MSG from the CEO/President/Owner/Governor

heat89

Registered User
May 6, 2009
244
0
Melnyk has truly stepped it up. I am so glad to hear he is providing the Sens fan base with Madison Square Garden. Logistically, I'm unsure why, but he has proven he is willing to make the big purchases.
 

Sensung

Registered User
Oct 3, 2017
6,101
3,357
Actions speak louder then words. When he starts acting that's when ill take anything he says seriously.
The next major action is likely to be trading away our generational player.

Hope the fanbase is ready to take action if that occurs.
 
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Liliaceae

hockey
Jun 21, 2007
7,046
32
Canada
So one measly letter is supposed to mend everything? I don't think so. He's said similar things(many times) in the past and things are still shit. I don't buy a word of it. Hopefully not everyone falls into this BS or nothing will ever change.

edit: we all know how he truly feels about the 'fans', so these nice words won't cut it. He's full of crap.
 

Tnuoc Alucard

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Sep 23, 2015
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Sounds nice, then I re-read the title and shake my head that he holds 4 major positions in the organization. If he doesn't do it, there is no one else to try.


Chief Executive Officer, Owner and Governor .......... what's the fourth?
 

Tnuoc Alucard

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Sep 23, 2015
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What the hell is the difference between rebuild and retool? They are such stupid concepts anyways.

Some people point to what the Leafs have done over the past 4 or 5 seasons, as a "re-build", and what the Bruins have done in the past 2 or 3 seasons, a "re-tool".
 

Tnuoc Alucard

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Sep 23, 2015
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Those scammers on the phone pretending to be Microsoft have a better sales pitch.


Love those guys, I string them along for awhile, and then ask them where they're calling from...... and usually they claim its somewhere in the GTA. I then ask them to name the Hockey team for Toronto, and they start to stumble and get back on track, but I keep asking and they can't name the team ......... it's hilarious.
 

Tnuoc Alucard

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Sep 23, 2015
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Isn't he also the acting president?

He could be "acting" President for now, but it was not listed in his letter to STH, just Owner, CEO and Governor.

I suspect he'll find, and hire someone as President at point.
 

Tnuoc Alucard

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Sep 23, 2015
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Literally in the title of the thread


Melnyk did not write the title of the thread, and did not sign the letter to STH with President included. (re-read the Copy and Pasted Letter, in the first posting in this thread, down at the bottom)
 

NorthCoast

Registered User
May 1, 2017
1,250
1,167
The "when i took ocer the team, they were in financial trouble" line irritates me.

What does this have to do with the current situation. Is he telling fans they should hug him instead of holdint #MelnykOut signs?

Agreed. This line infuriates me as well.

Yes, when he bought the team it was handcuffed by 120 million in debt, or 50% of the team value. This means that the team had to pay enormous interest payments every year to maintain the debt and that was not sustainable.

Over Melnyk's tenure revenues have gone up, mostly because of TV deals, allowing the budget to increase, but he has not really touched the debt it's still the reason why the team is in financial trouble. Instead of paying it down himself, he expected to only buy 50% of the team and have revenues payoff the other half over time, while also being competitive. All he has done is move money from admin/sales/ops team to player budgets, which provided some short-term success, but will kill the team competitiveness long-term.

But the real issue with this letter is that it has no real details and again, that leaves room for speculation like....



If retool = getting rid of old guys and surrounding existing core with younger alternatives, and rebuild = mostly new core, then there is one major incentive for them to rebuild instead of a retool: lockout protected contracts.

It is fair to assume that any star players with enough leverage and an upcoming contract renewal will be demanding that the contracts are structured for lockout protection. This involves making most of the money a guaranteed bonus and including a significant bonus payment to be made at the beginning of the 20/21 season. ie: even if there is a lockout, the player still gets paid.

Add up what that bonus payment will be Karlsson, Stone, Duchene, and maybe Ceci, and you are looking at a 20-30 million payout with potentially no revenue to offset it at a time when many other expenses will be mounting up due to the lockout...and of course, still in the middle of building a new stadium. Add that to the 30 million in wasted budget on Ryan (from Melnyks perspective) and you have a 50-60 million reasons of his personal fortune to trade Karlsson and go rebuild.


