It wasn’t the biggest move in the NHL trade deadline, but it had potentially important playoff implications: Evgeny Dadonov, a 33-year-old right winger who had a bad year for the Golden Knights, was sent to Anaheim with net salary. . Vegas is only complying with the restrictions because they have big salaries from long-term IRs and if they want Mark Stone and Alec Martinez back they need to take a pay cut. Writing off Dadonov’s $5 million a year from the ledgers would help a lot. But the Knights-Ducks deal is now in limbo, and everyone’s favorite, the Ottawa Senators, seem to be to blame.
To highlight how eager the Golden Knights were to move Dadonov, they opted for a second-round pick to convince the Ducks to get him out of hand. In return, they received guard John Moore and the contract of Ryan Kesler, who had not played hockey for three years and would not count towards their cap. But hours after the deal was announced, Vegas made an ominous statement:
We have become aware of a trade-related issue. We consulted with the league office. We will provide additional information as soon as it becomes available. #VegasBorn
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) March 22, 2022
Oh oh!
The issue is reportedly related to the no-trade clause in Dadonov’s contract, which allows him to block transfers to 10 teams. One such team is the Anaheim Ducks. Oh-oh!!
At first there were rumors that it could be a different situation with Patrick Berglund. In 2018, Berglund was part of a deal that sent Ryan O’Reilly from Buffalo to St. Louis. Buffalo was listed in Berglund’s no-trade clause and he could and would have blocked the deal, but his agent failed to submit paperwork to do so in time. Berglund’s tenure with Buffalo was as miserable as it was short: he was often a healthy scratch, and after 23 games, he decided not to show up again. He was disqualified and then left the NHL altogether. There’s a reason why guys get NTC, that’s what I’m about to say.
But in this case, neither Dadonov and his agent, nor the Knights or the Ducks seem to be wrong. The first two completed their paperwork, and the last two simply had no idea that there was a no-trade clause at all.
Update on Dadonov: Somehow, during an exchange call from Ottawa to Vegas (a team that Dadonov couldn’t ban), the Golden Knights and the NHL decided the defense was overdue or not properly registered. But there is correspondence confirming that the trade ban paperwork was filed correctly (and on time) on June 30th.
— Elliott Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) March 22, 2022
Dadonov received the NTC, which included the Ducks, from a contract he signed with Ottawa in 2020 and, according to Elliott Friedman, extended it for the league’s new year. But when Dadonov was sent to Vegas by the senators in the summer of 2021, Ottawa seemed to just…never mention the NTC to the Knights? Or, more cynically, told them that it had expired to make Dadonov more attractive as a future trade lure.
The NHLPA intervened on Dadonov’s behalf, and while the league is trying to figure out what the hell happened here, the deal has yet to go through and I suspect it will be cancelled. This is bad news for Vegas, who I honestly don’t know if they can make the playoffs after the trade deadline has passed. It’s also potentially embarrassing for Dadonov, who may have to keep playing for a team that was desperate to offload him. I don’t care how it affects the Ducks.
I care that the senators, who already got the funniest deal of the week when they took the paycheck and sent back the choice to get Travis Hamonic for no apparent reason, managed to wreak havoc and fuck a bunch of people with a summer Trojan horse of malice or incompetence. We don’t trade grades here, but if we did, Ottawa would have to stay after school.