Randy Lee pleads guilty

[DrEasy]

If there's truth to the accusations about similar behavior in the past, they'll probably settle. Settling kicks things under the carpet.

It would be a huge deal in today's "climate" if it came out that a pro sports team knowingly allowed sexual misconduct to take place from a manager. I'm not saying that happened, we don't know yet. Only if it happened, and if it gets out as concrete, it would be a **** show for the Senators. There are different levels of sexual misconduct, but depending on how bad it is (if it is true) who knows what Donald Sterling type morality clauses are in NHL ownership agreements. So when it comes to settling, what kind of implications would not settling have for Melnyk as an owner?

So even if there'd be a day or so of "hey they paid this guy off, that's sketchy", people would forget about that in a few days. Where as IF there is actual sexual misconduct from a manager in today's "me too" environment, it'll be a **** show since the Senators aren't just responsible for their own brand, but for the NHL's brand as a whole.

How much did CBC's hierarchy get reprimanded for knowing about and covering up Ghomeshi's... erm... behavior? Seriously asking, don't know the answer. I wonder if that's a good parallel to draw.

At the minimum I imagine the Sens' HR should be at fault for not dealing with this stuff. HR's job is to CYB when it comes to their employees, so somebody screwed up.

I actually don't fault them for hiring a lawyer for Lee though; it's actually nice for a company to show loyalty and support to an employer, and it doesn't mean they approve of what he did or they deny he did anything.

But knowing about precedents and failing to act on them would be a whole different story if true.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

There is no way to make the optics on this look good. Randy Lee .. AGM of the Senators and GM of the Belleville Sens where we send our young players coming out of college and junior.. A man in a position of influence on the career of these young guys that have put every thing they have to reach their dream of playing in the NHL and this guy can make that road easier or harder .. Its just terrible optics. And the story is back just when Melnyk has thrown even more hope into the sewer. Boro interview incoming. Its disgusting, its sickening, its beyond frustrating... When does the NHL step in to save this franchise?

 

[Stylizer1]

The fact that something like this has happened before really makes me cringe. I feel sorry for his wife and kids.

 

[DJB]

All this crap wouldn't be here if the "leader" at the top was a normal human being.

Cant wait for all this trash to be eventually gone. New ownership, new GM, new coaches everything.

 

[Pierre from Orleans]

Kind of surreal how much bad news this franchise has gone through in the past while.

 

[Grizwald]

There are no words anymore

Except…

Are there any league bylaws where the NHL can revoke a franchise from an owner because of conduct detriment to the league? If there isn't, there damn well should be!

 

[Samsquanch]

Poor f***ing Brian Murray would be rolling in his grave right now if he saw how much this franchise was in utter shambles since he left us.

Say what you want about him, but he brought a level of respectability to this team that is going to take years and a full blown ownership/personnel overhaul to ever hope to get back to as of today.

The guy wanted nothing more then to leave the team on a good path forward when he left, and I love him for that. But sadly, the train went off the rails and burst into flames in a catastrophic explosion.

 

[Stylizer1]

Poor ****ing Brian Murray would be rolling in his grave right now if he saw how much this franchise was in utter shambles since he left us.

Say what you want about him, but he brought a level of respectability to this team that is going to take years and a full blown ownership/personnel overhaul to ever hope to get back to as of today.

The guy wanted nothing more then to leave the team on a good path forward when he left, and I love him for that. But sadly, the train went off the rails and burst into flames in a catastrophic explosion.

This was bubbling under the surface the whole time Murray was here. The one thing Murray brought was leadership.

 

[Tuna99]

Poor ****ing Brian Murray would be rolling in his grave right now if he saw how much this franchise was in utter shambles since he left us.

Say what you want about him, but he brought a level of respectability to this team that is going to take years and a full blown ownership/personnel overhaul to ever hope to get back to as of today.

The guy wanted nothing more then to leave the team on a good path forward when he left, and I love him for that. But sadly, the train went off the rails and burst into flames in a catastrophic explosion.

