Evgenii Dadonov

Yevgeny Anatolyevich Dadonov (; born 12 March 1989) is a Russian professional ice hockey player who is a winger and current unrestricted free agent. He most recently played for the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League (NHL). He previously played in two stints for the Florida Panthers where he was originally selected 71st overall in the 2007 NHL entry draft, as well as the Ottawa Senators, Vegas Golden Knights, Montreal Canadiens and Dallas Stars.

Playing career Dadonov played for Traktor Chelyabinsk in the Russian Super League and Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). He was drafted 71st overall by the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League (NHL) in the 2007 NHL entry draft and joined the team in 2009, playing a season with their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Rochester Americans.

North America Dadonov was recalled by the Panthers and made his NHL debut on 6 April 2010 in a 5–2 loss to the Ottawa Senators, though the coach, Peter DeBoer praised his play after the game. He played four games with the Panthers during the 2009–10 season. Returning to Rochester the following season, he was recalled on 7 December 2010 to replace an injured Radek Dvořák. Dadonov scored his first NHL goal on 15 December 2010 against Cam Ward of the Carolina Hurricanes. In January 2011 Dadonov was selected to participate in the 2011 NHL All-Star Game SuperSkills Competition as one of 12 rookies.

In the 2011–12 season, the last year of his entry-level contract, after failing to gain a regular position into the Panthers line-up on 18 January 2012, Dadonov was traded, along with A.J. Jenks, by the Panthers to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for Jonathan Matsumoto and Mattias Lindstrom. He played 15 games with the Panthers that year, tallying two goals and three points and nine points in 20 games with the Panthers AHL affiliate, the San Antonio Rampage. Dadonov was assigned to the Hurricanes' affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers where he played the remainder of the season out.

Donbass On 7 July 2012, Dadonov left the Hurricanes and North America to return to the KHL with Donbass. In December 2013 he signed a three-year extension with the club, and expressed interest in acquiring Ukrainian citizenship. With Donbass, Dadonov won the 2012–13 IIHF Continental Cup, and became the second scoring leader of the tournament. In the 2013–14 KHL season Dadonov helped Donbass reach the Conference Semifinals.

SKA Saint Petersburg With HC Donbass suspending operations due to the outbreak of War in Donbass Dadonov signed a multi-year contract with KHL club SKA Saint Petersburg on 11 June 2014. In 2015, Dadonov played a vital role in helping SKA Saint Petersburg to win the Gagarin Cup for the first time. When team captain Ilya Kovalchuk was named Most Valuable Player of the season, he refused to accept it and instead passed the award on to Dadonov. In a later interview, Kovalchuk said that he felt Dadonov deserved the award more. At the end of the season, the KHL named Dadonov one of the two winners of the "Gentleman on Ice" award for his fair play and sportsmanship.

Return to Florida Panthers Having evolved and matured his game over the previous five seasons spent in the KHL, Dadonov opted to pursue a return for a second attempt in the NHL. With his rights having expired from the Hurricanes, Dadonov returned to his original club, the Florida Panthers, in agreeing to a three-year, $12 million contract on 1 July 2017. In his final year with the Panthers, he scored 25 goals and 47 points in 69 games but had a disappointing record in the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs, only registering one point as the Panthers were bounced by the New York Islanders in the first round.

Ottawa Senators After three productive seasons with the Panthers, Dadonov left the club as an unrestricted free agent, to sign a three-year, $15 million contract with the Ottawa Senators on 15 October 2020.

Vegas Golden Knights After a disappointing first season with the Senators, Dadonov was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for Nick Holden and a 2022 third-round draft pick on 28 July 2021.

During the 2021–22 season, the Golden Knights attempted to trade both Dadonov and a conditional second-round pick to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for John Moore and Ryan Kesler at the NHL trade deadline on 21 March 2022, in order to alleviate salary cap constraints caused by the acquisition of star forward Jack Eichel from the Buffalo Sabres. The deal immediately came into question due to a no-trade clause in Dadonov's contract. A report the same day stated the Golden Knights claimed the Senators did not inform them of the no-trade clause, and the NHL's central registry processed the trade before Dadonov disputed its validity. On 23 March, the trade was officially voided. The controversy led to the NHL announcing plans to change how no-trade clauses were handled in the future.

