Dorion to get contract extension as per Bruce Garrioch

[coladin]

The empty seats are an indictment of Melnyk.

We are not ATM's that Eugene gets to access whenever he likes.

Earn the fans support, don't embarrass them, treat them like crap, call them out and then offer a phony non-apology.

Well I'm sorry you felt like watching Karlsson has been your right and not a privilege. We are not Phoenix or Florida, we have some amazing players to watch. I thought he earned the fans support this time last year when renewals went out.

Guess not

 

[coladin]

Ehhhhh that's such a bizzare thing to say. So the Sens don't owe anything to the fans but the fans owe it to them to go see games even when the team is pure utter trash?

You might wanna think that out again. Hockey is entertainment, when the public is entertained, a show, whatever that show may be, will be successful. But when the show is not entertaining to the public, the public has no interest in spending money to go see it that's simple logic right.. That relationship is by definition reciprocical.

Who in their right mind would pay hundreds of dollars to go see a bad show over and over again?

When a team is competitive, you know you might catch a good game but when the team is legitimately one of the worst in the league I certainly do not owe it to them to spend my money to go see the game when I know I most likely will not even enjoy it in the first place. That would be like buying tickets for a band that you don't like or to a movie you won't want to watch.

And don't even bring up the "true fan" bull****. When the team is not competitive I can still watch the game from my house for free. Spending 100$ to go see the game when I know I most likely won't enjoy it is not a sign of being a true fan, it's being completely stupid financially speaking.

There are so many things to do in this life to be entertained, I can do hundreds of things instead of going to see a Sens game. There are other fun things to do so when I know the team is bad I might also want to explore those other options. When you're in the business of entertainment one thing is extremely clear: your clients are your #1 priority. They bring 100% of your earnings.

It seems like other Canadian markets who have much worse success over the last little while are more tolerant of bumps in the road then Ottawa. Why is that? As soon as there is times of trouble, fans jump ship here at every opportunity. I don't get that.

You never know what may happen at a pro sporting event. No one here is owed wins, entertainment or excitement. If people are looking for that, go watch the Globetrotters, they always win. Unfortunately , this is not the case.

By your logic, you probably wouldn't have gone to the Nashville game. And that would have been too bad because it was a heck of a game. But FQL and his ilk will just say "who cares, we won't make it to the playoffs". I mean, it is the same old argument. We have an NHL hockey team, a terrible one this year. But an NHL team nonetheless with playeers people apparently adore.

Well, they have a sure as f*** funny way of showing it.

 

[BonkTastic]

As soon as there is times of trouble, fans jump ship here at every opportunity. I don't get that.

You can only threaten your customers so much before they start to tune you out.

 

[Sun God Nika]

delete

 

[Sensung]

No he won't. He will adjust the model, and quite frankly, you are in the minority here, with your occupy Wall Street bravado. It's just hockey, bud. Crap year feels crappy, but bailing on the team you supposedly love isn't the answer.

It has nothing to do with a crap year and everything to do with the worst owner in hockey who has turned our team into a hopeless laughingstock.

I haven't "bailed" on the team, but I refuse to give money to the jackass who owns the team.

If the arena is empty, he will sell.

Make Melnyk feel the pain. He richly deserves it.

 

[coladin]

You can only threaten your customers so much before they start to tune you out.

This is from Don Brennan's article yesterday, which sums up how I feel:

"It would be easy to blame the numbers on the fact they are so so far out of playoff contention if they had played to full houses last spring while taking a serious run at the Stanley Cup. But not even a surprising rise to championship contention, the heart-stirring, courageous stories of Clarke MacArthur’s comeback or Craig Anderson’s battle through the heaviest adversity could attract capacity crowds"

Fans don't go in the best of times...why is that. Blaming the owner is too easy. Dorion can't rebuild if no one goes, it just won't work. And we know that maybe 1 in 10 rebuilds are actually successful. It doesn't guarantee anything, even with a bunch of first rounders. There are so many variables that go into rebuilds, and re-tools.

Dorion can't move players like Karlsson or Stone and Duchene, unless they request it. It will cripple this franchise.

Fans hate the owner, but the players need our support. It actually inspires them when we cheer for them. How do The Disgruntled rationalize the quandary.

 

[BonkTastic]

Fans don't go in the best of times...why is that.

We used to, though. There is a massive amount of precedence that supports that. In 2012-13, we had the 6th highest attendance in the entire league. 6th highest in the league the year before that. Top-10 the year before that, and the year before that. And the year before that.

The problem is that fans aren't going ANYMORE. What has changed in the last 5 years?

