The New Jersey Devils added Evgenii Dadonov this offseason to what looked like a slam dunk contract, paying him $1 million against the current salary cap with games-played bonuses across the year. Unfortunately for the Devils, Dadonov has zero points this season. He was injured in the very first game of the season, breaking his hand while playing on the team’s first line, and he hasn’t been the same since.Â
Dadonov came to the Devils with a little bit of baggage. It’s not his fault, but there was a very tumultuous situation with him and the Ottawa Senators. Apparently, when Dadonov was traded from the Senators to the Vegas Golden Knights, there was a miscommunication about his no-trade clause. Reports say the Knights believed he lost the clause or never had one when they tried to trade Dadonov to the bottom-feeding Anaheim Ducks in March 2022.Â
Because of this miscommunication, the NHL stripped the Senators of a first-round pick. Ottawa was allowed to choose between their 2024, 2025, or 2026 pick.Â
This sounds very familiar to New Jersey Devils fans. In September 2010, the Devils were penalized for the originally agreed upon Ilya Kovalchuk deal, which would have paid him $102 million over 17 years. The NHL vetoed the deal, and the Devils had to renegotiate a 15-year deal that the NHL allowed.Â
The Devils were given a $3 million fine, and they were forced to forfeit a first- and third-round pick. The first-round pick could have been any pick from 2011-2014. Then-GM Lou Lamoriello waited as long as he could to forfeit his pick, and that ended up working out. He was clear in his statement at the time that he didn’t agree with the ruling.
"We were today advised of the ruling by the commissioner with respect to the Kovalchuk matter. We disagree with the decision. We acted in good faith and did nothing wrong. We will have no further comment."Lou Lamoriello, 2010 statement
Eventually, Lamoriello did not relent and got the punishment dropped to obtaining the final pick in the first round of the 2014 NHL Draft. They used that pick to take John Quenneville, so, might as well have forfeited it.Â
The Senators learned on Thursday that they are facing the same fate. Like the Devils at the time, they are under new ownership, and that was used as an excuse by the NHL to lessen the punishment. For Senators’ fans sake, we hope they do better than Quenneville now that they have their pick.