News Article: Globe and Mail article slams Melynk

[DylanSensFan]

Yah...this summer.

I'm not sure that had that dramatic an effect on the team.

Now if the Islanders continue to be great than you can point to new ownership. But the team currently in the ice was built under the watch of Wang.

It could be that they are not distracted by Wang hanging around anymore.

 

[ChocolateLeclaire]

In 2011 he wrote something about firing Murray. Also this guy has one the three top literary awards in Canada.

Then probably never talked about it again when the team was beating Montreal in the playoffs.

It's funny. His complaint in 2011 was that Murray couldn't rebuild the team.

4 years later, his complaint is that the team is being rebuilt.

I'm not a fan of the direction of the team, but I can write a better article than this. This is just click-bait for any Melynk-hating Sens fan out there.

Personally, I don't see how Melnyk is at fault right now because he's paid who he is supposed to pay. If anything, this is Murray's issues with not being able to get the team over the hump.

 

[ChocolateLeclaire]

It could be that they are not distracted by Wang hanging around anymore.

Or, you know, all those young guys they drafted over the years finally matured into NHL players. Josh Bailey was written off as a complete bust two years ago, now he's one of their best players.

The Sens roster isn't perfect, but it's not as dire as people are making it out to be. If our roster was filled with 28 year olds and this was the best they could do, I'd be mad. But it's not, it's the youngest roster in the league.

 

[DylanSensFan]

Come on, you didn't even acknowledge my play on words... so serious CL!

 

[ChocolateLeclaire]

Come on, you didn't even acknowledge my play on words... so serious CL!

Well, then...I'm going to have another coffee because I can't believe me of all people missed a double entendre...

 

[SanderSen]

There were a few brief years that Ottawa could compete budget wise, not we are returning to try to get champagne results on a beer budget. Toronto never has that issue with funds, the average ticket price is way up there, merchandise sales are huge for the vast majority of fans that never step inside the rink for a game. Very frustrating that they have imploded once again and so completely that the media has flogged it to death and is now turning their bile to Ottawa.

 

[Vesa Awesaka]

Well, then...I'm going to have another coffee because I can't believe me of all people missed a double entendre...

I missed it or didnt understand it too lol

 

[Back in Black]

Personally, I don't see how Melnyk is at fault right now because he's paid who he is supposed to pay. If anything, this is Murray's issues with not being able to get the team over the hump.

Bingo! Time for new blood.

 

[Xspyrit]

I don't get the fascination in Ottawa about all this... Please someone explain me what the Sens have done so much different than others small market teams in this phase of their life cycle.

Didn't even read the article entirely but I don't like wasting time

Melnyk said it best himself :

“I’m not in the least embarrassed about us spending at the bottom. I’m happy about it because we’ll be able to spend more in the future and some can’t. Some are stuck.â€

Bobby Ryan, Craig Anderson, Clarke MacArthur, Marc Methot, Robin Lehner have all gotten raises recently. And much more to come. Sens are positioned to spend more when their window opens. It's as simple as that and you might have nothing to do if you end up talking about it endlessly...

 

[DylanSensFan]

Bingo! Time for new blood.

Take a look at the Islanders... it is a matter of time before we are in the hunt. Our team did not over perform this season, and was mediocre. Going to be a different story next season I believe.

 

[StefanW]

I don't get the fascination in Ottawa about all this... Please someone explain me what the Sens have done so much different than others small market teams in this phase of their life cycle.

Didn't even read the article entirely but I don't like wasting time

Melnyk said it best himself :

“I’m not in the least embarrassed about us spending at the bottom. I’m happy about it because we’ll be able to spend more in the future and some can’t. Some are stuck.â€

Bobby Ryan, Craig Anderson, Clarke MacArthur, Marc Methot, Robin Lehner have all gotten raises recently. And much more to come. Sens are positioned to spend more when their window opens. It's as simple as that and you might have nothing to do if you end up talking about it endlessly...

The Sens are positioned that way for sure, but there is absolutely no guarantee that the team will move out of bottom 10 spending next season. All teams have to spend money to get to the floor, which means that all teams have to sign players to contracts. It is the spending above that amount that separates them.

 

[ChocolateLeclaire]

I said it before about the spending and I'll say it again. I'll be mad when our budget costs us a young player we need for our future. Thus far, he's paid Methot, Ryan, Lehner and MacArthur. If he doesn't spend on Hoffman, Stone, and Zbad because we're on a "budget", then I'll do this:

 

[StefanW]

I said it before about the spending and I'll say it again. I'll be mad when our budget costs us a young player we need for our future. Thus far, he's paid Methot, Ryan, Lehner and MacArthur. If he doesn't spend on Hoffman, Stone, and Zbad because we're on a "budget", then I'll do this:

The RFA deals for Hoffman, Stone, Zibanejad, Chiasson, and Pageau are coming up this summer. This is what I am watching going forward. Do we have to start to jettison some players to fit in the raises they are likely to get? Or do we move one or two of them? I figure as a group they will get in the range of $5-7 MM above where they are this season. If the team plays hardball like it did with Methot it could be less, but not by a huge amount.

 

[Tkachuk27]

About time someone wrote this about the Senators

 

[BK201]

Didn't read but What's up with Toronto and Melnyk? Seriously he does interviews on Toronto radio and all that but almost never in Ottawa.

I just find it weird.

