Whether or not the critical path has or has not changed is completely irrelevant when they are answering "is this a compensation event or not". When notifying a compensation event it is simply a statement of "this thing has or will happen" and that "it is a reason under the contract to notify a CE" i.e. fits a reason within 60.1. Clause 61.4 lists the only reasons they can say "no" for.
Whether or not the critical path has changed may affect the assessment of the resultant cost. It may have a direct cost, but not affect the critical path. That does not change it being a compensation event - only how it will be assessed.
Whether or not the critical path has changed may affect the assessment of the resultant cost. It may have a direct cost, but not affect the critical path. That does not change it being a compensation event - only how it will be assessed.