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Evgenii Dadonov

Central Notes: Dadonov, Hakanpaa, Niederreiter, Toffoli, Hayes

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Injured Stars skaters Evgenii Dadonov and Jani Hakanpää haven’t yet returned to full team practices, but head coach Peter DeBoer is optimistic they’ll be options when the playoffs kick off on April 20, Brien Rea of Bally Sports Southwest reports. Both are sidelined with lower-body injuries, although only Dadonov is on long-term injured reserve. His role has been filled expertly by rookie Logan Stankoven, who’s mustered six goals and 12 points in 17 games since making his NHL debut in late February. The 35-year-old is only a season removed from being one of Dallas’ more important secondary scorers in last year’s run to the Western Conference Final, potting four goals and 10 points in 16 playoff games. However, he’s been limited to 23 points in 50 games this season after inking a two-year, $4.5MM extension to remain in Dallas over the summer. As such, there’s no guarantee he enters the playoff lineup ahead of Stankoven even if healthy, and the skill winger isn’t the best fit for a fourth-line role.

Hakanpää’s absence hasn’t been as lengthy, not suiting up since March 16 against the Kings. The 32-year-old Finn had been pushed down the depth chart anyway, thanks to the emergence of Thomas Harley in a top-pairing role and the acquisition of Chris Tanev from the Flames, taking him out of his usual second-pairing role alongside countryman Esa Lindell. When he returns to health, it’ll be in battle with Nils Lundkvist for bottom-pairing minutes alongside veteran anchor Ryan Suter. Still an incredibly competent shutdown blue-liner, Hakanpää has two goals and 12 points in 64 games this season, his third in the Lone Star State. His possession metrics remain below average but are still in an excusable range given his extreme defensive-zone usage at even strength, although his short-handed metrics have taken a tumble. He’s one of their most relied-upon penalty-killers when healthy, averaging 3:16 per game.

Other updates out of the Central:

  • Jets winger Nino Niederreiter will be out at least one week after sustaining a laceration on the back of his leg from a skate cut against the Kings on Monday, head coach Rick Bowness said today (via John Lu of TSN). Bowness called the injury “a pretty bad gash” and said it would have been more severe had Niederreiter not been wearing Kevlar socks. Niederreiter’s return timeline will keep him out of the next three games, but he could re-enter the lineup in a key battle for playoff positioning against the Stars next Thursday. The 31-year-old has once again excelled as a remarkably consistent two-way middle-six winger, potting 18 goals and 33 points in 75 games this year in spite of slightly reduced minutes. He potted four points in five games in Winnipeg’s first-round loss to the Golden Knights last year and will be a secondary X-factor if Winnipeg wants to escape a likely showdown with the Avalanche in a few weeks. Niederreiter will be replaced in tomorrow’s lineup against the Flames by trade-deadline pickup Tyler Toffoli, Bowness confirmed. He’d missed Winnipeg’s tilt against Los Angeles with an illness. Toffoli has been a solid pickup for Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff, scoring four goals and two assists for six points in 11 games. He’s now reached the 30-goal plateau in back-to-back seasons for the first time.
  • Blues center Kevin Hayes has the flu and is questionable for a practically do-or-die game against the Predators tomorrow, Lou Korac of NHL.com reports. He’s expected to travel with the club as they embark on a three-game road trip, though, and could return soon after if he misses the Nashville contest. Their already slim postseason chances would drop to around 1% with a regulation loss and 2% with an overtime loss, per MoneyPuck. They’re three points back of the Kings for the final wild-card spot in the West with one more game played, although L.A. is on a three-game losing streak. Hayes has disappointed after coming over in an offseason trade from the Flyers, notching 13 goals and 29 points in 75 games in a bottom-six role. It’s the worst offensive output of his 10-year career by a significant margin. If he’s unable to suit up against the Preds, Nikita Alexandrov and Zachary Bolduc are both extras on hand and available to enter the lineup.

