The NHL is coming down on the Ottawa Senators.
The league is stripping a first-round pick from the Sens for their role in the voided 2022 trade that would've sent forward Evgenii Dadonov from the Vegas Golden Knights to the Anaheim Ducks.
The Golden Knights attempted to trade Dadonov to the Ducks at the 2022 deadline. The league initially allowed the move before voiding it after discovering that the Ducks were on Dadonov's 10-team, no-trade list. The Senators are being punished because they reportedly failed to properly inform the Golden Knights about Dadonov's no-trade list when they dealt him to Vegas in the 2021 offseason.
Neither the Golden Knights or Ducks are being punished for their part in the voided trade.
The forfeited first-rounder will come in any of 2024, 2025, or 2026. The Senators will determine which pick it will be within 24 hours of the conclusion of each year's respective draft lottery. Ottawa possesses each of its own first-round picks in that span. The club also owns an additional first-round pick in 2024 (either Detroit's or Boston's) acquired in the Alex DeBrincat trade.
Pierre Dorion has been Ottawa's general manager since April 2016. The Sens haven't reached the playoffs since the first year of his reign.
This marks the first time a team was forced to forfeit a first-round pick since the Arizona Coyotes were punished for violating the NHL's combine testing policy in 2020. They ended up being stripped of the 2021 No. 11 selection.
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