That is the real question.

 

[Boud]

It seems like other Canadian markets who have much worse success over the last little while are more tolerant of bumps in the road then Ottawa. Why is that? As soon as there is times of trouble, fans jump ship here at every opportunity. I don't get that.

You never know what may happen at a pro sporting event. No one here is owed wins, entertainment or excitement. If people are looking for that, go watch the Globetrotters, they always win. Unfortunately , this is not the case.

By your logic, you probably wouldn't have gone to the Nashville game. And that would have been too bad because it was a heck of a game. But the FQL will just say "who cares, we won't make it to the playoffs". I mean, it is the same old argument. We have an NHL hockey team, a terrible one this year. But an NHL team nonetheless with playeers people apparently adore.

Well, they have a sure as **** funny way of showing it.

There are many things that explain that situation about hockey markets like Toronto and Montreal. One of them being that there are a lot more people in those cities compared to Ottawa. but here's the thing about those two hockey cities, they are not the norm, they are an exception along with a handful of other teams like the Rangers that sell out every night even though the product might be terrible. Vancouver for example doesn't sell out the arena much these days and that's a result of being a mediocre hockey team like Ottawa is this season. Another reason is that the biggest employer in Ottawa is the Federal government swho can't buy tickets anymore compare to previous years and they obviously bought a good chunk of tickets. In cities like Toronto or Montreal most of the tickets are bought by private companies who send their clients or employees to the game and there isn't nearly as much of that here. Another reason is that the arena in Montreal and in Toronto is centrally located, close to the people and right where the people work. The reality is that the majority of the time you won't have as many people going to the games when the product is bad and that's in 80% of the teams in hockey.

Of course nobody knows what can happen at a sporting event, but I believe I adressed that point in my previous post and will do that again here. If I go watch a last place team against a first place team, then yea anything can happen but the actual reality of things is that there is a reason that one of the teams is 30th and the other team is 1rst and that reason is that one of those gives a good show and the other one doesn't the majority of the time. And again, nobody is saying that the team should always win, but this is entertainment and to have fans on your side you need to give a good show and that's just life.

I wouldn't go see a Nashville game, the team is playing like shit and there's nothing on the line. Now does that mean that the team always plays like trash? Of course not that was probably the best game of the year. Like I mentionned previously, I can watch the game from home too and that's what I did knowing there was only a small chance that it would be a good game. You know what? I would've been thrilled to be at that game BUT 75% of the time this season when ai watched a game I thought to myself "Thank god I didn't pay 100$ to go see this flaming piece of shit team". So yea that doesn't really motivate me to go see games. Unless of course you have an unlimited amount of money to spend for no reason and no other hobbies besides watching hockey.

 

[Sensung]

Well I'm sorry you felt like watching Karlsson has been your right and not a privilege. We are not Phoenix or Florida, we have some amazing players to watch. I thought he earned the fans support this time last year when renewals went out.

Guess not

Melnyk promised to spend and then imposed a budget and stripped the organization to the bones.

What moves did the Sens make to capitalize on the playoff momentum?

Oh ya, we watched the team get worse when some extra $ from the new TV deal and playoff revenues went straight into Melnyk's pocket.

Don't get me wrong. Eugene has the right to pocket the $'s and the fans have right to point out his lies and withhold their $.

 

[Sensung]

This is from Don Brennan's article yesterday, which sums up how I feel:

"It would be easy to blame the numbers on the fact they are so so far out of playoff contention if they had played to full houses last spring while taking a serious run at the Stanley Cup. But not even a surprising rise to championship contention, the heart-stirring, courageous stories of Clarke MacArthur’s comeback or Craig Anderson’s battle through the heaviest adversity could attract capacity crowds"

Fans don't go in the best of times...why is that. Blaming the owner is too easy. Dorion can't rebuild if no one goes, it just won't work. And we know that maybe 1 in 10 rebuilds are actually successful. It doesn't guarantee anything, even with a bunch of first rounders. There are so many variables that go into rebuilds, and re-tools.

Dorion can't move players like Karlsson or Stone and Duchene, unless they request it. It will cripple this franchise.

Fans hate the owner, but the players need our support. It actually inspires them when we cheer for them. How do The Disgruntled rationalize the quandary.

Anytime you are siding with Don Brennan you have taken the idiot's side of the debate.

 

[The Lewler]

This is clearly an anti Melnyk malaise, and it's not going away any time soon.

 

[coladin]

We used to, though. There is a massive amount of precedence that supports that. In 2012-13, we had the 6th highest attendance in the entire league. 6th highest in the league the year before that. Top-10 the year before that, and the year before that. And the year before that.

