Late Monday the Vegas Golden Knights announced they had traded forward Evgenii Dadonov to the Anaheim Ducks. Fast forward 48hrs later, and there remains no update as to whether the trade will actually go through.
The full deal called for Dadonov and a conditional 2nd round draft pick in either 2023 or 2024 to go to Anaheim in exchange for Ryan Kesler and John Moore. Moore, an AHL defenseman, and Kesler, were expected to then be placed on LTIR in a bit of salary cap magic by Vegas.
Dadonov currently carries a $5M cap hit, and the Golden Knights are in desperate need of financial flexibility in order to activate either Alec Martinez or Mark Stone before season’s end. Kesler hasn’t played since 2018-19 and is for all practical purposes retired at this point, however his contract can be converted to long term injured reserve thus sparing Vegas of any cap related impacts.
The logic in making the move was sound, however the execution has been nothing short of a disaster. In a case of high profile finger pointing, Dadonov’s camp, the Golden Knights, and the Ottawa Senators are now trying to determine whether the trade can actually proceed, or whether the NHL will be forced to step in and void the transaction.
The issue stems from whether or not Dadonov submitted his 10 team no-trade list on time to the Sens and league offices. According to reports, the Russian winger was afforded a 10 team no-trade list as part of his contract with the Ottawa Senators.
Following a disappointing first year with the Sens, Dadonov was traded to Vegas in July of 2021 for Nick Holden and 2022 3rd round pick. However when Vegas and Ottawa completed the transaction, Ottawa didn’t notify Vegas that the 33 year old had a modified NTC in his contract.
As the 2021-22 season progressed, it became evident that the Chelyabinsk native wasn’t in the Golden Knights long term plans, and would likely become a cap casualty following the Jack Eichel trade. That exact scenario played out at the 2022 NHL Trade deadline where the aforementioned trade to Anaheim took place.
One problem. Anaheim was one of those 10 teams Dadonov submitted as part of his NTC. Now we’re at the point where Ottawa is claiming that Dadonov’s camp missed the July 1st deadline to submit his list, thus voiding the provision in the contract, Dadonov’s representatives are claiming they submitted it on June 30th, and Vegas is alleging that Ottawa never made them aware of any kind of no-trade clause in the first place.
According to Pierre LeBrun, the NHLPA believes the deal should be voided. “The Players Association says that because he didn’t waive to go to Anaheim, the trade should be voided, plain and simple. That’s the expectation from the NHLPA on what the NHL will eventually decide, but the league hasn’t said anything yet.”
Anaheim stands to gain or lose very little in all of this. They were essentially acting as a salary cap broker in the deal, and while the pick would have been nice, they likely won’t lose too much sleep if the deal ultimately gets voided.
Ottawa, which has offered no comment on the matter until the league completes its investigation, is hoping that Dadonov’s agent is found to be at fault and can chalk the matter up to a clerical error. If however it’s deemed that Ottawa was indeed provided with the list, and failed to report it to Vegas, they could be looking at anything from a slap on the wrist to fines, or even forfeiture of draft picks. And with current GM Pierre Dorion likely on the last of his nine lives in the Nation’s Capital, a hefty fine could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back when it comes to his tenure in Ottawa.
Dadonov is approaching this from a strictly economic standpoint. Going from the desert to the friendly confines of Southern California is an even trade geographically (the club isn’t attempting to ship him to Winnipeg in the middle of winter here), but because of the differing state tax laws, he stands to lose approximately $735K if the deal goes through.
Vegas is the party who stands to lose the most if the deal is voided. If the trade is voided and Dadonov’s contract remains on their books, they essentially move into salary cap hell for the remainder of the season. While Tampa Bay got creative last year with star forward Nikita Kucherov’s contract and their LTIR slots, the Golden Knights don’t have nearly as many options owing to the amount of money they already have on LTIR, and the need to still fit under the 2021-22 salary cap.
While the league continues to try to unpack the many layers of the deal, it’s seeming more and more that unless Dadonov himself decides to waive his NTC, the NHL will likely be forced to void the deal. Should Dadonov remain a Golden Knight there’s the possibility he may become a “frozen asset” which means he’d be unable to play for the remainder of the season.
If the trade does go through, but it’s determined the former Florida Panther did indeed file his paperwork on time, Ottawa could still be facing supplementary discipline from the league as well.
Ultimately this bizarre situation doesn’t appear to have any easy answers. One thing is for sure though, you can bet that a new “Dadonov Rule” will be tabled at the next General Managers meeting in an effort to ensure this sort of thing doesn’t happen again.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner