Hague Ready for Increased Role, Excited to Help Preds Bounce Back

Nic Hague wasn’t a member of the Predators last season, but even from afar in Las Vegas, he saw how things played out.

On Thursday, as he sat down inside of Bridgestone Arena as a member of the Preds for the first time after being acquired via trade two weeks prior, the 26-year-old defenseman noted a similar circumstance he previously endured with the Golden Knights.

And the new mindset is already in the works.

In recent months following the conclusion of the 2024-25 campaign, a couple of Hague’s new teammates - USA Hockey World Champions Brady Skjei and Michael McCarron - have expressed the desire to prove last season was a fluke and show the Predators have much more to give.

Posed with that question during his introductory meeting with the media in Nashville, Hague didn’t hesitate to throw his belief behind that mantra with his new club.

“I think that's a powerful feeling to have as a team - and I also thought it was a fluke, by the way,” Hague said of Nashville’s previous season. “I will say the year before we won [the Stanley Cup] in Vegas, we missed the playoffs, and that didn't sit well with anybody. We were very hungry, felt like we had something to prove coming into that next year and obviously we were able to do that to the full extent. So, that's a powerful feeling in a locker room, if everybody can buy in and have something to prove. I think that can take a team a long way.”

And if the Preds are to turn things around, they figure Hague will play a notable role in doing so.

Nashville traded for the hulking 6-foot-6 blueliner and sent veteran center Colton Sissons and physical defenseman Jeremy Lauzon to the Golden Knights to make the deal happen. Then, the Preds subsequently signed Hague, a 2023 Stanley Cup champion, to a four-year, $22 million contract.

Hague, who had spent his entire career in Vegas to this point, is now more than ready to take on a new challenge in Tennessee.

“I've always heard nothing but great things about it here,” Hague said of Nashville. “Talking to the guys, too, it just seems like such a great place to live and great place to play. It’s always a place I loved visiting to play, and I think [Bridgestone Arena] is one of the best buildings. And I was really excited about it when [the trade] came to my attention, and I couldn't be happier with how it all turned out.”

Hague will also be reunited with Preds forward Jonathan Marchessault, a pair that won the Cup together in Vegas where Marchessault was playoff MVP.

“‘Marchy’s a really good friend,” Hague said. ‘The guy makes me laugh. It's good. It's going to be fun to reconnect with them. We got pretty close in Vegas, actually, over the years, and lived right down the street from them, so it'll be good to see him and [the family], and it'll be nice to have a familiar face around here.”

Following the deal on June 30, Barry Trotz spoke of Hague's attributes - “big and physical with strong skating ability” - and Nashville’s general manager believes Hague will play an integral role on the blueline not only next season, but in the future.

“I get excited about stuff like that,” Hague said of Trotz’s words. “I think it's an opportunity for me to take that next step as a player, and it was something that I've wanted to do for a long time, and something I think I'm ready for. So, for me, it’s just embracing that opportunity and really showing the player I am and what I can do with them.”

So, what kind of player does Hague want to become in Nashville? He already recorded five goals and 12 points last season in 68 games with Vegas to go along with 82 hits and 74 blocked shots, but the Kitchener, Ont., native believes he can take a page from his roots.

“I think there's more to give offensively for my game,” Hague said. “In junior [hockey with the OHL’s Mississauga Steelheads], I was an offensive guy, and when I came into the NHL, it was obviously a heavy focus on defending in this League. You’re not going to make it anywhere if you can't do that, so I think a lot of my attention went to that side of the game. I think I improved a lot defensively when I first came into the League, and now for me, [I want to] try to round out my game a little bit more and kind of get back to that offensive side and those instincts that I did have when I was in junior - and not obviously lose the defensive part, but try to take a step on the other side of the ice as well.”

A left-handed shot, Hague says he’s comfortable playing both the left and right side of the ice and is willing to slot in wherever the coaching staff wants him to be. But regardless of where Hague finds himself in the Opening Night lineup come October, he’ll be more than ready to go with a team intent on reversing their fortunes from a year ago.

Plus, doing so in a place like Nashville isn’t a bad deal either.

“It’s something that I'm really looking forward to,” Hague said. “I've heard nothing but great things…[and I’ve] talked to a bunch of the players, and just being here this weekend and meeting people in the organization, everyone's been so welcoming to to my wife and I. It just gets us so excited to be here and live here and call Nashville home, and I can't wait to get going when season starts.”