Minutes after being acquired from Vegas in a trade for Colton Sissons and Jeremy Lauzon, Nashville signed Nicolas Hague to a four-year, $22 million contract extension ($5.5 million AAV). The 26-year-old appeared in 68 games for Vegas in his sixth season with the Golden Knights, picking up five goals, 12 points and 40 PIMs.
Late Sunday, Vegas announced that they had moved the rights to Nicolas Hague to Nashville for Jeremy Lauzon and Colton Sissons. Lauzon is a 28-year-old defenseman who appeared in only 28 games for Nashville during the 2024-25 season, struggling offensively, with a modest assist and 37 PIMs, while averaging 17:58 TOI/GP. He is expected to battle for one of Vegas' final defensive spots ahead of the 2025-26 season.
Vegas moved on from six-year veteran Nicolas Hague on Sunday when they agreed to a deal with Nashville for Colton Sissons and Jeremy Lauzon. Sissons is a 31-year-old centre who should battle for a bottom-six position with Vegas in 2025-26. He appeared in 72 games with Nashville in 2024-25, producing his lowest goal (7), point (21) and SOG (80) totals since 2020-21.
Brindley was a second-round pick (No.34 overall) in 2023 but had an underwhelming first pro season, scoring just six goals and 11 assists (17 points) in 52 games with Cleveland (AHL). Colorado's pipeline was pretty empty, so adding a player like Brindley while shedding $7.75M AAV was a tidy piece of business.
Wood's contract certainly isn't the best, as he has four more years at $2.5M AAV, but he's a physical bottom-6 winger that will help Columbus replace some of the wingers they let walk in free agency. Most recently, Wood missed 45 games in 2024-25, finishing the season with just four goals and four assists in 37 games.
After six and a half years in Boston, Coyle was traded to the Avalanche at the deadline last year, and only scored two goals with 11 assists (13 points) in 19 games. WIth the Avalanche pressed up against the salary cap, a third-line centre making $5.25M was a luxury they could not afford. With Columbus, Coyle will settle in behind Sean Monahan and Adam Fantilli on the depth chart and could make Cole Sillinger expendable in a trade this summer.
Heineman is no stranger to being included in big trades, he was traded to Calgary as a part of the Sam Bennett trade, then traded to Montreal as a part of the Tyler Toffoli trade, and now to the Islanders for Noah Dobson. The 6-foot-2, 198 lbs winger was a full-time NHLer in 2024-25, and finished with 18 points (10G / 8A), 64 SOG and 173 hits in 62 games while playing just 11:24 TOI/gm. He'll likely fill a similar bottom-6 role with the Islanders.
Dobson had a breakout 70-point campaign in 2023-24, but followed that up with just 39 points (10G / 29A) in 71 games last season. Some of that can be attributed to the Islanders' power-play dipping from 19th (20.4%) to 31st (12.6%), resulting in 12 fewer power-play assists. In Montreal, he'll be a huge minute eater, but a bounce-back fantasy season could be tougher to come by because of Lane Hutson. Obviously, they could end up together on the top PP unit, but he's now got significantly more competition for PP time, even if it wasn't always fruitful in New York.
Sourdif was a third-round pick (No.87 overall) in the 2020 NHL Draft, who has appeared in just four NHL games since. In 2024-25, he spent most of the season in Charlotte (AHL), where he had 34 points (16G / 18A) in 43 games. Sourdif will likely battle for a bottom-6 role with the Capitals in training camp.
Minnesota made a minor trade on Thursday after acquiring winger Cameron Butler from Columbus for forward Brendan Gaunce. Butler is a 23-year-old undrafted right-winger who made his only NHL appearance in 2023-24 with the Blue Jackets. He struggled to produce offensively in 2024-25, only scoring two goals and three points in 37 games played.
Columbus acquired a depth forward on Thursday after trading for Branden Gaunce from Minnesota for AHL forward Cameron Butler. Gaunce, 31, spent most of 2024-25 as a healthy scratch for the Wild, which led to him only putting up an assist and a -4 plus/minus in 12 games played. He returns to familiar territory in Columbus, where he spent three seasons between 2021-2024 and had 12 points in 59 games played.
NHL trades are decided between two or more team general managers. The front office’s job is building a winning team. Building a winning team means discussing trades with other general managers across the league.
During the NHL regular season, players can be traded up until the trade deadline. The deadline is the official cutoff point for when teams can no longer make moves between each other. Players can also be traded throughout the offseason.
Teams trade players in hockey for a variety of reasons, but generally, it is done to find success, whether that is in the short term or long term. Teams may trade their top players in search of draft picks if they are undergoing a rebuild, whereas contending teams may look to acquire talent to boost their playoff chances.
Trades are a common occurrence throughout the NHL and happen often. Some years feature less trades than others, it all depends on each teams needs and the availability of attractive talent.