The problem is that fans aren't going ANYMORE. What has changed in the last 5 years?

That is the real question.

But even 5 years ago, the house was papered. Reality is right now paid attendance is probably where it always was.

That is a tough question. Brennan forgot to mention Karlsson's play in the playoffs as well. Still couldn't get fans to come out.

 

[BonkTastic]

But even 5 years ago, the house was papered. Reality is right now paid attendance is probably where it always was.

Total bull***t.

I worked for the team back then. It was papered, but not to the tune of 4-5 thousand tickets per game. Good teams on weekends the attendance numbers were close to legit. Games against Phoenix on a Tuesday, maybe 2.5k tickets were freebies.

I'm calling this out.

 

[coladin]

There are many things that explain that situation about hockey markets like Toronto and Montreal. One of them being that there are a lot more people in those cities compared to Ottawa. but here's the thing about those two hockey cities, they are not the norm, they are an exception along with a handful of other teams like the Rangers that sell out every night even though the product might be terrible. Vancouver for example doesn't sell out the arena much these days and that's a result of being a mediocre hockey team like Ottawa is this season. Another reason is that the biggest employer in Ottawa is the Federal government swho can't buy tickets anymore compare to previous years and they obviously bought a good chunk of tickets. In cities like Toronto or Montreal most of the tickets are bought by private companies who send their clients or employees to the game and there isn't nearly as much of that here. Another reason is that the arena in Montreal and in Toronto is centrally located, close to the people and right where the people work. The reality is that the majority of the time you won't have as many people going to the games when the product is bad and that's in 80% of the teams in hockey.

Of course nobody knows what can happen at a sporting event, but I believe I adressed that point in my previous post and will do that again here. If I go watch a last place team against a first place team, then yea anything can happen but the actual reality of things is that there is a reason that one of the teams is 30th and the other team is 1rst and that reason is that one of those gives a good show and the other one doesn't the majority of the time. And again, nobody is saying that the team should always win, but this is entertainment and to have fans on your side you need to give a good show and that's just life.

I wouldn't go see a Nashville game, the team is playing like **** and there's nothing on the line. Now does that mean that the team always plays like trash? Of course not that was probably the best game of the year. Like I mentionned previously, I can watch the game from home too and that's what I did knowing there was only a small chance that it would be a good game. You know what? I would've been thrilled to be at that game BUT 75% of the time this season when ai watched a game I thought to myself "Thank god I didn't pay 100$ to go see this flaming piece of **** team". So yea that doesn't really motivate me to go see games. Unless of course you have an unlimited amount of money to spend for no reason and no other hobbies besides watching hockey.

Vancouver is at 95% and their last 5 years have been pretty bad, especially the last 2 years.

I just feel that loyalty is lacking, and the impression of lemmings jumping over the cliff are what I think of many here. Your analogies about attending , or not attending are your own reasons. But in general, and I don't know your situation or lifestyle, but in general, your summation about going or not going...I cannot envision a scenario where anyone would go to a sporting event. The potential for pissing away good money , even when your team is a contender, is always going to be there.

 

[coladin]

Melnyk promised to spend and then imposed a budget and stripped the organization to the bones.

What moves did the Sens make to capitalize on the playoff momentum?

Oh ya, we watched the team get worse when some extra $ from the new TV deal and playoff revenues went straight into Melnyk's pocket.

Don't get me wrong. Eugene has the right to pocket the $'s and the fans have right to point out his lies and withhold their $.

The "playoff momentum" is when tickets are sold. In the spring. Your excuses have more holes than swiss cheese.

 

[coladin]

Total bull***t.

I worked for the team back then. It was papered, but not to the tune of 4-5 thousand tickets per game. Good teams on weekends the attendance numbers were close to legit. Games against Phoenix on a Tuesday, maybe 2.5k tickets were freebies.

I'm calling this out.

I heard, and saw it confirmed it was around 3,000 a game, including freebies given to STH. So, those 20,500 we probably in the 17,5K or so paid attendance. When we have a crowd of 16K now, it would have been 19K back then. For this reason Melnyk states attendance is "ok" because paid attendance, while it looks ugly to many, is actually decent.

 

[BonkTastic]

I heard, and saw it confirmed it was around 3,000 a game,

3000 a game on really desperate game night, maybe. Like the example I gave of a Coyotes or Panthers game on a weekday.

I can guarantee that was never the season average per game.

 

[BonkTastic]

Vancouver is at 95% and their last 5 years.

Metro Vancouver has literally twice our population, with a downtown arena and light rail transit to games. What is your point, here?

