NHL To Discipline Senators for Role in Dadonov NTC Fiasco

Hey, remember how awful the past 48 hours were?

Well, here’s another turd sandwich brought to you by the good people at the Locked on Sens Podcast.

Regular contributor @LalimesMartian floated the following nugget on Thursday:

A history lesson…

For those unaware, the league voided a trade at the 2022 NHL trade deadline involving the Vegas Golden Knights and the Anaheim Ducks. The two teams agreed to a deal that would have sent Dadonov and a future second-round pick to the Ducks for injured defencemen John Moore and the contract of the injured Ryan Kesler. The purpose of the deal for Vegas was to clear salary, so the team could activate Alex Pietrangelo and Mark Stone off the LTIR.

The problem with the trade stemmed from a conflict in regard to the modified no-trade clause that was part of the three-year contract that Dadonov signed with the Senators in 2020. According to his contract, Dadonov’s modified no-trade clause was a negotiated right that allowed the player to annually submit a list of 10 teams that he could not be traded to.

The problem is that when the Senators traded Dadonov to Vegas for Nick Holden and a 2022 third-round pick on July 28, 2021, the Senators informed Vegas that Dadonov failed to submit his list of teams, thereby voiding his no-trade clause.

In its investigation of Dadonov’s contract and its no-trade clause, the league concluded 48 hours after the trade deadline that Dadonov’s representation had submitted an updated list of teams that the player could not be traded to without permission — which included Anaheim.

Vegas was forced to retain Dadonov, putting the player in an awkward spot where he could face resentment for exercising his right to refuse a trade to Anaheim. It put Vegas in a difficult spot because they remained in salary cap hell while vying for a playoff spot. Given the circumstances and the stakes, any ire directed toward the Senators was deserved. If the Senators willfully provided incorrect information to Vegas which caused their hockey operations department to waste its time and negatively impacted their trade deadline, it is a huge red flag. (As an aside, Vegas missed the postseason in 2022.)

Shawn Simpson provided more clarity on the events as described to him by Vegas general manager Kelly McCrimmon.

During tonight’s Hockey Night in Canada broadcast, Elliotte Friedman substantiated Martian’s rumour as part of his ‘Headlines’ segment.

“Well, Vegas did try to trade him there. And, as you mentioned, it was shot down and one of the reasons was because Dadonov had Anaheim on his no-trade list. Now, Vegas was not aware of that. When they acquired him from the Ottawa Senators, they were told that Dadonov had not submitted his trade request (list) in on time, so if Vegas wanted to move him, they could do whatever they needed to do. That wasn’t the case. He had submitted it and the reason it is relevant now is because sometime in the next few days, the NHL is going to announce some sort of punishment to the Senators for that situation. And, I think, we are going to get a clear explanation for what occurred and why Vegas wasn’t at fault.”

Friedman never elaborated on what punitive measures the league could or would impose on the Senators, but Martian did allude to the possibility of the Senators losing a future first-round draft pick for their involvement.

Irrespective of the punishment the league delivers, general manager Pierre Dorion comes off looking terrible here. If what Simpson reported is true, Dorion ignorantly deceived a counterpart or is simply incompetent. Neither look is good for a general manager who is trying to instill confidence in his new bosses. Relaying incorrect information without the basic level of due diligence or bookkeeping amounts to front office malpractice.

If Dorion goes into survival mode and attempts to deflect blame, one solution could be to point the finger at former assistant general manager Peter MacTavish. MacTavish left the organization after four seasons to join Montreal-based Quartexx Management as an agent in the summer of 2022. If Dorion claims his assistant general manager was responsible for providing this information to him, perhaps there is some scenario where he holds onto his job. As the head of the then-hockey operations department, the responsibility was his, but this may be the only card he has left to play.

Perhaps it does not matter. It is hard to imagine Dorion continuing in his role.

I do wonder how frustrated Michael Andlauer is with this information. The franchise that he just bought will be punished for something that happened almost two years ago. Why now? What took so long? What will the punitive measures be?

Arizona forfeited their 2020 second-round pick and a 2021 first-round pick for illegally administering physical tests to young prospects ahead of the league's draft combine in 2020. In 2021, the NHL fined the Chicago Blackhawks $2 million for their “inadequate internal procedures and insufficient and untimely response” in their handling of the Kyle Beach scandal.

Now as we await the disciplinary measures, Senators fans are asking, “Haven’t we suffered enough?”

Is it not bad enough that fans have had to suffer through years of incompetence? Bad trades, poor free agent signings, cap mismanagement, off-ice distractions and poor ownership have plagued this franchise’s modern history. Can we not just move forward in peace under credible new ownership while turning the page on the dregs of the Melnyk era once and for all?

I do suppose if there is a silver lining here, it is that this should essentially cement Dorion’s fate. If he was not on borrowed time already, this should do it.

Unfortunately, as I joked on ‘X’, if LalimesMartian was right about Dadonov, his rumour that Dorion would be fired with an accompanying tweet that simply had a photo of Peter Chiarelli makes me nervous as hell.