Is Eugene Melnyk a good owner?

Is Eugene Melnyk a good owner?

  • One of the best in the league.

    Votes: 7 4.7%
  • Good

    Votes: 2 1.3%
  • Average

    Votes: 12 8.1%
  • Poor

    Votes: 41 27.5%
  • Awful and I spend less on the team because of him

    Votes: 87 58.4%

  • Total voters
    149

Agent Zub

Registered User
Jan 2, 2015
14,421
11,713
I didn't like him before he just seems like a prick.

But this perception was about a lot of stuff that I wasn't in the room for.

But then he goes and tweets his support for Bill 0 Reilly.
 

GrantLemons

Church of FYOUS
Feb 3, 2013
1,997
1,584
Ottawa, ON
He's done some good things in the past, but overall I feel he's terrible. Look at how well regarded Mr. Ilitch was in Detroit. I always think about us having an owner that conducted himself in a way that commanded the type of respect Mr. Ilitch did. It's not realistic to expect a clone of Mr. Ilitch, but Melnyk is literally the opposite. He conducts himself and his business is a way that ruffles so many feathers, whether it's saying the cringe worthy stuff to the media, publicly feuding with players and running them out of town (Alfie, potentially Turris, Karlsson), or imposing strict financial limitations in the organization from top to bottom.

He's squeezed the life out of this team, and it's suffering because of it.
 

Samboni

Registered User
Jan 26, 2014
1,724
629
He saved the team and kept it in Ottawa. Plans to invest in a new rink, supports the city through the team. Wears his emotions on his sleeve and is prone to speaking too quickly and not thinking first. Although he doesn't spend right to the cap, he is not at the bottom. Many people think that he cheap, but in reality, his budget aligns with the market. We could do worse or better. Seems like a typical Ottawa sports team owner... remember the Gleibermans?
 
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Very Stable Genius

#WeLostOurKarlssons
Jan 3, 2005
16,037
3,725
Chicago
Anyone who likes Bill O'Reilly and Ann Coulter immediately start at -1000 in my book before even touching any of the nonsense he does to this team.
 

Xspyrit

DJ Dorion
Jun 29, 2008
30,703
9,650
Montreal, Canada
How do you properly evaluate an owner? Is it because he is not spending more money than the "budget"?

Ottawa is not a very viable market and it doesn't look like a business I would throw all my money in. He is going to make money when re-selling the team vs what he bought it for, but it has to be more than all of the money lost during those years. People quickly forget it's a business and not just a charity a rich man runs for the people of a city.

Personally I don't care much about Melnyk, what he says, what he thinks. I care about the players and prospects of this team. I sure would like if they were able to spend to the cap every year and bury/buy out players when needed but it's just not the reality. Instead, we have to settle for creative trades like getting Phaneuf with a lot of undesired salaries going the other way.

He saved the team and kept it in Ottawa. Plans to invest in a new rink, supports the city through the team. Wears his emotions on his sleeve and is prone to speaking too quickly and not thinking first. Although he doesn't spend right to the cap, he is not at the bottom. Many people think that he cheap, but in reality, his budget aligns with the market. We could do worse or better. Seems like a typical Ottawa sports team owner... remember the Gleibermans?

Sounds like a reasonable way to summarize.

It's crazy the amount of hate this guy is getting. He's not likeable? Who cares?
 
Last edited:

aragorn

Do The Right Thing
Aug 8, 2004
28,465
8,992
He bought & kept the team in Ottawa which was great. I'm not for moving the team downtown so that's a negative for me. Has done a lot of things that have pissed me off & seems like an A-hole at times. He has also done some good things for the team & the community. Six of one thing & half a dozen of another. :huh:
 
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Knave

Registered User
Mar 6, 2007
21,626
2,226
Ottawa
He bought & kept the team in Ottawa which was great. I'm not for moving the team downtown so that's a negative for me. Has done a lot of things that have pissed me off & seems like an A-hole at times. He has also done some good things for the team & the community. Six of one thing & half a dozen of another. :huh:

Yeah gratitude for saving the franchise at the time but man the guy seems oblivious to reality and context with his words. The team is obviously run on a budget and his continuous denials don't help much as evidenced by sagging attendance
 

Micklebot

Moderator
Apr 27, 2010
53,119
30,334
What makes a good owner a good owner?

From a financial perspective, we seem to be on a pretty strict budget. Perhaps that's because the team doesn't take in enough revenue perhaps it's because he's trying to make more money, idk. I don't blame a business man for trying to maximize profits, but he doesn't get any points in this regard

Hiring: His GM choices so far have been Muckler, Murray, and Dorion. Muckler mismanaged our futures, Murray was better with the futures but had issues with our roster, and it's too soon to judge Dorion. GM's performance has certainly been hindered by the Budget ever since the cap came into play (the cap itself isn't the problem, but the changes in UFA/RFA rules meant budget teams couldn't keep their talent cost controlled for as long, and made it more difficult for good drafting teams on a budget to remain competitive).

Public comments: this is where Melnyk certainly fails relative to many other owners imo. Too often he has said and done things that give the franchise a bad look. From crying poor to get a casino, to blaming fans for not buying his products, to his comments about things like coaching decisions, Alfredsson, ect. The guy should probably try and stay in the shadows; keep out of the media, it does the team no good to have an owner voicing his opinions on the product, even if it is occasionally taken out of context.
 
