NHL set to lose one of its snipers as forward could sign overseas
Photo credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Evgenii Dadonov may have played his final NHL game, and the timing lands weeks after the draft his old contract quietly rearranged.
The 37-year-old winger is an unrestricted free agent after one goal in 24 games with the New Jersey Devils, and reporting out of Russia suggests his North American career may be finished.
Traktor Chelyabinsk, the club in his hometown, has interest, and Pro Hockey Rumors relayed a Sport-Express report that the Shanghai Dragons of the KHL are also involved.
North American interest has been thin, and a professional tryout in September looks like his only realistic route back.
The clause that rewired a first round
The Ottawa Senators traded Dadonov to the Vegas Golden Knights in July 2021 without disclosing the 10-team no-trade list in the contract he signed there in 2020.
That omission voided a 2022 deadline deal sending him to the Anaheim Ducks, and general manager Pierre Dorion was gone by the time the league ruled.
In March 2026 the NHL modified the sanction, per NHL.com.
Ottawa picked 32nd in June regardless of its standing, could not trade that selection, and paid a $1 million CDN fine.
Nine other teams quietly benefited
The knock-on effect stretched past Ottawa. To slot the Senators last, the league moved every club that would have drafted behind them up one position.
Ottawa would have picked around 23rd on merit, so nine teams received a slightly better first-round selection this summer, none of them aware they had Dadonov to thank.
The back third of the 2026 first round is permanently shaped by a paperwork error involving a fourth-line winger who may never play in the league again.
Dadonov finishes with 164 goals and 198 assists in 641 games.
The draft order he rearranged will outlive every one of them.
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