I disagree. I think the team took a major nose dive when he took over as GM, the coaching mess right from the start. Heatley. Emery and how poorly that was handled. The sense of entitlement he gave to EK, Ryan. The lack of leadership. The summers of Heatley and Spezza and Alfie couldn’t of been handled worse IMO.

Good guy, not a great GM and in fact, I think he was a bad GM strategically he didn’t adjust to where the game was going by aging guys like Smith, Richardson, Legwand, Kovalev, Phaneuf - and drafting was overrated and now we can evaluate it as poor. And bad signings - Cowen, Greening, Weircohe, Michalek, Ryan and who he couldn’t sign - Alfie, Spezza, Fisher, Kelly, Vermette.

I know it’s not popular to criticize a local guy who can make you laugh - but when you evaluate his term critically, he took a Stanley Cup Finalist with a ton of talent and turned it into a bottom dweller for over a decade.

Also, Murray always praising Melnyck and asking him Mr. Melnyck really went a long way to himazing Melnyck - that no longer exists, or it does and we see Melnyck is all to human

 

[Masked]

I was really hoping that today's news would be the last we heard about this sicko. Unfortunately, we will probably hear more about this pervert. Today's news was also the first I heard that he was hitting on a teen who was almost a foot smaller than him. Too bad he's not serving hard time where he can learn a new meaning for the term Rick-rolled.

 

[Samsquanch]

This was bubbling under the surface the whole time Murray was here. The one thing Murray brought was leadership.

Yeah but its foolish to think that everything is always rosy and great under the surface for any franchise really. Its the franchises with no leader that let the shit rise to the top before it gets to the public.

A strong leader of a franchise like Murray was able to keep this franchise appearing strong legitimate, despite having obvious handcuffs such as having Eugene freaking Melnyk and his empty wallet dictating all of your moves.

Think of how long Murray managed to keep us somewhat oblivious to the fact that our owner is legit bat shit crazy, and that he was saving him from himself the whole time. The truth started to come out eventually of course, but I still commend Brain for weathering the storm as long as he did for us.

 

[Samsquanch]

I disagree. I think the team took a major nose dive when he took over as GM, the coaching mess right from the start. Heatley. Emery and how poorly that was handled. The sense of entitlement he gave to EK, Ryan. The lack of leadership. The summers of Heatley and Spezza and Alfie couldn’t of been handled worse IMO.

Good guy, not a great GM and in fact, I think he was a bad GM strategically he didn’t adjust to where the game was going by aging guys like Smith, Richardson, Legwand, Kovalev, Phaneuf - and drafting was overrated and now we can evaluate it as poor. And bad signings - Cowen, Greening, Weircohe, Michalek, Ryan and who he couldn’t sign - Alfie, Spezza, Fisher, Kelly, Vermette.

I know it’s not popular to criticize a local guy who can make you laugh - but when you evaluate his term critically, he took a Stanley Cup Finalist with a ton of talent and turned it into a bottom dweller for over a decade.

Also, Murray always praising Melnyck and asking him Mr. Melnyck really went a long way to himazing Melnyck - that no longer exists, or it does and we see Melnyck is all to human

I didnt say that he actually did set us up beautifully for the future. Only that he wanted to. Probably more than anything in the world.

Im not even a local Ottawa guy, so he's got no sway there on me. But I still love Murray and believe that he did the best he could given the boundaries he was working with (ie the POS owner).

His biggest fault was most definitely his inability to hire a good coach, and his tendency to hire young, inexperienced coaches (who he could likely have more sway over). But nothing was more endearing than watching the old fart get animated up in the box during the games, you just know he wanted to be down there on the bench coaching.

 

[hawthy]

I wonder how the Sens will play this.

Will they settle? That admits they ****ed up.
Will they go to court? That will make it so much more ugly if it doesnt go there way and all the other side stuff that can be exposed in the process of the case too.

Sens are in lose lose territory

A territory the Sens are quite comfortable in.

