News Article: Bullying and backstabbing: the Ottawa Senators are pro sport's biggest mess

[bert]

It's not really the past when the same people involved in turning the franchise into a joke are still running it.

Bingo, nothing has changed its the same thing. Until there is new ownership its going to be run like this unfortunately.

 

[supsens]

We made them ‘fair’ offers, isn’t that enough. Like I was at a garage sale and the man there wanted $1 for NYC playing cards, I offered him 25cents, we couldn’t come to an agreement but I was fair and that’s all that counted.

We offered duchene what he signed for, he had one city in mind and nothing was going to change that.
Karlsson ignored talks and let the team know he wasn’t sticking around.
I’m not sure your perception of what happened, happened

 

[Stylizer1]

I didn't watch a full period last season let alone more than five minutes. First time ever and it wasn't even hard.

It felt like there was a lockout, almost.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

No logical reason imo to put faith in the guys that caused this mess in the first place and then couldn't accept one shred of the responsibility. I will give my eyes, but not my faith or cash.

 

[Engineer]

We offered duchene what he signed for, he had one city in mind and nothing was going to change that.
Karlsson ignored talks and let the team know he wasn’t sticking around.
I’m not sure your perception of what happened, happened

No, we didn't, he takes home $1.4M more in NSH: Matt Duchene Income Tax Calculator Results - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

Please provide a source for where Karlsson told the team he wasn't sticking around.

 

[Adele Dazeem]

We made them ‘fair’ offers, isn’t that enough. Like I was at a garage sale and the man there wanted $1 for NYC playing cards, I offered him 25cents, we couldn’t come to an agreement but I was fair and that’s all that counted.

'Fair' offers don't mean a thing when you put things into context. When the team you could potentially sign for has zero aspirations to build a solid team to contend then there's no point in even sitting down and negotiating. I'll back this up by how the Stone ordeal went down and I guarantee it was similar during the Karlsson negotiations. They most likely talked to Stone about being the future captain and leading a new set of prospects to glory, which is a clear sign of failure. Basically, giving up and starting from scratch. Stone wasn't about that and instead jumped ship to Vegas who is prime for playoff contention for the next 2-3 seasons; 2-3 shots at winning the Cup, which for all players is the ultimate goal.

 

[Tnuoc Alucard]

If you have a restaurant and the owner walks to the buffet line during the dinner rush and takes a massive dump by the prime rib and no one cleans it up, is it the customers fault for not coming back or is the owners fault for crapping where his customers are supposed to eat? Even if it’s the only prime rib place in town, still not a good idea to expect people’s love of slow roasted meats to overcome their desire to just eat in a clean and considerate restaurant.

I guess you could blame the customers because a prime rib buffet is a prime rib buffet, but they just might stay home and order pizza instead, or even go out for Pho, some may even order chinesse.

Okay ?

But, do you think he's running the franchise, the way he is, on purpose, or because of the market conditions, and or his financial situation?

Do you think he has the choice to run the franchise like Vancouver, Arizona, Nashville, Florida or name a team, But has decided to run it this way?

 

[SensontheRush]

Karlsson ignored talks and let the team know he wasn’t sticking around

That's some revisionist history.

 

[Acidrain66]

We offered duchene what he signed for, he had one city in mind and nothing was going to change that.
Karlsson ignored talks and let the team know he wasn’t sticking around.
I’m not sure your perception of what happened, happened

If you watched EK presser, he said there was no guarantees of not being traded in the first year, so yes keep up the propaganda peice

 

[Tuna99]

'Fair' offers don't mean a thing when you put things into context. When the team you could potentially sign for has zero aspirations to build a solid team to contend then there's no point in even sitting down and negotiating. I'll back this up by how the Stone ordeal went down and I guarantee it was similar during the Karlsson negotiations. They most likely talked to Stone about being the future captain and leading a new set of prospects to glory, which is a clear sign of failure. Basically, giving up and starting from scratch. Stone wasn't about that and instead jumped ship to Vegas who is prime for playoff contention for the next 2-3 seasons; 2-3 shots at winning the Cup, which for all players is the ultimate goal.

Good take. Even if the future was rosy the management and ownership hasn’t shown a commitment to winning (keeping start players around) so as tempting as being a C and being rich, he’s probably thinking that Tkachuk will get traded in 2 years and Chabot won’t be here when the FYOUS kick in

 

[Tuna99]

Okay ?