Dallas Stars Recall Matěj Blümel, Place Evgenii Dadonov On LTIR

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In an announcement coming from the Dallas Stars organization, the team has recalled forward Matěj Blümel from their AHL affiliate, the Texas Stars. In a corresponding move, the team has placed forward Evgenii Dadonov on Long-Term Injured Reserve, retroactively to February 10th.

With Dadonov now expected to miss both the next 10 games and 24 days for the Stars, it is only natural that the team decided to fill in his lost minutes with a depth option from the AHL. However, it does come as a slight surprise that the Stars did not opt to call up either Logan Stankoven or Mavrik Bourque, who are first and second in league scoring, respectively.

Nevertheless, Blümel is no pushover offensively, as he’s scored 20 goals through 46 games for Texas this season, good for second on the team in that category. Furthermore, unlike Stankoven and Bourque, Blümel does have prior NHL experience, scoring one goal in six games for the Stars last season.

At the end of the day, this decision may ultimately benefit both Stankoven and Bourque in the long run, as they will both be able to continue to play high-leverage minutes for a competitive team. Well on their way to a playoff run this spring, Texas is sporting a 24-17-3-2 record up to this point sitting second in the AHL’s Central Division.

Evgenii Dadonov Out Indefinitely With Lower-Body Fracture

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Stars winger Evgenii Dadonov will miss “extended time” after undergoing imaging Monday that revealed a lower-body fracture, head coach Peter DeBoer said (via Stars radio host Owen Newkirk). Dadonov, 34, sustained the injury during the second period of Saturday’s 3-2 win over the Canadiens but later returned to the game, skating three shifts in the third period.

The 536-game NHL veteran has played in all but two games for the Stars this year, ranking ninth on the team in goals (12) and 11th in points (23) through 50 games. Once a top-six threat with the Panthers in the late 2010s, Dadonov has settled in nicely to a third-line role in Dallas and signed a two-year, $4.5MM extension to remain with the Stars after a pre-deadline acquisition from the Canadiens last season.

If the Stars expect him to miss over 10 games and 24 days, they can place him on long-term injured reserve and open up a significant chunk of cap space ahead of the March 8 trade deadline. Unless he’s projected to be out for the remainder of the regular season, though, they would need to keep some flexibility available to activate Dadonov when he’s ready to return.

While a decent complementary scoring piece, Dadonov’s two-way play at even strength has been middling. His expected -1.2 rating is the second-worst on the team, only ahead of shutdown specialist Jani Hakanpää.

Dadonov is only a few months removed from a strong postseason showing, recording four goals, 10 points, and a +5 rating in 16 contests with the Stars in their run to last year’s Western Conference Final. While spending most of his prime playing in his native Russia, he’s been a solid complementary piece with 301 points in 481 games since returning to the NHL with Florida in 2017.

Dallas has been one of the league’s healthiest teams, only utilizing 20 skaters this season. That’s meant 22-year-old Mavrik Bourque and 20-year-old Logan Stankoven, their pair of breakout prospects recording over a point per game with AHL Texas, have remained in the minor leagues all season long.

They aren’t going to immediately get a shot with Dadonov out – 2018 first-round pick Ty Dellandrea will get a chance to prove he can hold his own in a third-line role. If more injuries strike or if Dellandrea struggles, however, at least one of Bourque or Stankoven will make their NHL debuts in the coming weeks.

Ottawa Senators To Forfeit First-Round Pick

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The NHL has announced that the Ottawa Senators will forfeit a first-round draft pick for their role in the July 2021 trade of Evgenii Dadonov from the Senators to the Vegas Golden Knights and the subsequent, invalidated March 2022 Dadonov trade between the Golden Knights and the Anaheim Ducks.

According to the league’s announcement, the Senators will have 24 hours after the conclusion of the NHL Draft lottery to determine if they will surrender their first-round pick in that given year, and they will be able to choose between giving up a pick in either the 2024, 2025, or 2026 drafts.

The Vegas Golden Knights issued a statement regarding the Senators’ punishment, stating:

We appreciate the league’s diligence on this matter and respect the decision. The club will have no further comment.