 

[Stylizer1]

I didnt say that he actually did set us up beautifully for the future. Only that he wanted to. Probably more than anything in the world.

Im not even a local Ottawa guy, so he's got no sway there on me. But I still love Murray and believe that he did the best he could given the boundaries he was working with (ie the POS owner).

His biggest fault was most definitely his inability to hire a good coach, and his tendency to hire young, inexperienced coaches (who he could likely have more sway over). But nothing was more endearing than watching the old fart get animated up in the box during the games, you just know he wanted to be down there on the bench coaching.

I will admit Murray wasn't allowed to use all avenue's possible to run this team well but he also set up most of his own failures in how he went about constructing this team. He had to convince Melnyk somehow to let him become GM over Muckler. In doing so he left the one thing he was best at which was coaching. The amount of coaches he went through lead to the instability of the teams play.

 

[BonkTastic]

A territory the Sens are quite comfortable in.

Comfortable in?

At this point, it's basically home field advantage.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

i read the title of this thread as "Randy Lee's Guilty Pleasure" at first glance...jeez

 

[FlyingJ]

I disagree. I think the team took a major nose dive when he took over as GM, the coaching mess right from the start. Heatley. Emery and how poorly that was handled. The sense of entitlement he gave to EK, Ryan. The lack of leadership. The summers of Heatley and Spezza and Alfie couldn’t of been handled worse IMO.

Good guy, not a great GM and in fact, I think he was a bad GM strategically he didn’t adjust to where the game was going by aging guys like Smith, Richardson, Legwand, Kovalev, Phaneuf - and drafting was overrated and now we can evaluate it as poor. And bad signings - Cowen, Greening, Weircohe, Michalek, Ryan and who he couldn’t sign - Alfie, Spezza, Fisher, Kelly, Vermette.

I know it’s not popular to criticize a local guy who can make you laugh - but when you evaluate his term critically, he took a Stanley Cup Finalist with a ton of talent and turned it into a bottom dweller for over a decade.

Also, Murray always praising Melnyck and asking him Mr. Melnyck really went a long way to himazing Melnyck - that no longer exists, or it does and we see Melnyck is all to human

I agree with this to an extent, but honestly, the team's decline had already begun under Muckler due to his awful drafting. The Sens' cupboards were pretty bare when Murray came on as GM. IIRC, Murray, while working the 2007 draft with Muckler's staff (Murray had no time to get his own staff in place), said that no two of the Sens' scouts had seen the same player play, and some players on the CSS and ISS' lists hadn't even been scouted by the Sens. That's pretty atrocious.

Not to mention Muckler and his staff's penchant for taking Russians in the later rounds who were passed over earlier due to the increasingly high salaries the RSL/KHL was starting to offer. The logic seemed to be that if even a few of them came over it would be a win for the Sens. Only two of the seven he drafted ever came over (Kaigorodov was drafted before Muckler was hired, and look how well he turned out ). They both eventually bolted after spending a season or two in the AHL and not making the big leagues. Whoo. The rest of Muckler's draft record also kind of sucks, and that's sad given the reputation the Sens had built up prior to him for drafting and developing players.

If we're being honest, the 2007 Cup Final team was a step down in terms of talent from the previous 3 seasons. Losing Chara and Havlat to the free agency and the cap respectively and replacing them with Joe Corvo, Tom Preissing, and eventually trading for Mike Comrie? Not to mention that season was when Redden's game began to really drop off, and Meszaros never lived up to his rookie season. It's actually somewhat amusing that Ottawa made the Finals with Phillips and Volchenkov as the top pairing by default. They were good, but a true top pairing? Not really, especially as their ability to generate offense was really, really limited.

Murray deserves blame for a lot of things (how many chances he gave Jared Cowen because "he's 6'5, he's gonna be real good" made me want to bash my head against a wall) but he didn't take the roster of a contender and destroy it. The age of certain players and a lack of good drafting for years had gotten the ball rolling on that well before he became GM.

