Senators punished for role in invalidated Knights-Ducks trade

The NHL laid the blame for the failed Evgenii Dadonov trade between the Golden Knights and the Anaheim Ducks at the feet of the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday. And the fallout was severe.

The Senators will forfeit a first-round draft pick for their role in the invalidated transaction that look place in March 2022. The club also announced general manager Pierre Dorion was out due to the league’s punishment.

The news stems from a messy situation around the 2022 trade deadline that saw the Knights attempt to move Dadonov to the Ducks, only to have the transaction rescinded because of a 10-team no-trade clause in the player’s contract.

Senators owner Michael Andlauer, who purchased the team in September, said Ottawa did not tell the Knights of the clause’s existence when Dadonov was traded between the two teams in July 2021. That set off a chain of events that “that embarrassed the league and pissed off two other NHL clubs,” Andlauer said.

“At the end of the day, we are at fault for what transpired,” Andlauer said in a news conference Wednesday. “We can argue about how harsh this penalty was, but ultimately this could have been avoided.”

The NHL’s actions speak volumes about how serious it views the Senators’ transgressions.

This is only the second time the league has docked a franchise a first-round pick, according to the website CapFriendly. The Arizona Coyotes were stripped of their 2021 first-round pick for violating the league’s combine testing policy.

Ottawa will lose its pick in 2024, 2025 or 2026. The Senators will decide which pick it will lose after each year’s draft lottery.

The penalty also vindicates the Knights, who faced scrutiny for the canceled deal and had Dadonov on their roster the rest of the season.

“We appreciate the league’s diligence on this matter and respect the decision,” the Knights said in a statement.

The team declined further comment.

The issue began with a three-year, $15 million contract Dadonov signed with the Senators on Oct. 15, 2020. It gave him the ability to block a trade to 10 teams of his choosing.

Because that protection was not disclosed to the Knights when they added Dadonov on July 28, 2021, they believed they were free to move him if they saw fit.

They wanted to free up cap flexibility before the trade deadline the next season and had an agreement in place with Anaheim that was at first approved by the NHL on March 21. Two days later, when the league confirmed Dadonov had a no-trade list and that Anaheim was on it, the deal was called off.

He finished the rest of the season with the Knights before being dealt to the Montreal Canadiens on June 16, 2022.

Andlauer said the NHL compiled a 73-page report on the situation before making its ruling. He and Dorion agreed to part ways after reviewing it. President of hockey operations Steve Staios will be the Senators’ interim general manager.

“We were negligent,” Andlauer said. “At the end of the day, we were downright negligent.”

Hague injured

Knights defenseman Nic Hague suffered a lower-body injury Monday against Montreal and is likely out at least through Sunday’s game against Anaheim, coach Bruce Cassidy said.

Hague, 24, has three points in 10 games. He’s the fourth defenseman to miss time for the Knights despite the season being three weeks old, along with Alec Martinez (four games), Alex Pietrangelo (five games) and Zach Whitecloud (10 games).

Cassidy said veteran Ben Hutton will take Hague’s spot on the third pair.

“Just kind of sucks that we lose another defenseman out of our lineup,” Cassidy said. “I don’t think it will be an extended period of time, but any game you’re down a man back there is not optimal for us.”

Stastny retires

Former Knights center Paul Stastny said he’s retiring in an interview Tuesday with The Athletic.

Stastny, 37, scored 293 goals and 822 points in 1,145 games during a 17-year NHL career. That includes 80 points in 121 games in two seasons with the Knights, which included a trip to the 2020 Western Conference Final.

“He was not only good at goals and assists, right?” right wing Jonathan Marchessault said. “He was good at everything else on the ice, and he took a lot of pride in that. You look at the NHL now, you see guys that do highlight reels but not necessarily the best overall game. A guy like Paul would not do anything flashy but would just be efficient in what he was doing.”

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.