This issue originates from 2021, when the Golden Knights acquired Dadonov from Ottawa. No official statement regarding how exactly the Senators mishandled that trade has been released, but The Athletic’s Jesse Granger writes on X that the issue relates to the Senators’ handling of the no-trade list in Dadonov’s contract.

While the league did not elaborate on any specifics as to what the Senators did that merited such a punishment, the fact that a first-round pick has been docked sends a signal that the league deemed serious punishment in order for the Senators.

Per the league’s statement, the NHL nor any of the involved clubs will comment further on this matter, meaning no official explanation of the reasons for this punishment will come.

Thankfully, reporting from Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch sheds some light on the situation. Garrioch reported that today’s punishment has come “as a result of general manager Pierre Dorion giving the Knights the wrong information about the existence of Dadonov’s 10-team ‘no move’ clause.”

The Golden Knights, seemingly believing that Dadonov did not possess no-trade protection, attempted to trade the player to the Anaheim Ducks in a move that was eventually vetoed by the league.

Garrioch added: “The Knights were under the impression that Dadonov hadn’t entered a 10-team no-trade list before the 2021-22 campaign so he no longer had one.”

This appears to have been an issue for Golden Knights management, as Garrioch cites a source who said: “Vegas president of hockey operations George McPhee and GM Kelly McCrimmon refused to let this matter go and appealed to the NHL’s head office to look into it,” a move that resulted in today’s punishment.

Garrioch also laid out the Senators’ argument in defense of their actions, stating that at the time of the trade, the Senators “argued that Vegas had the contract on its books for eight months” and had not looked “at the details” of the contract. While it’s true that the Golden Knights had employed Dadonov for quite a bit of time before the trade, it seems this argument was not sufficient to stave off punishment from the league.

This reported chain of events has not been officially confirmed, and the league’s statement today makes clear that no official confirmation is set to come. But regardless of what exactly happened in Ottawa to merit this kind of punishment, the reality the Senators now face is that they have lost a key asset for their future.

Their right to choose which draft pick they surrender does offer them some crucial flexibility in the matter, especially if the team misses the playoffs this season and ends up in the draft lottery. Just a few years after the Senators had to watch the Colorado Avalanche draft Bowen Byram fourth-overall with a draft pick that once belonged to them, the Senators will not want a repeat of that situation.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Dallas Stars Extend Evgenii Dadonov

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The Dallas Stars are bringing back a good piece of forward depth, re-signing Evgenii Dadonov to a two-year contract extension through the 2024-25 season. The deal, worth $4.5MM, carries an average annual value and cap hit of $2.25MM.

Dadonov, 34, played a crucial depth scoring role for the Stars after a late-season trade from the Montreal Canadiens. He notched 15 points in 23 regular-season games and 10 points in 16 playoff games after a rough go of things with the Habs, finishing his tenure there with just 18 points (and just four goals) in 50 games.

Stars general manager Jim Nill expressed his satisfaction with an extension getting done:

Re-signing Evgenii was high on our priority list. He was a key player for us down the stretch, and he elevated his game on the big stage during the playoffs. We’re happy to get a deal done that works for both sides.

It was, unfortunately, a tough end to the season for Dadonov, who missed the final three games of Dallas’ Western Conference Final loss due to a lower-body injury sustained early in Game 3. He’ll get a chance for two more deep playoff runs with the Stars and head coach Pete DeBoer.

Dadonov’s NHL journey spans nine seasons, during which he has accumulated 131 goals and 167 assists for 298 points in 486 regular-season games. He has suited up for five teams, including the Stars, Canadiens, Vegas Golden Knights, Ottawa Senators, and Florida Panthers. He’ll hit the 500-game milestone this season, a remarkable feat for a player who also suited up for six seasons and over 300 games in the KHL.

With Dadonov under contract, Dallas’ forward corps for next season already appears close to set. The team still has $5.1MM in projected cap space, per CapFriendly, but they need a new contract for pending RFA Ty Dellandrea. They’ll also need to replace or re-sign Max Domi, Luke Glendening, and Joel Kiviranta, although youngsters Logan Stankoven and Mavrik Bourque could provide cost-effective solutions in those depth roles.

