NHL Gives Ottawa Senators Back A First-Round Pick, Fines Them $1 Million
The Ottawa Senators will pick 32nd overall in the 2026 NHL draft after the league modified a penalty for the team's role in an invalidated trade involving Evgenii Dadonov in 2022.
Video Transcript
This is a team that we've talked about before as maybe kind of teetering on the edge of contention here, but do you think that Ottawa will be able to stay afloat in the playoff race in Sanderson's absence?
I don't.
I think this is making them teeter off the edge of the cliff.
you know, Sanderson could be next to Stutzle and, and, Tkachuk, the most valuable player on that team.
And if you think, you know, this is a guy who logs almost 25 minutes a night, at power play point, you know, a match up, you know, he's, he's their number one defenseman.
And if he's out a couple weeks at this point of the season with fi- less than five weeks to go in the regular season, I think it's fatal for the Senators.
Now, they're only three points behind the Bruins for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference, and that's, you know, that, you can make that up.
But, you know, you're gonna have to give guys like Zub and, and, and To- Thomas Chabot more ice time, and that just puts more stress on a blue line that I don't think is that great.
So I think it's potentially fatal for the Senators that they lost Sanderson for this, period t- of time.