Dadonov's profile was elevated as a result of the events, and days after the resolution he scored the overtime-winning goal in a 26 March game against the Chicago Blackhawks, receiving strong applause from the home crowd. The final two months of the season were Dadonov's strongest, and he finished with 20 goals and 23 assists. It was widely expected, however, that the Golden Knights would again attempt to trade Dadonov in the offseason. In the final year of his contract, Dadonov began the 2022–23 season in a top-six offensive role. However, he was unable to replicate his previous offensive totals. In 50 regular season games, he registered only 4 goals and 18 points.

On 26 February 2023, Dadonov was traded by the Canadiens, with half his salary retained, to the Dallas Stars in exchange for fellow struggling Russian, Denis Gurianov. He finished the season with Dallas appearing in 23 games scoring 3 goals and 15 points. In the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Dadonov elevated his play, registering 10 points in 16 games and helping Dallas get all the way to the Western Conference Finals before being eliminated by the eventual Stanley Cup champions, Vegas Golden Knights.

On 27 June 2023, Dadonov signed a two-year contract extension with the Stars worth $4.5 million. He played in 50 games with Dallas during the 2023–24 season, scoring 12 goals and 23 points before suffering a serious fracture against the Montreal Canadiens on 10 February that kept him out for 29 games. He played in 19 games in the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs, scoring three goals and seven points.

New Jersey Devils Following three seasons with the Stars, Dadonov left as a free agent and extended his NHL career with the New Jersey Devils, signing a one-year, $1 million contract on 1 July 2025.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular seasonPlayoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 2004–05 Traktor–2 Chelyabinsk RUS.3 2 1 0 1 0 — — — — — 2005–06 Traktor–2 Chelyabinsk RUS.3 20 6 6 12 2 — — — — — 2005–06 Traktor Chelyabinsk RUS.2 — — — — — 1 0 0 0 0 2006–07 Traktor Chelyabinsk RSL 24 1 1 2 8 — — — — — 2006–07 Traktor–2 Chelyabinsk RUS.3 4 2 0 2 14 — — — — — 2007–08 Traktor Chelyabinsk RSL 43 7 13 20 20 2 0 0 0 0 2007–08 Traktor–2 Chelyabinsk RUS.3 12 4 7 11 32 — — — — — 2008–09 Traktor Chelyabinsk KHL 40 11 4 15 8 3 0 0 0 2 2009–10 Rochester Americans AHL 76 17 23 40 36 7 0 1 1 0 2009–10 Florida Panthers NHL 4 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 2010–11 Rochester Americans AHL 24 8 8 16 4 — — — — — 2010–11 Florida Panthers NHL 36 8 9 17 14 — — — — — 2011–12 San Antonio Rampage AHL 20 5 4 9 4 — — — — — 2011–12 Florida Panthers NHL 15 2 1 3 2 — — — — — 2011–12 Charlotte Checkers AHL 35 3 16 19 6 — — — — — 2012–13 Donbass Donetsk KHL 52 14 23 37 12 — — — — — 2013–14 Donbass Donetsk KHL 54 15 14 29 24 13 7 4 11 4 2014–15 SKA Saint Petersburg KHL 53 19 27 46 10 22 15 5 20 8 2015–16 SKA Saint Petersburg KHL 59 23 23 46 4 15 3 6 9 2 2016–17 SKA Saint Petersburg KHL 53 30 36 66 39 18 9 10 19 2 2017–18 Florida Panthers NHL 74 28 37 65 8 — — — — — 2018–19 Florida Panthers NHL 82 28 42 70 8 — — — — — 2019–20 Florida Panthers NHL 69 25 22 47 10 4 0 1 1 2 2020–21 Ottawa Senators NHL 55 13 7 20 4 — — — — — 2021–22 Vegas Golden Knights NHL 78 20 23 43 18 — — — — — 2022–23 Montreal Canadiens NHL 50 4 14 18 16 — — — — — 2022–23 Dallas Stars NHL 23 3 12 15 2 16 4 6 10 2 2023–24 Dallas Stars NHL 51 12 11 23 8 19 3 4 7 2 2024–25 Dallas Stars NHL 80 20 20 40 10 16 1 3 4 2 2025–26 New Jersey Devils NHL 24 1 0 1 2 — — — — —KHL totals 311 112 128 240 97 71 34 26 60 18NHL totals 641 164 198 362 102 55 8 14 22 8

International

Awards and honours Award Year RefKHL All-Star Game 2013* Gagarin Cup champion 2015, 2017 Gentleman Award 2015