Okay, maybe the above has truth, maybe it doesn't. But if you don't want people speculating the worst, then provide a concrete plan that says otherwise and stick to it.
 

philb613

Registered User
Feb 9, 2011
376
172
Ottawa
Agreed. This line infuriates me as well.

Yes, when he bought the team it was handcuffed by 120 million in debt, or 50% of the team value. This means that the team had to pay enormous interest payments every year to maintain the debt and that was not sustainable.

Over Melnyk's tenure revenues have gone up, mostly because of TV deals, allowing the budget to increase, but he has not really touched the debt it's still the reason why the team is in financial trouble. Instead of paying it down himself, he expected to only buy 50% of the team and have revenues payoff the other half over time, while also being competitive. All he has done is move money from admin/sales/ops team to player budgets, which provided some short-term success, but will kill the team competitiveness long-term.

But the real issue with this letter is that it has no real details and again, that leaves room for speculation like....



If retool = getting rid of old guys and surrounding existing core with younger alternatives, and rebuild = mostly new core, then there is one major incentive for them to rebuild instead of a retool: lockout protected contracts.

It is fair to assume that any star players with enough leverage and an upcoming contract renewal will be demanding that the contracts are structured for lockout protection. This involves making most of the money a guaranteed bonus and including a significant bonus payment to be made at the beginning of the 20/21 season. ie: even if there is a lockout, the player still gets paid.

Add up what that bonus payment will be Karlsson, Stone, Duchene, and maybe Ceci, and you are looking at a 20-30 million payout with potentially no revenue to offset it at a time when many other expenses will be mounting up due to the lockout...and of course, still in the middle of building a new stadium. Add that to the 30 million in wasted budget on Ryan (from Melnyks perspective) and you have a 50-60 million reasons of his personal fortune to trade Karlsson and go rebuild.


Okay, maybe the above has truth, maybe it doesn't. But if you don't want people speculating the worst, then provide a concrete plan that says otherwise and stick to it.


Was wondering when people might start talking about this. Can guarantee Karlsson will want this in his contract, that regardless of any lockout he gets paid. This will be a major point of contention, which makes it even more likely he's shipped out.
 

The Lewler

GOAT BUDGET AINEC
Jul 2, 2013
4,675
2,815
Eastern Ontario Badlands
Was wondering when people might start talking about this. Can guarantee Karlsson will want this in his contract, that regardless of any lockout he gets paid. This will be a major point of contention, which makes it even more likely he's shipped out.

If I'm Karlsson , I'm definitely structuring my deal to make it as lockout proof as possible.

And demanding an NMC after this gong show.
 
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SlyDawg

Registered User
Feb 12, 2015
795
52
Nepean, ON
Truth be told, the letter is fine, and it hints towards what Dorion has been mandated to do:

- Get rid of salary
- Rebuild from the draft up
- Renew commitment to the community.

...now here's the one thing that really ...really rubbed me the wrong way:

He speaks about being the salvation for this team in 2003.

Okay.

I get it.

You saved the team when it was in Bankruptcy. You also did lead it back to a solid enough team in a small market. Kudos.

But your fanbase is pissed off at you. Like...utterly pissed off at you. Why...in the hell...would you go and drop this in a letter addressed to the season ticket holders who are already pissed off about how much the team is not spending and cost cutting in management areas as well as gouging people at the parking space.

It's just..smug. And it's essentially Ol Euge being Ol Euge.

It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth after reading the letter.

Everything else is fine. I wish there was a bit more content as to how they're going to plan, but I get why they can't tell us because things haven't happened enough to do it. But if you read in between the lines, this sounds like a full rebuild with people being sent out, which, to me, does not bode well for Karlsson to remain. I feel like it's far more likely that he gets traded this June now.

But it's time for him to put his money where his mouth is. These are mostly empty words scripted to sound nice after he literally sounded off and spoke about what he really thought of the situation back in December. There is going to be a 'lot' of work for him to get back into my good graces; Whether he cares about this or doesn't (and I'm frankly assuming the latter), is another question.

I'm not even taking this as a 'small start'. This is essentially typical PR.
 

Senateurs

Let's win it all
Feb 28, 2007
9,256
110
Enduring a tough year has given us a chance for clear-eyed evaluation. This is an ongoing process but I can tell you one thing: we are not looking to just tweak our lineup nor mortgage our future for stop-gap solutions.

