T1 Canna Drama: What Happened? [UPDATE]

The 2021 LoL Esports off-season has been an exciting time for fans, players, and organizations. However, drama has been at an all time high. This even applies to the LCK, which is usually tame compared to what we’ve seen from the LCS and LEC in recent years.

Canna, Top Laner for T1 is currently in the midst of a tough situation regarding his contract. Several teams have inquired about him, but this star player’s 2022 season is still up in the air.

What happened with Canna and T1? 

Initially reported by Inven Global and DotEsports, T1 was planning on holding negotiations with Canna regarding his salary in 2022. They would let him become a free agent if both sides were unable to agree on an arrangement. Apparently, Canna requested a transfer from the team several times. T1 supposedly put the top laner on the transfer market and planned to replace him for 2022. However, this may not have been the case.

Canna’s agency says that he never asked for a transfer. His side of the story says that he only talked to the T1 general manager “Polt” regarding his future after T1’s COO, John Kim passed away. Allegedly, Canna was trying to see if a verbal agreement that he had with John Kim would still come to fruition. In the end, T1 was trying to transfer Canna even though he wanted to stay.

The situation escalated when T1 allegedly shot down a transfer to an unknown team and tried to negotiate with another team, which obviously ran
contrary to what they said previously agreed upon. Canna’s agent says he is now stuck and unable to hold T1 to their word.

Is Canna stuck at T1?

Basically, this means Canna is unable to find a team for 2022 and is stuck at T1. Canna was easily one of the best top laners at Worlds 2021, making him a hot commodity for any team right now. We all know players can burn out quickly in Esports, so it’s rough for him to miss out on an immediate paycheck in such a volatile industry.

[Update November 25, 2021]

Canna has been let go by T1 and was signed by Nongshim RedForce for the 2022 LCK season. He will join Ghost, Dread, Effort and BDD on Nongshim.

What did T1 say about Canna?

Almost immediately after this story came out, provided by Canna’s agent, T1 hosted a press conference to address the issue. Polt said that if Canna provides proof of his initial agreement, the team will uphold it. That being said, they have 'no intention to release Canna as a free agent as of now'.

It’s also worthy to note that Polt confirmed that the final decision for any transfer stays with T1, since he is still on contract with the org. He had this to say regarding the future:

“I want to let everyone know that one of the teams that we’re in talks about Canna’s transfer has offered the best options for him. We at T1, especially myself, are doing everything in our power to protect our players’ rights. We all wish nothing short of the best for all our players, and hope that Canna will have a successful career as well.”

Hopefully, the situation is able to be resolved and both parties end up happy. But as we all know in Esports, that might just not happen. Either way, fans can likely look forward to seeing Canna play in the LCK next split - regardless of which team he’ll belong to.