But, do you think he's running the franchise, the way he is, on purpose, or because of market and or his financial conditions?

Do you think he has the choice to run the franchise like Vancouver, Arizona, Nashville, Florida or name a team, But has decided to run it this way?

I could buy a big house in Rockcliffe the only problem is I couldn’t afford the upkeep, a car, any garden material or funiture. It would be the crack house of Rockcliffe, on paper i’d be house rich but I wouldn’t have a nice house or something I can be proud of, but I could tell all my friends I live in Rockliff which may help my ego, if I liked those kinds of things.

Melnyck is CFL rich, not NHL rich.

 

[ksens]

Melnyck is CFL rich, not NHL rich.

Outside of the big market / original 6 teams, NHL franchises mostly run at a small operating profit, or even maybe a small loss. But they tend to be owned by people for whom cash flow is not an issue and they are focused on making money on:
* Long term valuation increase of the team
* The arena itself
* Real estate adjacent to the arena
* Other businesses adjacent to the arena

Melnyk is not in that kind of position. He has cash flow issues and can't afford to run the team in the negative. His ability to earn money on supplemental development around the arena was cut off at the knees long before he bought the team and he no longer has a path to a new building downtown that could help rectify this, nor does he have the financial means to do it hence the Lebreton partnership that blew up when he decided to behave like a jackass.

The result is what you see; in a year where gate revenues will probably be the lowest since the team moved to Kanata our actual dollars spent on players on the ice will be the lowest in the league, well below the salary cap, and front office spending is cut to the bone. And when star players need contracts they are dealt because Melnyk is not in a position to front load signing bonuses and/or offer lockout protection, which has become de rigeur for those kinds of players.

Melnyk needs to either partner or sell to someone with real money who can get a building built and earn money from sources that are not gate, TV and revenue sharing. Until he does nothing will change here, and we're going to spend years lost in the NHL wilderness.

As a result I'm not going to get invested in watching a "rebuild" knowing that players will be dealt for financial reasons. And then the franchise will try and pin that on the player, when the real reason is the owner.

 

[Blotto71]

Okay ?

But, do you think he's running the franchise, the way he is, on purpose, or because of the market conditions, and or his financial situation?

Do you think he has the choice to run the franchise like Vancouver, Arizona, Nashville, Florida or name a team, But has decided to run it this way?

He has 100% decided to run it this way, because he always...ALWAYS...has the choice to sell if it's too much for him.

 

[milkbag]

Okay ?

But, do you think he's running the franchise, the way he is, on purpose, or because of the market conditions, and or his financial situation?

Do you think he has the choice to run the franchise like Vancouver, Arizona, Nashville, Florida or name a team, But has decided to run it this way?

Hes doing it on purpose, because of his finances.

If he cannot run the franchise properly, like the vast majority of sports franchises, then he should allow someone else to do it--its simple.

 

[Samboni]

Okay ?

But, do you think he's running the franchise, the way he is, on purpose, or because of the market conditions, and or his financial situation?

Do you think he has the choice to run the franchise like Vancouver, Arizona, Nashville, Florida or name a team, But has decided to run it this way?

A good deal of the way the team operates us due to market conditions, but he bares a lot of blame in the fan decline due to his words, his actions, and the poor way it’s been suggested that he treats people. So ya, part of the way he is running the team is “on purpose”.

 

[Micklebot]

Okay ?

But, do you think he's running the franchise, the way he is, on purpose, or because of the market conditions, and or his financial situation?

Do you think he has the choice to run the franchise like Vancouver, Arizona, Nashville, Florida or name a team, But has decided to run it this way?

Market conditions and his financial situation almost certainly have impacted what the operational budget is, but there are plenty of decisions that are made within the confines of the budget, wherever he so chooses to set it.

For example, he chose to extend Dorion 3 years when things went upside down. He could have chosen to look for a new GM when things went sideways, even if it required re-allocating some of the budget, but instead he extended the guy that was at the helm.

The way the whole fiasco with Lee was handled wasn't exactly shall we say textbook HR best practices, that wasn't market conditions at work.

