I love going after Vegas for a D man but I think Lohrei and Wotherspoon have both played themselves into being everyday players next year. We need depth, but there will be depth defensemen we can get for less than that. I'm also a huge Brunet fan and think he can replace Peeke as a shutdown D in a few years.

Nicolas Hague is expendable yes but nothing in that offer entices Vegas.

Personally don’t see Hague as differentiated from a free agent that can be picked up with that contract for free. The question is there a team who can’t appeal to a defenseman who trades for him and gives more. We aren’t talking about McNabb here.

Merkulov has been considerably better than Brisson at the AHL level and is only a year older. He doesn’t have the pedigree, but the tool set is similar. Both are good vision, hard shot, average defense guys.

Brunet is an interesting defender, but the predictable struggle at the AHL conversion is light.

I wouldn’t trade this for Hague personally.

Peeke has term and IMO is a lock for the 3rd pair for the next few years. He also shouldn't be expensive to extend.

Hague is better than Wotherspoon IMO and is not expensive/will be team controlled... that is your depth. Wotherspoon is only under team control/extended for one more year

Who is the odd man out in Vegas then? Only about $5.8M in cap space - looking like Vegas will lose a lot of offensive production this offseason.

Unlikely that we will lose a lot of offensive production but as for the odd men out (not including UFAs), it will likely be Hague or Whitecloud

I don't see Hague fetching a 2nd and a 4th round pick... especially given Vegas' lack of leverage. Similar to Boston Taylor Hall/Nick Foligno situation.

Merk should interest Vegas