Stars Unlikely To Bring Back Both Domi And Dadonov

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Saad Yousuf of The Athletic wrote today that the Dallas Stars will be hard pressed to bring back both Max Domi and Evgenii Dadonov. Both forwards are unrestricted free agents who came over to the Stars in trade deadline moves and they were able to fit in well in their new environment. Dadonov had three goals and 12 assists in 23 games after coming over in a trade from the Montreal Canadiens while Domi had two goals and five assists in 20 games after the trade from the Chicago Blackhawks.

Both players had a similar journey to end up in Dallas, albeit at much different points in their careers. The 34-year-old Dadonov spent six seasons in Florida where he was quite productive putting up 202 points in 280 games before he signed with the Ottawa Senators as a free agent. He was traded three times in the span of a year before ending up in Dallas where he played quite well down the stretch.

28-year-old Domi on the other hand spent three seasons with the Arizona Coyotes where he posted 135 points in 222 games before he was dealt to Montreal, then the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Carolina Hurricanes. He signed a one year contract this past offseason with the Chicago Blackhawks before he was traded to Dallas at the deadline.

Yousuf writes in the article that Dallas general manager Jim Nill would love to have both players back, but cap space will likely be an issue. Dallas has just $7.4MM available for next season and based on the projections of Evolving Hockey Domi figures to get a contract around $4.4MM per year while Dadonov is projected to get $2.7MM. Those numbers would leave Nill with $300K to fill out two roster sports, not something that would be possible.

Yousuf sums up his article by saying that he expects Dadonov to be the likelier or the two to return to the club but doesn’t dive too deep into his logic. While cost is always a factor, Dadonov has struggled to fit in with previous clubs and really thrived under head coach Pete DeBoer. Given that close relationship between player and coach it is possible that Dadonov will select comfort level over money on his next contract. Especially after he was dealt four times during his previous deal.

Snapshots: Panthers Injuries, Johansson, Dadonov

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It appears the Florida Panthers won’t be without Radko Gudas in their lineup for too long. After leaving Game 2 (which he was already doubtful for with a separate injury) of the Stanley Cup Final after a hard hit from Golden Knights forward Ivan Barbashev, Panthers head coach Paul Maurice expects Gudas to be ready for Game 3 tomorrow night.

Both Gudas and winger Eetu Luostarinen, who hasn’t played at all in this series, were absent from Panthers practice this morning. Luostarinen isn’t expected to return for Game 3 but remains day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

Box stats say Gudas has only played a marginal role in Florida’s storybook run, playing just 17 minutes a game and registering three assists, but his physical style and game-changing hits have propelled the Panthers to some key moments in this postseason. That’s not to discount his actual defensive play — which has been, along with his partner Josh Mahura, the best of Florida’s three usual pairings.

More from around the NHL today:

  • Earlier in the offseason, SHL club Färjestad BK announced they had signed pending Colorado Avalanche UFA netminder Jonas Johansson, bringing him back to his home country. Less than a month later, however, they’ve already terminated the deal, citing Johansson’s belief he could get another NHL opportunity before 2023-24 begins. While the road has been rocky for the 27-year-old Swede, Johansson had his best pro season to date in 2022-23, playing a career-high 26 AHL games after bouncing up and down between leagues and recording a .920 save percentage.
  • The Anaheim Ducks attempted to acquire Evgenii Dadonov from the Vegas Golden Knights at the 2022 trade deadline but failed due to Vegas not properly handling Dadonov’s no-trade clause — which listed Anaheim as a team he could not be dealt to. The deal was nullified by the league as a result, and now the Ducks are requesting a compensatory draft pick from the league, as reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. He says the league is considering granting the Ducks’ request, which could likely see them gain an additional pick in this year’s draft, bringing their total number of picks to 10.

Evening Notes: Dadonov, Luostarinen, Senators

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Dallas Stars radio host Owen Newkirk has confirmed that Dallas Stars forward Evgenii Dadonov will miss game 6 tonight against the Vegas Golden Knights. Dadonov continues to be sidelined by a lower body injury and hasn’t dressed for the Stars since suffering the injury in a game 3 loss. Dadonov fell awkwardly after colliding with teammate Roope Hintz in the first period of that game and didn’t return. Very little is known about the injury other than Pete DeBoer telling the media that Dadonov would be out longer than day-to-day but not for the rest of the playoffs.