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Tnuoc Alucard

🇨🇦🔑🧲✈️🎲🥅🎱🍟🥨🌗
Sep 23, 2015
7,994
1,897
What makes a good owner a good owner?

From a financial perspective, we seem to be on a pretty strict budget. Perhaps that's because the team doesn't take in enough revenue perhaps it's because he's trying to make more money, idk. I don't blame a business man for trying to maximize profits, but he doesn't get any points in this regard

Hiring: His GM choices so far have been Muckler, Murray, and Dorion. Muckler mismanaged our futures, Murray was better with the futures but had issues with our roster, and it's too soon to judge Dorion. GM's performance has certainly been hindered by the Budget ever since the cap came into play (the cap itself isn't the problem, but the changes in UFA/RFA rules meant budget teams couldn't keep their talent cost controlled for as long, and made it more difficult for good drafting teams on a budget to remain competitive).

Public comments: this is where Melnyk certainly fails relative to many other owners imo. Too often he has said and done things that give the franchise a bad look. From crying poor to get a casino, to blaming fans for not buying his products, to his comments about things like coaching decisions, Alfredsson, ect. The guy should probably try and stay in the shadows; keep out of the media, it does the team no good to have an owner voicing his opinions on the product, even if it is occasionally taken out of context.


Owners of Sports team can pretty much do whatever they want, even if it does create a negative perception of him/her in the public domain.

There are no rules on how to behave as an owner, other than their own.

If you're the owner of a pro sports team, you can pretty much do whatever you want, if you're willing to deal with the public's perception.

For you or anyone to pontificate as to how the Senators owner should act is a little over the top, as you or I would not know how we would act if we were the owner, and were signing the cheques............. you may think you do, but you don't.




I'll bet you just loved Horn Chen?
 
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ToastrStutzle

Registered User
Feb 1, 2016
2,546
863
Ottawa
Lol what did you think the consensus was going to be before making this thread? Obviously just about everyone here hates him
 

FolignoQuantumLeap

Don't Hold The Door
Mar 16, 2009
31,084
7,399
Ottawa
Lol what did you think the consensus was going to be before making this thread? Obviously just about everyone here hates him
Its just to prove a point. The guy who just posted the "an owner can do whatever he wants" word salad thinks its impossible to ascertain that most Sens fans hate Melnyk, which to anyone living in the National Capital Region is extremely obvious.
 
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Sensfanatic

Registered User
Nov 8, 2014
512
203
Unfortunately this owner will ultimately come to the realization that it is the paying fanbase that decides on the viability of the team and not the owner.
Melnyk has done tremendous damage to the brand and is the laughing stock of the league. He may have down some good things but this is greatly overshadowed by his arrogance and sense of entitlement.
 

Sens of Anarchy

Registered User
Jul 9, 2013
64,990
49,508
i-like-i-dont-like-pablo-7-638.jpg
 

FolignoQuantumLeap

Don't Hold The Door
Mar 16, 2009
31,084
7,399
Ottawa
Unfortunately this owner will ultimately come to the realization that it is the paying fanbase that decides on the viability of the team and not the owner.
Melnyk has done tremendous damage to the brand and is the laughing stock of the league. He may have down some good things but this is greatly overshadowed by his arrogance and sense of entitlement.
Hey don't forget his previous law breaking, poor treatment of employees and enabling of sexual predators!
 

The Lewler

GOAT BUDGET AINEC
Jul 2, 2013
4,675
2,815
Eastern Ontario Badlands
If you think Eugene is bad, wait till he gives the franchise to his kids.

The children of billionaires are the best kind of people in the world.

Like I said in the other thread, at least allow yourself to consider the Wirtz situation in Chicago. The 2nd generation Wirtz has led an insane renaissance.

It's possible. Not probable.
 

Inkling

Same Old Hockey
Nov 27, 2006
5,655
679
Ottawa
Mixed.

First of all, if it's true that he's lost a lot of his money through his businesses and divorce, then it's not like he's just being cheap for the sake of being cheap. No one wants to lose a good chunk of their wealth.

He did save the team from being moved when he bought it. He pretty obviously loves the team and wants to win. It's not like owners of the past like Ballard who purposefully sabotaged his team.

The Sens do good things for their players. Anderson called out the whole team, including Melnyk, for supporting them when his wife was diagnosed. Melnyk could also have overruled Murray when Mike Fisher was only shopped to two teams (Nashville and LA) to fit in with his wife's career, rather than try to maximize the return.

Despite the reputation for being cheap, so far the team has been able to sign their free agents and they are currently closer to the cap than most of the NHL, including the mighty Habs by far.

On the other hand, he is more than a bit of a loose cannon with the Matt Cooke investigation, Karlsson Olympic comments, Travis Yost stuff etc. His comments around Lebreton Flats, the Casino proposal, the MLS/Soccer stadium proposal were not very professional and showed a poor self awareness that hurt his public image. His tweet to Bill O'Reilly is not going to win him any fans. If he's meddling in hockey decisions then that's almost always a bad sign.
 

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