The NHL has announced that they have given the Ottawa Senators their 2026 first-round draft pick back after the league took it following the negligence regarding the Evgenii Dadonov trade in 2021.
Following the initial Dadonov trade, the Vegas Golden Knights tried moving him to the Anaheim Ducks in the dying minutes of the 2022 NHL Trade Deadline, but it did not get processed as it was in violation of Dadonov’s no-trade clause. Pierre Dorion reportedly did not disclose the no-move clause to the Golden Knights.
The NHL acknowledged the negligence and docked the Senators a first-round pick, giving them the choice between their 2024, 2025, or 2026 pick.
Senators owner Michael Andlauer has stated multiple times that he was told that the penalty for the negligence would be a non-issue prior to his purchasing of the team, and the NHL announced the penalty just over a month later, and Andlauer was incensed.
There were two factors leading to the Senators’ decision to wait until 2026 to forfeit their pick. One was simply having the hope that they would be better than they were at that time. The Senators were projected to have their best season out of the three in 2026. The other factor, which is also pretty simple, was that they hoped the NHL would give the pick back.
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There are lots of comparisons made to the 2013 New Jersey Devils, who ended up in a very similar situation after attempting to sign Ilya Kovalchuk to an illegal contract. They were forced to pay a fine and would lose draft picks; however, the day after the 2013 NHL Trade Deadline, the NHL announced the Devils would receive the last pick of the first round.
The NHL gave a similar grace to the Senators. With the sale of the team, the departure of Dorion, and comparisons to the Devils’ situation, it makes sense to see this move. The Senators will instead have a $1 million fine to pay to the league.
The draft pick modifications are: it is the last pick of the first round (32nd overall) and cannot be traded.
Some fans expressed frustration over the fact that the reinstatement of the pick would have helped alter trade deadline plans, which could certainly be true, but the NHL had no obligation to give it back at all, let alone by a certain date.
With the 2024 first-round pick the Senators could have forfeited, they selected defenseman Carter Yakemchuk, and in 2025, they picked defenseman Logan Hensler.
