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Free Agency Options (Hurricanes Edition): Evgenii Dadonov

September 21, 2020, 7:28 PM ET [0 Comments]
Ben Shelley
Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
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Over the next week or so, I’ll be looking at six free agents that the Carolina Hurricanes could target this offseason. Yesterday’s article looked at the pros and cons of signing Corey Crawford, and going alphabetically, today’s player profile will focus on Evgenii Dadonov.

Dadonov’s point production may have been down a bit this season, but he still managed 25 goals and 47 points in 69 games, a pace of 30 goals and 56 points per 82 games. Over his two previous seasons with the Florida Panthers in 2017-18 and 2018-19, Dadonov averaged 31 goals/72 points and then 28 goals/70 points per 82 games respectively.



For the Hurricanes, a goal-scoring winger is exactly the kind of player they’d need to round out their top-six. Dadonov would add a massive boost to Carolina’s second line and could be reunited with former teammate Vincent Trocheck.

Obviously, it’s not that easy though. Dadonov is probably going to command a five-year deal that could be worth up to $7 million per season, based on comparables. Maybe that number goes down a bit based on the flat cap but regardless, even if the Hurricanes were able to move Ryan Dzingel and Jake Gardiner to make room, that contract would take up just about all of Carolina’s remaining cap space. Add on the fact that he’s already 31 years old and it could be a bit of a risk for the Hurricanes.

Again, Dadonov is a quality goal-scoring winger that’s going to help whichever team he ends up with and if Carolina didn’t have more pressing needs, I’d say they should go for it. If they can manage to find a goalie at a reasonable price and still find a way to make room for Dadonov, I’d be all for it.

Unfortunately though, that’s an unlikely scenario and the Hurricanes probably shouldn’t commit that much cap space to add a winger when they're still in need of a starting goalie.



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Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):

Would you be in favour of the Hurricanes targeting Evgenii Dadonov in free agency?
Yes
No
Only if they added a starting goalie first
Created with PollMaker

OTHER HURRICANES ARTICLES FROM SEPTEMBER:

Reviewing last week's polls (September 7): Hurricanes Edition
SHORT READ: Hurricanes announce affiliation deal with Chicago Wolves
Hurricanes acquire draft pick from Canadiens for rights to Joel Edmundson
SHORT READ: Hurricanes loan Dominik Bokk
Offseason Plan (Part One): Examining Carolina’s cap situation
Offseason Plan (Part Two): Who can be traded to clear cap space?
Reviewing this week's polls (September 19): Hurricanes Edition
Free Agency Options (Hurricanes Edition): Corey Crawford
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