The kind of change required to reclaim our standing needs a change in approach, requires difficult decisions and commitment to a plan. As an organization, and community, it meant saying goodbye to some very good players this year – quality men who gave their all on the ice and in the community.

As a team, we need to get younger, faster and more skilled. We have already announced several key steps to making that happen.


This message should have been sent in 2009-10, when it was time to rebuild. If I remember correctly he told fans to go blow themselves up. To their credit, Murray and Dorion build a pretty good team through the draft while making the playoffs every other year and having a 6th overall as their lowest pick during that time. We were finally seeing the fruits of this long process last year and he now wants to change the approach?
FU you cheap bastard.
I want to renew my season’s ticket but this message has nothing in it to reassure me.
 

Nac Mac Feegle

wee & free
Jun 10, 2011
34,828
9,251
You know, if Eugene wants to show he has a commitment to the fans, how about dropping all parking fees for the rest of this season? That's a pretty nice olive branch, and likely the extra tickets bought will make up for the lost parking sales.
 
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Tuna99

Registered User
Sep 26, 2009
14,712
6,797
Wasn't the mandate always to draft well- all this does is highlite how poorly we have drafted or traded away our 1st and 2nd round picks.
 

DaveMatthew

Bring in Peter
Apr 13, 2005
14,507
13,180
Ott
The letter is fine, although it's just like Eugene to give himself a hearty pat on the back for "saving" the team in 2003.

But actions speak louder than words.

• Are we going to actually invest in scouting by hiring more, better qualified scouts?
• Are we going to bring in resources to support Dorion in hockey decisions, either in a full-time or advisor role?
• Are we willing to endure some short-term financial pain to build for the future (ie. accept some bad contracts to maximize returns instead of including bad contracts that minimize returns?)
• How exactly is the fan experience going to improve? Are we reducing parking prices? Investing in in-game entertainment? Lowering the cost of concessions?
• Are we investing in the front office? Are we hiring a President? A VP of Marketing? Or is Melnyk just going to be the jack of all trades?

Right now, this letter is just filled with platitudes, and as expected, fan reaction has been skeptical.

If Melnyk actually wants to start building goodwill, hold a press conference (in Ottawa), or go on the radio (in Ottawa), and start answering some of these questions. Or better yet, start announcing positive changes when they happen.
 

tony d

Registered User
Jun 23, 2007
76,589
4,548
Behind A Tree
Good letter but the time has come for Melnyk to relinquish the ownership or at least sell off some of his stake with the team.
 

slamigo

Skate or Die!
Dec 25, 2007
6,430
3,811
Ottawa
You know, if Eugene wants to show he has a commitment to the fans, how about dropping all parking fees for the rest of this season? That's a pretty nice olive branch, and likely the extra tickets bought will make up for the lost parking sales.
If he dropped parking back to $10, I’d bring the family. At $30, it’s an irritant and I won’t go just because I find that gouging too blatant.
 
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Micklebot

Moderator
Apr 27, 2010
53,113
30,328
If he dropped parking back to $10, I’d bring the family. At $30, it’s an irritant and I won’t go just because I find that gouging too blatant.

Something like a family packs (4 tickets, some hot dogs, drinks and parking) would probably sell. Didn't they do something like this in the past? I seem to recall certain tickets coming with hotdog vouchers not too long ago.

edit: I googled it, 99 bucks for 4 tickets, 4 hotdogs and 4 drinks, but no parking, back in 2009. It was limited to 5 specific games.
 

thammias

Registered User
Feb 8, 2006
306
156
I don't understand why anybody is surprised that Melnyk is trying to cut costs and increase revenue while he's in the process of trying to secure a shiny new downtown arena that will probably cost close to half a billion dollars to build without any public money.

Of course the messaging has been atrocious and taking money away from hockey operations is disappointing but that money has to come from somewhere and as Melnyk sure likes to remind us his pockets aren't that deep.
 
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Sens of Anarchy

Registered User
Jul 9, 2013
64,989
49,506
Melnyk did not write the title of the thread, and did not sign the letter to STH with President included. (re-read the Copy and Pasted Letter, in the first posting in this thread, down at the bottom)

Can we talk ?
423685-1f6d72b497ae82b04de9a15f550b70c3.jpg
 

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