 

[Erik Alfredsson]

This is one of the worst articles I've ever read in my life. The Globe and Mail is a joke and this author doesn't know what the hell he's even talking about.

 

[Vesa Awesaka]

Didn't read but What's up with Toronto and Melnyk? Seriously he does interviews on Toronto radio and all that but almost never in Ottawa.

I just find it weird.

He's from Toronto... isnt he? I do find it strange he goes on Toronto radio but him and the host are supposedly friends and imo he seem to think he's doing a service getting the sens talked about.

 

[Ice-Tray]

meh. another hack journalist from Toronto.. but he made some good points when it came to personnel though.

Michalek- been extremely inconsistent..he's on right now but he goes through long slumps where he just seems to disappear.

Writer probably doesn't even realize Ryan is playing with a broken finger-- he's a 30 goal scorer in this league when fully healthy.. guy's just had crap luck with nagging injuries since he came to Ottawa

Turris- he produces but he can go invisible for long periods too. So much for him being Spezza's replacement like some people seemed to think he was just because he had like 1.5 good seasons before Spezza left.

The Bishop trade was awful in retrospect.. but it was impossible to know at the time how good he would be. Just wish Murray could have got a little more for him

Colin Greening--ha.

MacArthur-- he was great last season for us.. why knows whats happened to him this year

Bishop has been very average with TB, like Lehner average. We still made the right trade in my books.

 

[Scrub*]

At least the Sens rebuild rather quickly..I mean the leafs take 10 years to realize they need to rebuild, what makes them so much better? At least they spent money?

 

[Pangu]

This article may make some not so solid arguments, but it is right in the big picture. This was an extremely well run franchise up until Melnyk took over and has declined since then. For a good decade, this team competed for the cup and had better prospects coming up than we have today. Even three or four years ago, when we started retooling, we had more assets in and out of the NHL.

Right now, its hard to see us becoming a cup contender in the next five years. Tough times...

 

[BankStreetParade]

This article may make some not so solid arguments, but it is right in the big picture. This was an extremely well run franchise up until Melnyk took over and has declined since then. For a good decade, this team competed for the cup and had better prospects coming up than we have today. Even three or four years ago, when we started retooling, we had more assets in and out of the NHL.

Right now, its hard to see us becoming a cup contender in the next five years. Tough times...

You could say that about every single franchise in the NHL. It is literally impossible to be a competitive team forever. Every team that drafts well, develops their players, sees them excel and then sees them through the aging process will eventually have a downturn. You can't be highly competitive and get very high draft picks at the same time.

Here's all the teams in the last 10 drafts to have a top 3 pick:

Edmonton 4
Florida 4
Pittsburgh 3
Chicago 3
Colorado 3
Tampa Bay 3
Anaheim 1
Carolina 1
St. Louis 1
Philadelphia 1
Phoenix/Arizona 1
Los Angeles 1
Atlanta/Winnipeg 1
NY Islanders 1
Boston 1
Columbus 1
Montreal 1
Buffalo 1
Washington 1

That's 19 teams in total. And what a surprise: of the last 9 teams to win the Stanley Cup, 8 are teams that had a top 3 pick in at least one of the drafts from 2004-2014. So, virtually every team that has won a Cup in the last decade had to have 1 or multiple seasons of bottoming out for top picks to emerge as Cup winners down the road.

So while it seems very comfortable to just go ahead and make the ridiculous connection of this team's downturn coinciding with Melnyk's ownership, the facts show that it's simply not the case. It is nearly impossible to maintain a highly competitive team without the aid of 1 or multiple top 3 draft picks.

Let's look at 2005-2006, what I consider to be the Sens last true great team. (Even though the 06-07 squad made the Finals, they definitely weren't of the calibre of the 05-06 squad)

The top 5 teams in the league that year were:

Detroit
Ottawa
Dallas
Carolina
Buffalo

In 2006-07, Carolina missed the playoffs.
In 2007-08, Carolina and Buffalo miss.
In 2008-09, Buffalo, Ottawa and Dallas miss.
In 2009-10, Dallas and Carolina miss.
In 2010-11, Dallas, Carolina and Ottawa miss.
In 2011-12, Dallas, Buffalo and Carolina miss.
In 2012-13, Dallas, Carolina and Buffalo miss.
In 2013-14, Ottawa, Carolina and Buffalo miss. Buffalo last place in NHL.
This year, only Detroit looks to be on pace to make the playoffs. Carolina is a bottom 5 team. Buffalo is dead last.

It seems disingenuous to only look at Ottawa and say they've had a fall from grace when the league is littered with teams that had falls from grace, several of whom were the league's elites when Ottawa was.

Carolina has made the playoffs once since the year they won the Cup. Buffalo has missed the playoffs 3 years in a row and is on pace for their second consecutive last place finish. Dallas missed the playoffs 5 years in a row. Ottawa only missed the playoffs 3 of the 8 years. Detroit had back to back Cup Finals and won a Stanley Cup in one of them.

 

[BigBush*]

**** **** **** sucker were not Detroit it's all Melnyks fault

 

[Super Cake]

Garbage article.

 

[LatteLarrys]

That would make more sense if the author wasnt a former season ticket holder and sens fans.

Not necessarily if you take into account the intended audience.

 

[Sun God Nika]

Pretty good article, writer knew a lot about the team. It will be interesting to see where this team is at after we resign Zibby, Stone, and Hoff who are all do for big raises.