David Kirouac-Imagn Images
In 2022, the Golden Knights tried to trade Evgenii Dadonov to the Ducks in a transaction that was voided over a contract clause Vegas claimed it had no idea existed in the first place. The Senators ultimately lost a first-round draft pick for their role in the confusion, but the NHL has reversed course around two-and-a-half years after it doled out that controversial punishment.
In 2020, Evgenii Dadonov landed a three-year, $15 million contract with the Ottawa Senators after entering free agency following three solid seasons with the Panthers. However, he failed to live up to expectations during his one and only season in Canada’s capital, and he was traded to the Golden Knights ahead of the 2021-22 campaign.
Vegas attempted to move him yet again (this time for salary cap reasons) ahead of the trade deadline that season, and it appeared he was going to be sent to the Ducks. However, the NHL intervened to call off the deal due to a no-trade clause that gave Dadonov the right to refuse to be shipped off to Anaheim.
That came as a surprise to the Golden Knights, which asserted the Senators had failed to inform them that the clause existed when they gave up the Russian winger.
That led to the league ordering Ottawa to surrender a first-round draft pick in November 2023, which did not go over well with Michael Andlauer, who had purchased the franchise a couple of months before that announcement and had no involvement with the trade that sparked it.
He didn’t give up on his fight to get the NHL to reconsider, and those efforts have managed to pay off.
It took the NHL two-and-a-half years to admit the Senators shouldn’t have lost a draft pick over the Evgenii Dadonov trade
In September 2023, Andlauer, a healthcare CEO who previously held a minority stake in the Canadians, dropped $950 million to acquire the Senators after the franchise hit the market in the wake of the passing of former owner Eugene Melnyk.
There’s no telling if that price would have been lower if he’d known the team was going to lose a first-round draft pick over a transaction that occurred under the watch of the previous regime. However, he was not happy with that development, as he immediately fired the GM who was responsible for the trade before pledging to fight the NHL’s decision.
The initial ruling stated the Senators had to forfeit their first-round pick in the draft in either 2024, 2025, or 2026, and it was set to be triggered this year by default. However, on Thursday, the league announced it will be reversing course after 28 months’ worth of “due and thorough consideration” by giving the Senators the 32nd overall pick at the end of the first round in June.
The franchise will not be allowed to use it to trade up (although it might be able to exploit a loophole that would seemingly permit a player swap), and it will also fork over a $1 million fine that will be funneled into the NHL Foundation Canada.
It’s a bit curious that it took as long as it did for this to play out, but it seems like it’s a fairly ideal solution for the Senators.