Last season was a rough one for Evgenii Dadonov in his first and only season in New Jersey. An unrestricted free agent once more this summer, it seems like interest in North America has been limited at best.
However, that’s not the case when it comes to his native Russia. Last month, Championat’s Maxim Makarov reported that Traktor Chelyabinsk of the KHL was showing interest in the veteran. Now, Sport-Express’ Artur Khairullin reports (Twitter link) that the Shanghai Dragons are also interested in Dadonov’s services.
The 37-year-old had been at least a somewhat reliable secondary scorer for several years heading into last season and was coming off a 40-point 2024-25 campaign with Dallas. Still, he was only able to secure a one-year deal last summer, which carried a base salary of $1MM with another $2.25MM in performance bonuses. Several teams eyeing a playoff berth were believed to be interested in a contract structured like that but he chose New Jersey’s offer.
Suffice it to say, things didn’t go as planned. Dadonov had a pair of long-term injuries to his wrist and hand and when he was in the lineup, he struggled mightily. In 24 games, he managed just one point – a goal – while his playing time dropped to less than 11 minutes per night, more than five minutes below his career average ATOI.
Dadonov cleared waivers at the deadline with the Devils trying to get him a change of scenery and his playing time was limited the rest of the way.
Accordingly, it’s not too surprising that his interest in free agency has been tepid thus far in North America. Still, he has 164 goals and 198 assists under his belt in 641 games over parts of a dozen NHL seasons. It’s not impossible to think that a tryout offer could come closer to training camp to give Dadonov a chance to add to those numbers.
On the other hand, rather than waiting to see what materializes, it certainly would make sense for Dadonov to return to the KHL as well. He has two separate stints in that league already, a brief one after being drafted and a five-year stint between 2012-13 and 2016-17 where he was one of the league’s top scorers toward the end. Dadonov would likely get an opportunity to play a key role back home and while he might not produce at the same compared to a decade ago, that might be more appealing than holding out hope for one more kick at the can in the NHL.