How Senators escaped forfeiting 2026 first-round draft pick

OTTAWA — The Ottawa Senators will be drafting in the first round of the 2026 NHL Draft after all. It’s been a circuitous route, but here we are. 

Senators fans have been pleading for a reprieve to get back their first-round pick and it finally happened.  

On Thursday morning — and, weirdly enough, on Evgeni Dadonov’s birthday — the NHL announced it was modifying its punishment of a loss of a first-round pick for the Senators for botching Dadonov’s trade to Vegas in 2021. 

“The Senators’ penalty will now involve the forfeiture of their first-round pick in 2026 in favour of the right instead to pick 32nd overall in the 2026 NHL Draft (the last pick in the first round). The Club will not be permitted to trade or transfer its right to the 32nd-overall selection in the 2026 Draft. In addition, the Club will pay a fine of $1 million (Canadian).”

The league said the reconsideration and relief of the original penalty was due to current owner Michael Andlauer not being in charge when the offence was committed. 

Here’s a quick recap of why the Senators were punished and what happened:

On July 28, 2021, the Senators traded Dadonov to Vegas, and at the time it seemed like a perfectly normal trade. However, when Dadonov signed in Ottawa, he had a limited no-trade list in his contract, and Anaheim was on the list. The Senators failed to pass on the no-trade list to the Golden Knights, so when Vegas tried trading him to Anaheim in March 2022, Dadonov refused. It was a mess. The NHL was furious because contracts are legally binding, and Vegas’ trade to Anaheim was invalid. The NHL expects no-trade lists to be respected and followed through on. 

A month after Andlauer bought the Senators in 2023, the team was penalized with the loss of a first-round pick. Ever since, Andlauer had been pushing for a reduction in the penalty. 

Credit to Andlauer for lobbying well in a city where lobbying is a big business.

“Why I inherited this is beyond me,” said Andlauer, when the punishment was first announced. 

Now, his team receives a first-round pick because of his pressure on the NHL. 

Nice to have an owner who ponies up $1 million as a fine to reclaim a first-round pick, although we notice it’s in Canadian not American dollars, which is the league’s standard currency. Regardless, it’s been a long time since an owner in Ottawa paid a hefty price to help his hockey team.

“We fully accept the modified sanctions the League has imposed today,” Andlauer said in a statement issued by the team.

“We are grateful for the League and Commissioner keeping an open mind on this issue and modifying the penalty. The Senators organization is appreciative the fine money will be directed to the NHL Foundation Canada, to help grow the sport in our country. We consider this matter closed and will have no further comments on the situation.”

It’s not perfect, but the Senators will have a first-round pick in June. 

When the Senators owner spoke to Sportsnet in September, he was asked about the first-round pick penalty.

“The consensus seems that it’s a harsher penalty than it deserved, but at the end of the day, you've got to respect the decision. That's the way I look at it. It would be a great message for our city to show that we're doing the right thing. We would have to earn that right,” said Andlauer.

The timing of the NHL’s decision is similar to when it gave the New Jersey Devils back their first-round pick after getting penalized for an improper signing of Ilya Kovalchuk. Like Ottawa, New Jersey lost its first-round pick (Devils were also docked a third-round pick), only to be eventually given the last pick in the first round of the draft with no ability for it to be traded. That decision was also announced days after the trade deadline. 

When we asked Andlauer about the similarity between New Jersey and the Senators' situation offered up this:

“There might be some precedent set, but it may not be the same thing exactly at the end of the day. It was in the due-diligence material (when buying the Senators), and I would suggest that I was guided in the wrong way. But I rather not talk about it, because I think all it does is upset the NHL,” said Andlauer. 

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, a former lawyer, loves precedent. 

You wonder if GM Steve Staios’ decision to trade Ottawa’s second-round pick in 2026 for Warren Foegele at the recent deadline was because he thought or knew Ottawa would get its first-round pick back. He would never tell us publicly, yet we wonder. 

In the manner of a Greek tragedy, former GM Pierre Dorion, who responsible for the botched Dadonov trade and penalty, was in the building Wednesday night as the Senators' season flailed toward the finish line. Many of Dorion’s decisions set back the organization, and Andlauer and Staios are still trying to rectify the mess he left.

That mess includes letting talented goalies walk out the door, bringing in the wrong ones and tossing away first-round picks for two-and-a-half seasons of Alex DeBrincat and Jakob Chychrun. 

The Senators could be in a better team if they could have traded their pick at the deadline or kept theirs if they do miss the playoffs in the end. 

If the Senators do not make the playoffs, which now looks likely, they will still partake in the lottery. If they “win” the lottery, there will be a re-draw. You might wonder why Ottawa is still a part of the lottery process if it will have the 32^nd pick anyway. Well, it’s because the NHL doesn’t want non-playoff teams to have boosted lottery odds due to Ottawa’s pick being ineligible. 

If the season ended today, the Senators would have the 16th slot in a draft lottery and they’d be ineligible to move up. If they were to win the lottery, in theory they could move up to the sixth-overall pick, but that wouldn’t happen because of the league’s penalty. But before yesterday, the Senators’ first would have vanished into thin ice; now it’s the 32nd-overall pick. Something is better than nothing. 

The last time the team drafted 32nd overall, it selected Shane Pinto. And look at the player he’s become. 

Ottawa’s prospect pool is thin. Another elite prospect is much needed and will benefit the organization mightily. The pick may not be tradable, but a prospect could be if Ottawa wants to go big-game hunting in the summer, something it was handcuffed from doing at the recent trade deadline. 

In a year muddied by on-ice disappointment and off-ice circuses infused with turmoil, Thursday was a happy day for the Senators. The organization just got some good news; it’s been a while in the nation’s capital. Celebrate it, Sens Nation.