Dallas will get some good news as they look to extend their Western Conference Finals series to a seventh and deciding game. Captain Jamie Benn will return to the lineup after serving his two-game suspension for his cross check on Mark Stone.

In other evening news:

David Dwork of The Hockey News tweeted that Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice is confident that the club will have center Eetu Luostarinen in the lineup when they take to the ice for game 1 of the Stanley Cup final. Luostarinen was injured in game 4 of the conference finals against the Carolina Hurricanes but isn’t expected to miss any games. The 24-year-old set career highs this season with 17 goals and 26 assists in 82 games and has been one of the Panthers top defensive forwards.

Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia is reporting that league sources believe that there will be an agreement in place for the sale of the Ottawa Senators by this Friday. Garrioch quotes a league source that was told one of the bidders believes that Steve Apostolopoulos has the highest bid right now. Once a winning bid is selected and an agreement is made, the next step would be to have the deal be approved by the NHL’s executive committee. This step could drag the process into the summer making for an interesting draft and free agency period for Senators management. This comes at a crucial time for the on-ice product as the clubs young core will be looking to take that next step come the 2023-24 season.

Evgenii Dadonov To Miss Game 5

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Tracey Myers of NHL.com tweeted this afternoon that Dallas Stars head coach Pete DeBoer told the media this afternoon that forward Evgenii Dadonov will miss Game 5 against the Vegas Golden Knights with a lower-body injury. DeBoer didn’t rule the 34-year-old out of the playoffs entirely but did go on to say that his injury is more than a day-to-day injury.

Dadonov, who missed Game 4 with the injury, saw a resurgence with the Stars after coming over just before the trade deadline from the Montreal Canadiens. He’s been playing at a level not seen since 2017-2020 with the Florida Panthers, putting up four goals and six assists in 16 playoff games with Dallas.

The injury must be frustrating for Dadonov on a number of fronts. The winger was finally finding his footing after struggling to find a home for the past three seasons. Dadonov also likely has an axe to grind with Vegas after he was traded without his permission at last year’s trade deadline, only to have the trade reversed when it was discovered that the Anaheim Ducks were on his no-trade list. He was then dealt by Vegas to the Montreal Canadiens for Shea Weber in June 2022. Dadonov struggled to start the season in Montreal, putting up just 18 points in 50 games before finding his current home in Dallas.

The Stars staved off elimination last night on an overtime goal from Joe Pavelski, they will need a lot more of that magic if they are going to have any chance of coming back against the Golden Knights, as they still trail in the series by a score of 3-1. They will have to do so in the absence of Dadonov, who has been one of their more consistent scorers in the playoffs.

Evgenii Dadonov Out For Game 4

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The Dallas Stars will officially be without winger Evgenii Dadonov as they try to stave off a sweep tonight, head coach Peter DeBoer confirmed to reporters.

Luckily, the team will avoid a third absence tonight in addition to Dadonov and suspended captain Jamie Benn. Joe Pavelski was also absent from this morning’s skate, but DeBoer said it was for maintenance reasons only.

Yesterday, DeBoer said Dadonov’s status for tonight’s Game 4 was doubtful. Dadonov left Dallas’ Game 3 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights after colliding with teammate Roope Hintz. He sustained a lower-body injury on the play.

Without Dadonov in the fold, it’s expected both Joel Kiviranta and Fredrik Olofsson will draw into the lineup as the team also deals with Benn’s absence. It would be Olofsson’s playoff debut, so it’s a possibility defenseman Colin Miller draws into the lineup instead, and the Stars only ice 11 forwards.

Dadonov has been as effective as hoped for since Dallas acquired him from the Montreal Canadiens late in the season. The 34-year-old veteran has 10 points in 16 games, tied for sixth on the team in scoring with defenseman Miro Heiskanen. He also notched 15 points in 23 regular-season games down the stretch with Dallas.

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