All the running of his mouth (Cameron re: goalie selection, Crosby re: slashing Methot, Forensic investigationgate ect, and yes there are plenty more examples). That's part of running the business, if you're going to speak to the media as an owner, you are the face of the franchise and anything you say reflects on the franchise.

He owns the team, he can run it however he wants, he can run his mouth as much as he wants, he can handle staff issues however he wants. But he is definitely in control of how the franchise is run, the franchise was in far more dire circumstances before he bought it and was run very differently.

 

[GrantLemons]

Okay ?

But, do you think he's running the franchise, the way he is, on purpose, or because of the market conditions, and or his financial situation?

Do you think he has the choice to run the franchise like Vancouver, Arizona, Nashville, Florida or name a team, But has decided to run it this way?

What's his excuse is there to not hire a POHO, or any semblance of a proper organization hierarchy?

 

[Cosmix]

I don't know why but that fact you were so specific about the type of playing cards is hilarious to me.

Is it the Statue of Liberty on there? Freedom Towers? Empire State Building? A collage of all of them? Is there some specific NYC game that you can only play with NYC playing cards?

So many questions...

Also the current management from ownership on down is a joke right now and I think it is quite obvious. We won't know how good Dorion and his team can be unless they get the opportunity to stay on board when a new owner purchases the team.

The fact he has these financial constraints on any of his moves AND that he doesn't have the support he should have from a workload standpoint doesn't give us a true picture of his abilities.

I have seen enough of Dorion to know he is not the GM this team needs. Clean house with a new owner.

 

[Cosmix]

Good take. Even if the future was rosy the management and ownership hasn’t shown a commitment to winning (keeping start players around) so as tempting as being a C and being rich, he’s probably thinking that Tkachuk will get traded in 2 years and Chabot won’t be here when the FYOUS kick in

If Chabot and Tkachuk are not here, the FYOUS will not materialize and be revealed as what many think it is: pure PR bullshit!

 

[Cosmix]

What's his excuse is there to not hire a POHO, or any semblance of a proper organization hierarchy?

Hiring additional staff will not fix the ownership issue nor the management issues we already have.

 

[Super Cake]

'Fair' offers don't mean a thing when you put things into context. When the team you could potentially sign for has zero aspirations to build a solid team to contend then there's no point in even sitting down and negotiating. I'll back this up by how the Stone ordeal went down and I guarantee it was similar during the Karlsson negotiations. They most likely talked to Stone about being the future captain and leading a new set of prospects to glory, which is a clear sign of failure. Basically, giving up and starting from scratch. Stone wasn't about that and instead jumped ship to Vegas who is prime for playoff contention for the next 2-3 seasons; 2-3 shots at winning the Cup, which for all players is the ultimate goal.

In addition to this, look at the signing bonuses Karlsson and Stone are getting.

When you consider the signing bonuses, the Sens offer wasn't really fair at all.

There was just no way Melnyk would have been able to afford these contracts.

 

[Stylizer1]

As a result I'm not going to get invested in watching a "rebuild" knowing that players will be dealt for financial reasons. And then the franchise will try and pin that on the player, when the real reason is the owner.

If the rebuild was a result of an aging core and it was due like in 2011 I would be onboard. That was the time to tear it down and rebuild and not retool. We traded away all of our good young players because of managements inability to manage our roster. This is why I will never have the same level of interest in the Sens as I had before until Melnyk sells.

 

[DylanSensFan]

I think the fact that we don't have a new downtown Ottawa arena in the cards currently, should be cause for a pause. This horrible owner is putting our franchise in jeopardy with horrible decision after horrible decision and the obvious fact that he is close to bankruptcy.

 

[Stylizer1]

I think the fact that we don't have a new downtown Ottawa arena in the cards currently, should be cause for a pause. This horrible owner is putting our franchise in jeopardy with horrible decision after horrible decision and the obvious fact that he is close to bankruptcy.

I doubt he is close to bankruptcy. He makes enough money to turn a profit., just not enough for him to prop up his other business. He has never lost money owning the Sens he has lost money by taking money out of the Sens. Since buying the team it has quadrupled in price and pretty much getting a massive parcel of land for free with a sporting venue. Cooking the books like a crook.

 

[Crosside]

Yeah we know he lost 20 M a year with the Sens but he said he make money with the CTC I m curious to know how much.