NHL: Senators won't forfeit '26 1st-round pick for nixed '22 trade - ESPN

In a surprising reversal, the NHL has decided the Ottawa Senators will no longer forfeit a first-round draft pick for their role in the canceled 2022 trade between Vegas and Anaheim involving winger Evgenii Dadonov.

Rather than giving up their first-round pick in June's NHL draft, the Senators will select last (32nd overall) in the round and pay a $1 million fine in Canadian dollars, the league announced Thursday. That money will go to the NHL Foundation Canada, a league-sponsored charitable organization.

When the Senators dealt Dadonov to the Golden Knights in July 2021, there was no mention that the winger had trade protection. The contract he signed with Ottawa in October 2020 had a clause stating that he couldn't be traded without first submitting a 10-team no-trade list. Vegas then traded Dadonov to the Ducks in March 2022, unaware that Anaheim was on his 10-team no-trade list, which had been submitted to Ottawa for the 2021-22 season by the stated deadline in his contract.

The NHLPA disputed the validity of the trade between the Golden Knights and the Ducks, and the NHL announced it was canceling the trade, saying it «could not be concluded because Dadonov's contract includes a limited no-trade clause, which has not been complied with.»

In November 2023, the NHL announced that Ottawa had to forfeit its first-round pick in one of the 2024, 2025 or 2026 drafts. The Senators used their first-round picks in 2024 (Carter Yakemchuk, No. 7 overall) and 2025 (Logan Hensler, No. 23), meaning they'd have to forfeit their 2026 selection. That was until the NHL decided to reduce Ottawa's punishment.

The Senators appealed to the league for leniency, citing major changes for the organization since the canceled Dadonov trade. GM