Evgenii Dadonov

Dadonov scored his first NHL goal on 15 December 2010 against Cam Ward of the Carolina Hurricanes.[2] In January 2011 Dadonov was selected to participate in the 2011 NHL All-Star Game SuperSkills Competition as one of 12 rookies.[3]

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.[4] Dadonov was assigned to the Hurricanes' affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers where he played the remainder of the season out.

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.[5] With Donbass, Dadonov won the 2012–13 IIHF Continental Cup, and became the second scoring leader of the tournament.[6] In the 2013–14 KHL season Dadonov helped Donbass reach the Conference Semi-Finals.

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.[7]

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 MVP of the season, he refused to accept it and instead passed the award on to Dadonov.[8] In a later interview, Kovalchuk said that he felt Dadonov deserved the award more.[9] 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.[10]

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 July 1, 2017.[11]

After three productive seasons with the Panthers, Dadonov left the club as a free agent, to sign a three-year, $15 million contract with the Ottawa Senators on 15 October 2020.[12]