Canadiens Can Take Advantage Of Evgenii Dadonov Fiasco

Kent Hughes has made it clear that the Montreal Canadiens need to get rid of one, or a few, bad contracts. A recent drama involving the Anaheim Ducks and Vegas Golden Knights might help solve one of the Canadiens biggest financial issues.

For those not in the know, the Ducks and Golden Knights completed a trade at the deadline involving Russian forward Evgenii Dadonov.

The move was made so that the Golden Knights would be able to clear enough salary to reactivate Alec Martinez and Mark Stone from the injury reserve.

The Ottawa Senators took notice of this trade and warned the NHL that the Anaheim Ducks were part of Dadonov’s 10-team no trade list. Dadonov was traded from Ottawa to Vegas last summer in return for Nick Holden and a 2022 3rd round pick. The No-Trade clause wasn’t present in the deal that sent Dadonov to Vegas.

Dadonov, 33, has one more season left on his contract at a $5.5 million cap hit. He currently has 15 goals and 12 assists for 27 points in 62 games this season.

So as much as everyone would love to see the Golden Knights sink with their own issues, teams like the Canadiens can actually use this to their advantage. Even Nick Kypreos has a similar opinion.

The original deal with Anaheim had them send Ryan Kesler‘s remaining contract to Vegas. Kesler is in the last year of his contract that holds a $6.875 million cap hit, but would immediately be sent to the LTIR since Kesler hasn’t played in the NHL since the 2018-19 season due to injury. He is expected to announce his retirement once his contract expires.

So if Vegas is willing to eat up a dead contract in order to free up cap space, Kent Hughes should give Kelly McCrimmond a call. It’s been said publicly by Hughes that he is trying to trade Shea Weber’s contract, since like Kesler, his career is all but over.

With Vegas in panic mode, the Canadiens can use this leverage in order to obtain Dadonov as well as a draft pick and clear themselves of Weber’s contract. Vegas does not hold a 1st round pick this year or the next so maybe Hughes can aim for a 2024 1st round pick. If not, Vegas still has this year’s 2nd round pick available as well as one in 2024.

There’s always the possibility of trying to get prospects rather than draft picks The Canadiens currently reduced their contract total to 46 (out of 50 being the maximum allowed by the CBA) while Vegas sits at 48. Getting someone like Zach Dean or Daniil Chayka is not out of the realm of possibility.

The issue with Shea Weber’s contract is that there is a limit as to how much money a team can put on the LTIR. To be exact, the Canadiens have an $18,357,143 limit this season to put on the LTIR. They already used $11,544,729 in salary.  That’s because actual salary is counted and Weber makes $6 million in actual salary this year.

Placing Carey Price and his salary on LTIR would complicate things financially in the even another player is injured. Price’s salary relief this season has remained under the NHLPA Player Assistance Program, which is very lucky for the Canadiens because his actual salary this season is $11 million. Therefore if Price and Weber were put on LTIR this season, there would visibly be no more space to add anyone else to the injured reserve and you’d be stuck with a massive headache trying to put on a cap compliant team on the ice.

That’s why Hughes wants to rid himself of Weber’s contract. Even if his salary will drop to $3 and eventually $1 million a year, every penny counts when trying to manage the injury reserve. Especially when you have a lot of high salaried players on the roster.

Now I know you’re thinking “but the trade deadline has passed”. It has, but teams can still trade after the deadline. The issue is any player traded after the deadline cannot play for their new team for the rest of the season or playoffs.

The NHL might make an exception to this rule with Dadonov. If not, then it doesn’t change anything to the Canadiens’ roster this season, and they might just end up trading Dadonov again in the offseason.

This of course all depends as to what the NHL also decides regarding Dadonov’s no trade list. If Montreal is on that list then it complicates things as it’s unlikely the NHL will allow Vegas to ignore the list given it has vetoed the initial trade to Anaheim. If Montreal is not on that list, then this might be Kent Hughes’ way out of Shea Weber’s anchor of a contract.

Regardless of what happens, Dadonov gets paid either to play hockey or stay home.