resume is exciting. I think both he and Whitecloud really work as targets considering you're at least confident they can defend at a really good level. My hunch is that they could be "shutdown" style defenseman if we're optimizing our defense to compete through the playoffs. I'll try to catch a game and let you know.
I just clipped a full game of Jordan Spence and he's a really tough eval. LA is just so conservative (and ran 11-7) so he had limited time even on screen. He's a really good passer with good ideas, I like how Belfry suggested he was great at using contact to play above his size but I didn't observe any of it. Didn't jump off the screen as a skater like Korczak did but that could be system too.
Ideally, he'd be a Fabbro/Boqvist hybrid as a Werenski partner. He is certainly an offensive fit next to Werenski, maybe he can be the Hronek to Z's Hughes? He's been so sheltered and hidden in LA that it would be tremendously risky to do that off the hop but if we have Fabbro/Severson as PKers playing ahead, I think we'd be well positioned to ease him into the system. If he can join the rush or defend in more exposed situations, he could work. Otherwise, I think I'm cooling on him as a target. Hard to see an NHL roster composed of both him and Mateychuk being undersized even if they have other skills, you'd have to have pretty perfect roster alignment to make it work long term.
I haven't looked him up in a while but I really wanted the Blue Jackets to go after Hague last off-season and that feeling has only amplified now that the Golden Knights have extended McNabb and Theodore. Hague's big and skates quite well, so Waddell and Evason should like him. He may be less pricey than Miller and could perhaps complement Mateychuk well going forward.
It didn't seem like pure currency or liquidity to me bc of Daemon Hunt. But that's a curious acceptable addition when seemingly overloaded with left defense. Maybe he's seen as a year or more away I don't know. How will Don maximize the cap space?
How do you figure Nic Hague would work in the Evason system? Would he be a potential target in the off-season assuming the big fish all go somewhere else?
Alternatively, if Vegas chooses to trade Whitecloud in order to keep Hague, would Whitecloud make sense as a target?-
Also, where would you put Jordan Spence in the line-up?
I can't say I'm overly familiar with Nic Hague's game though obviously his resume is exciting. I think both he and Whitecloud really work as targets considering you're at least confident they can defend at a really good level. My hunch is that they could be "shutdown" style defenseman if we're optimizing our defense to compete through the playoffs. I'll try to catch a game and let you know.
I just clipped a full game of Jordan Spence and he's a really tough eval. LA is just so conservative (and ran 11-7) so he had limited time even on screen. He's a really good passer with good ideas, I like how Belfry suggested he was great at using contact to play above his size but I didn't observe any of it. Didn't jump off the screen as a skater like Korczak did but that could be system too.
Ideally, he'd be a Fabbro/Boqvist hybrid as a Werenski partner. He is certainly an offensive fit next to Werenski, maybe he can be the Hronek to Z's Hughes? He's been so sheltered and hidden in LA that it would be tremendously risky to do that off the hop but if we have Fabbro/Severson as PKers playing ahead, I think we'd be well positioned to ease him into the system. If he can join the rush or defend in more exposed situations, he could work. Otherwise, I think I'm cooling on him as a target. Hard to see an NHL roster composed of both him and Mateychuk being undersized even if they have other skills, you'd have to have pretty perfect roster alignment to make it work long term.
I haven't looked him up in a while but I really wanted the Blue Jackets to go after Hague last off-season and that feeling has only amplified now that the Golden Knights have extended McNabb and Theodore. Hague's big and skates quite well, so Waddell and Evason should like him. He may be less pricey than Miller and could perhaps complement Mateychuk well going forward.
It didn't seem like pure currency or liquidity to me bc of Daemon Hunt. But that's a curious acceptable addition when seemingly overloaded with left defense. Maybe he's seen as a year or more away I don't know. How will Don maximize the cap space?