Quoting: OldNYIfan
Forfeiting the pick is clearly the right penalty -- otherwise, Las Vegas could work the same exact deal with another club not on Dadonov's NTC ten-team-no-trade list and suffer no consequences for having created this mess. In my opinion, the NHL should immediately put a freeze on this draft pick pending a final determination.
A second-round pick doesn’t seem like a severe enough penalty if this was a deliberate attempt to circumvent the no-trade clause or Vegas should have known better. It’s unfair to the players involved, and also to the Ducks who might have been able to make a different trade if they knew this one wasn’t going to go through. It was good to see Dadonov welcomed back by the team and the fans and having a good game last night (even though I would really like to see Vegas miss the playoffs).
However, if what’s on CapFriendly is what’s in the CBA, it may not be clear whether the no-trade clause was voided when he was traded from Ottawa to Vegas:
Quoting: anelson115
- The clause can travel with the player even if he consents to being traded or is claimed on waivers
-- This requires that the acquiring team sign an addendum to the contract ensuring that the clause does in fact travel with the player (written by the player's agent)
-- If the acquiring team refuses to sign the addendum, and the player waives his clause anyway, at that point the clause may be nullified
If Vegas signed the addendum, then it’s clear that the clause still applies, but this doesn’t say what happens if there’s no addendum and the player was traded without having to waive the clause. (If Vegas wasn’t on Dadonov’s no-trade list, Ottawa could have traded him there without him waiving the clause.)
I don’t know if that’s what happened – Elliotte Friedman’s tweet does talk about paperwork being filed – but in any case, there should be an investigation, and if it turns out Vegas was at fault rather than it being due to an ambiguity in the CBA, there should be some penalty. I think it should be at least a first-round pick.