Dadonov has high hopes for the team
Veteran right-winger with three-year pact sees a team that is primed for big success
Evgenii Dadonov sees better days ahead for the Ottawa Senators.
And that's why he accepted a three-year, US$15-million deal with the Senators as an unrestricted free agent last Thursday.
The 31-year-old Dadonov spoke with Ottawa media on a conference call Monday from his home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and he noted that before he decided to leave the Panthers to make the move to Ottawa, he did plenty of homework to ensure the opportunity is here to have success.
“I'm really excited to play for this team,” said Dadonov. “It wasn't a decision that was made just because of the contract or anything. I think it's a perfect location. This team is going to have some success and I think we're going to race for the Cup in the next few years.”
Being able to acquire a threetime 25-plus goal scorer wasn't easy, but Senators owner Eugene
Melnyk and general manager Pierre Dorion were thrilled Dadonov chose to come here. He had 25 goals and 47 points last season with the Panthers, and before that he enjoyed back-toback 28-goal seasons.
In 202 NHL career games, Dadonov has produced 91 goals and 202 points. Eighty-one of those goals have come in his last three seasons in the league — he returned to Florida after spending five years in the KHL — and those are pretty strong numbers. In his final KHL season with SKA St. Petersburg, Dadonov notched 30 goals in 53 games.
He had options. Initially, there were 10 teams in the mix for Dadonov when he first hit the free agent market on Oct. 9. From there, he and his agent pared the options down to three teams after six or seven made serious pitches. In the end, he decided to accept Ottawa's offer to help the club take its rebuild to another level.
He was impressed with what he heard from Dorion and coach D.J. Smith about the direction the Senators are taking.
“We've been talking a lot,” said Dadonov. “We spoke with a lot of teams. I spoke a lot with Ottawa and we just made a decision it was going to be a good opportunity for me. Pierre and D.J. told me the plan and strategy of the team and I thought it was going to be good for me.
“A lot of the guys I spoke with about the team told me they've got a lot of young guns and very good prospects, and we made the decision it was going to be good for me.”
Dadonov spoke with Senators veterans Artem Anisimov and Nikita Zaitsev before agreeing to accept the deal. Dadonov knows he'll be one of the older players in the room whenever the season gets underway and, as a result, his role will come with extra responsibilities.
“I asked a lot of questions about the team stuff and the city,” he said. “They said only good words about Ottawa.”
He'll have a chance to live up to the nickname Daddy that former Florida coach Bob Boughner gave him during his first season back in the league after his KHL stint.
“They told me I'm going to have a good role on the team because there's not a lot of veterans,” Dadonov said. “It's kind of a step up for me, as well, to be one of the experienced guys.
“There's not a lot of veterans on the team. I'm ready for that. I want to help the team win. I'm going to do the best I can. I'll try to help the young guys and I hope I can play a lot of minutes on the power play. The plan of this team is to be a playoff team.”
Of course, he knows newly acquired defenceman Josh Brown, who played with him in Florida the last couple of years, and has also skated with winger Vitaly Abramov in his hometown of Chelyabinsk, Russia.
The Senators believe Dadonov, the No. 71 overall pick by the Panthers in the 2007 NHL draft, can play a big role on a team that had the worst power play in the league last season (14.2 per cent success rate). In 69 games with the Panthers last season, he had 11 goals and 17 points with 40 shots with the man advantage.
As noted, he'll be the key on the power play along with top defenceman Thomas Chabot.
He thinks highly of Chabot and Brady Tkachuk.
“Those guys have a chance to be superstars in the league,” said Dadonov.
He wouldn't mind the opportunity to play alongside Tkachuk but Dadonov, a right-winger, said he can't be choosy about linemates.
“I think (Tkachuk's) a good player, a powerful forward, but I also know there's a lot of young guys,” Dadonov said. “I spoke with the coach and the GM and I know (Josh) Norris played well in the minors last year: he's very skilled and he's a very good player. I know they got (Tim) Stuetzle third overall and he's supposed to be skilled.
“This team has got talent. I can play with anybody. I don't want to say I just want to play with this guy or that guy. It's going to be the coach's decision.”