On Oct. 24, the National Hockey League (NHL) reversed its draconian decision to ban Pride tape after months of public outcry from fans and players alike, concluding one of the most embarrassing months of public relations for a professional sports league to date. The entire endeavour was a lost cause from the get-go; yet, the league cannot seem to stop digging itself in deeper, turning to the Ottawa Senators to further establish itself as an unserious sports league.
The NHL announced on Nov. 1 that the Senators would be stripped of a first-round draft pick in either 2024, 2025, or 2026 for their role in the nullified Evgenii Dadonov trade by the Vegas Golden Knights in 2022. Ottawa will have 48 hours after the draft lottery to decide if they will forfeit the pick that year. In the days after, the Senators fired General Manager Pierre Dorion, and many fans were left wondering: Why the harsh penalty?
The Senators signed Dadonov in 2020 to a three-year contract. As part of the deal, they granted him a 10-team no-trade clause. Dadonov was supposed to alert management of the 10 teams on his list by July 1, 2021. However, on July 28, 2021, the Senators traded Dadonov to the Golden Knights. The trade was allowed as Vegas was not on Dadonov’s list.
The thing about no-trade clauses is that they are not public information. Teams do not share players’ no-trade lists with the NHL’s Central Registry Department, which is responsible for maintaining all player information, putting the onus on teams for transparency.
The Golden Knights then attempted to trade Dadonov to the Anaheim Ducks in March 2022 in a clear move to free up salary-cap space––a whole other league-wide issue. However, the NHL nullified the trade within 48 hours as the Ducks were on Dadanov’s no-trade list. Amid the confusion, Vegas claimed to have not known about the list, shifting the blame onto the Senators.
Unable to free up cap space, the Golden Knights missed the playoffs in 2022––albeit for a number of reasons, not just their inability to trade Dadonov. Yet, it was not until Oct. 30, 2023––18-months later––that the league revealed that they had opened an investigation into the Senators.
During the time between the initial infraction and now, Ottawa came under new ownership, with the team being sold to former Montreal Canadiens minority owner Michael Andlauer in June 2023. While Andlauer should have done his due diligence prior to purchasing the team, his public comments have led many to speculate that he was not made aware of his liability in this case before closing the sale. Moreover, Andlauer has critiqued the leagues’ lack of transparency around the investigation and efforts by the NHL “to make sure the seller got the best price possible.”
Ultimately, whether or not the punishment is warranted is conjecture. The league had to instill trust in the Central Registry and ensure that teams understood that their bureaucratic errors would not go unpunished. Regardless, the question many are asking is not whether the Senators should be punished; rather, it is a question of where the leagues’ priorities are. The Chicago Blackhawks were given a measly slap on the wrist in the form of a two million USD fine in response to an organization-wide sexual assault scandal. Chicago was not stripped of a draft pick for this “inadequate internal procedure,” as the league called it, but were instead gifted a generational first-overall pick in Connor Bedard.
Ultimately, it is hard to take the NHL as a serious league for several reasons. Commissioner Gary Bettman denies the connection between chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and playing ice hockey. Numerous players accused of sexual assault are still on active rosters. Teams are not allowed to promote social causes through specialty jerseys, and the league just tried to ban goddamn rainbow tape. If it wants to remain competitive with the likes of other professional sports leagues in North America, the NHL needs to get it together because frankly, this is just getting embarrassing.