I used to live in Vancouver. Getting to Canucks games is so easy and hassle-free, and there is so much to do around the arena before and after the games, that it makes our game-night experience look like a birthday party at a rural McDonalds by comparison.

In fact, going to Canucks games is probably the most fun I have ever had going to a sporting event. If it wasn't already a Sens fan, that organization would have for sure won me over. Best fan experience I've ever had at a hockey game, by far.

 

[Boud]

Vancouver is at 95% and their last 5 years have been pretty bad, especially the last 2 years.

I just feel that loyalty is lacking, and the impression of lemmings jumping over the cliff are what I think of many here. Your analogies about attending , or not attending are your own reasons. But in general, and I don't know your situation or lifestyle, but in general, your summation about going or not going...I cannot envision a scenario where anyone would go to a sporting event. The potential for pissing away good money , even when your team is a contender, is always going to be there.

The potential to pissing away good money is always there but this isn't what it's about. It's not about spending money and getting a bad show here and there, it's about spending the money when you already know that most of the games that this team has played this year were in fact bad. There's nothing wrong with spending money when you get something from it, when you feel like you've benefited from the spent money the majority of the time.

Just an actual example from my own personal life .. One of my colleges has some season tickets and couldn't go for a game against the Sharks in December and offered to sell the tickets to me. I thought to myself, am I really gonna spend 200$ (for me and GF) my Saturday night to go watch a team that's not even competing out there? I didn't go, instead I spend the entire day at the Nordik Spa and got a massage for the same price and turns out the Sens obviously lost that game 5-0 and didn't even show up to that game (losing is fine btw when you give a good show). That can happen even when the team is a contender, but this isn't the case right now. There is some predictibility to the result or the quality of the show when the team is bottom 3 in the league.

Last season I went to CTC a dozen of times and was never not satisfied with the product because the team was always competing even in losses and that's fine. This season after two games where I got my ass out there to the CTC and basically fell asleep believe it or not I didn't really feel like going again. There are other things to do. This idea of going to the game even when the team provides no entertainment to the fans makes no sense to me. The team owes it to the fans to give them a good show, otherwise the fans don't owe it to them to fill the arena. If the fans should fill the arena regardless of the quality of the show then where does that logic stop? What would happen if a team willfully spent at the cap floor and didn't bother to ice a competitive team? The fans would still need to go? Of course not.

I mean you can just go back 2 years when Buffalo had their tank job and traded all of their good and decent players, and even their goalies just to ensure that they'd get a top pick. Those last 30 games of the season there were straight up brutal, like why would anyone have paid to go watch that?

 

[Sensung]

The "playoff momentum" is when tickets are sold. In the spring. Your excuses have more holes than swiss cheese.

The fans didn't trust Melnyk to deliver...I wonder why???

 

[L'Aveuglette]

Coladin is Melnyk's wet dream when it comes to PR. Maybe he works for that new firm he hired? Because Melnyk obviously thinks that shaming us into attending is the best approach.

Other teams feel like they need to earn the fanbase's trust, but this is not a philosophy Uncle Euge subscribes to.

 

[coladin]

The fans didn't trust Melnyk to deliver...I wonder why???

So you are telling me, while Clarke MacArthur is putting the Bruins out of the playoffs, Karlsson is playing the best hockey of any Senator at any time in the history of this team, Craig Anderson with his epic story behind hi goaltending, Pageau's heroic game, you didn't believe any of it?

 

[Sensung]

So you are telling me, while Clarke MacArthur is putting the Bruins out of the playoffs, Karlsson is playing the best hockey of any Senator at any time in the history of this team, Craig Anderson with his epic story behind hi goaltending, Pageau's heroic game, you didn't believe any of it?

Intentionally obtuse.

The fans took a wait and see approach based on Melnyk's long history of lying about spending to improve the product and push us over the top.

Eugene pocketed the playoff revenue and rewarded the fans with Oduya and Thompson...

The prosecution rests.

 

[coladin]

Coladin is Melnyk's wet dream when it comes to PR. Maybe he works for that new firm he hired? Because Melnyk obviously thinks that shaming us into attending is the best approach.

Other teams feel like they need to earn the fanbase's trust, but this is not a philosophy Uncle Euge subscribes to.

You only feel shame because you feel guilt. Or else you wouldn't give two shits. Don't feel shame bud. let's hope the next generation of Sens fans aren't all as skeptical and negative as people here.

 

[tony d]

I'm positive as well. I realize this is a lost season and that next year things will get better. We need to get Karlsson re-signed though.