BAINES: Sens deserve stiff penalty, but why was Andlauer told grievance was a ‘non-issue?’
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Author of the article:
Tim Baines • Postmedia
Published Nov 01, 2023 • Last updated 1 hour ago • 4 minute read
Senators’ new owner Michael Andlauer is shown at Wednesday’s news conference at the Canadian Tire Centre to announce the firing of GM Pierre Dorion. Photo by Julie Oliver /Postmedia
We know the Ottawa Senators are guilty.
Maybe it’s misrepresentation, deception or dishonesty. Did they withhold information, was it non-disclosure? Or was it a bit of each when they dealt winger Evgenii Dadonov to the Vegas Golden Knights more than 18 months ago.
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But there’s more to the story than the whopping price — a forfeited first-round draft pick — that they’ll pay for their deception, and to the dismissal/resignation of general manager Pierre Dorion on Wednesday.
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Maybe there’s more deceit, or at best incompetence, here than meets the eye. We’ll get back to that a bit later.
The back story: The Senators dealt Dadonov to Vegas in July of 2021. Bad contract off the books. Good. But what happened during that trade is at the heart of this. The Senators did something really, really wrong — something irresponsible or dishonest enough to have the NHL rip away a first-round pick (in one of the 2024, 2025 or 2026 drafts).
When Vegas tried to deal Dadonov to Anaheim the following March, they were told the Ducks were on the player’s 10-team no-trade list. No-trade list? Uh, what no-trade list? Vegas had no idea (you’d really think the Golden Knights would have done some due diligence and actually read through the player’s contract in the months they had him prior to trying to unload him on the Ducks).
The bottom line: Michael Andlauer, who officially took over ownership of the Senators a month and a half ago, says the team is at fault and should be held accountable.
There are many unanswered questions, often the case when the NHL sticks its mucky hands into a controversy.
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We’ll circle back to the sudden departure of Dorion, which was announced at a mid-afternoon press conference, but let’s talk about the NHL, which so clumsily tries to police its teams. And let’s talk about the seller of the Senators — the estate of Eugene Melnyk.
When Andlauer got a call from the NHL last week telling him the Senators were going to get whacked with a penalty, he was understandably floored, especially after being initially told it wasn’t a problem. Andlauer says he found out there was a grievance during the due-diligence process of the team’s sale.
“It was basically, from the seller’s perspective, really a non-issue,” he said.
OK, let’s stop there. Non-issue? Information was withheld from a guy who was about to bid $950 million to buy the team? And, conveniently enough, the NHL lets the new owner settle in for a bit, before slamming down its fist?
One friend, a long-time hockey fan, said: “Imagine buying a house only to learn later that the owner knew the well was poisoned, but withheld that during the sale.”
Continued Andlauer: “I don’t know if a first-rounder is a non-issue to you guys, but it is (an issue) to me.”
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To make it worse, it’s a double whammy. The league also kept hush, hush an investigation it had launched into the gambling habits of centre Shane Pinto, who has since been suspended for 41 games. Shouldn’t a guy who’s thinking about sinking nearly a billion dollars into the purchase of a team be given a heads up on matters that matter?
If Andlauer fancied litigation, something the previous ownership took a shine to, he could have his lawyers look into what could be seen as “misrepresentation” of the sale of the Senators. He could put the seller and maybe the league in his sights.
That’s not going to happen. But it has to be an eye-opener to a guy who was far removed from the Senators when the shadiness happened.
Andlauer says the NHL shared a 73-page report with him last week.
“It stems from actions originated by our hockey club that were negligent in nature,” said Andlauer, explaining the league penalty. “Our duty of care was ignored and it set off events that embarrassed the league and pissed off two other clubs. We have to be held accountable for our actions. While this was not done on my watch, I must respect the league’s decision. We are at fault for what transpired. You can argue how harsh this penalty was, but this could have been avoided.”
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So, why a first-round pick and why did it take the NHL so long to lower the boom?
“That’s a question you’d have to ask the NHL,” said Andlauer. “The commissioner had a lot of time to deliberate. Two teams wanted a pound of flesh. Why I inherited this is beyond me. There’s no reason for it to last that long.”
And, in the middle of this is Dorion, the GM who will be replaced on an interim basis by Steve Staios, who was named the team’s president of hockey operations a bit more than a month ago.
Andlauer says it was a mutual parting of ways with Dorion. But if the NHL’s investigation found the Senators were dishonest or negligent during their trade talks, the GM’s fingerprints are all over it; it’s a firing offence.
Do we ever see an NHL team get penalized for not being transparent in a trade? There has to be some sort of unwritten policy, a code, a trust factor between GMs. The lines are probably blurred, maybe there’s some grey area where you can twist the truth. But the Senators crossed whatever line there is.
Now, here we are: The Senators are minus a first-round pick, they’ve taken a big hit to their reputation and a guy is unemployed.
At NHL headquarters, it’s same old, same old. And, as far as we know, nobody there has lost their job.
tbaines@postmedia.com
X: @TimCBaines
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