 

[Stylizer1]

I agree with this to an extent, but honestly, the team's decline had already begun under Muckler due to his awful drafting. The Sens' cupboards were pretty bare when Murray came on as GM. IIRC, Murray, while working the 2007 draft with Muckler's staff (Murray had no time to get his own staff in place), said that no two of the Sens' scouts had seen the same player play, and some players on the CSS and ISS' lists hadn't even been scouted by the Sens. That's pretty atrocious.

Not to mention Muckler and his staff's penchant for taking Russians in the later rounds who were passed over earlier due to the increasingly high salaries the RSL/KHL was starting to offer. The logic seemed to be that if even a few of them came over it would be a win for the Sens. Only two of the seven he drafted ever came over (Kaigorodov was drafted before Muckler was hired, and look how well he turned out ). They both eventually bolted after spending a season or two in the AHL and not making the big leagues. Whoo. The rest of Muckler's draft record also kind of sucks, and that's sad given the reputation the Sens had built up prior to him for drafting and developing players.

If we're being honest, the 2007 Cup Final team was a step down in terms of talent from the previous 3 seasons. Losing Chara and Havlat to the free agency and the cap respectively and replacing them with Joe Corvo, Tom Preissing, and eventually trading for Mike Comrie? Not to mention that season was when Redden's game began to really drop off, and Meszaros never lived up to his rookie season. It's actually somewhat amusing that Ottawa made the Finals with Phillips and Volchenkov as the top pairing by default. They were good, but a true top pairing? Not really, especially as their ability to generate offense was really, really limited.

Murray deserves blame for a lot of things (how many chances he gave Jared Cowen because "he's 6'5, he's gonna be real good" made me want to bash my head against a wall) but he didn't take the roster of a contender and destroy it. The age of certain players and a lack of good drafting for years had gotten the ball rolling on that well before he became GM.

Sorry but Murray had long enough to mold this team into what he wanted and in a span of 2 years since he stepped down there is almost no trace of his legacy on the roster.

How about we just never speak on Randy Lee again since he is no longer part of this organization?

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

Sorry but Murray had long enough to mold this team into what he wanted and in a span of 2 years since he stepped down there is almost no trace of his legacy on the roster.

How about we just never speak on Randy Lee again since he is no longer part of this organization?

How is that on Murray? coughTurriscough coughKarlssoncough. coughZibanejadcough.

 

[BondraTime]

Sorry but Murray had long enough to mold this team into what he wanted and in a span of 2 years since he stepped down there is almost no trace of his legacy on the roster.

How about we just never speak on Randy Lee again since he is no longer part of this organization?

Smith
Turris
Boro
JGP
Dzingel
Chabot
White
Jaros
Harper
Ryan
Ceci
Lajoie
Karlsson
Zibanejad
Wideman
Hoffman
Anderson
Wolanin
Chlapik

Were all drafted or traded for by Murray, with the bolded traded since he stepped down, which you can't fault him for.

 

[Stylizer1]

Smith
Turris
Boro
JGP
Dzingel
Chabot
White
Jaros
Harper
Ryan
Ceci
Lajoie
Karlsson
Zibanejad
Wideman
Hoffman
Anderson
Wolanin
Chlapik

Were all drafted or traded for by Murray, with the bolded traded since he stepped down, which you can't fault him for.

The team he left looks a lot different than what we have now. All of his core players are gone and all of his 3rd/4th liners remain. What was the point in him building a team if the core of it no longer is here?

 

[BondraTime]

The team he left looks a lot different than what we have now. All of his core players are gone and all of his 3rd/4th liners remain. What was the point in him building a team if the core of it no longer is here?

Ask Dorion and Melnyk? They are the reason they aren't here, not Murray. It's not as though Zib/Turris/Hoff/Karlsson aren't building block players...

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

 

[JD1]

All this crap wouldn't be here if the "leader" at the top was a normal human being.

Cant wait for all this trash to be eventually gone. New ownership, new GM, new coaches everything.

this particular crap has nothing to do with ownership unless there is a proven scenario where ownership was aware of past behaviour and covered it up

 

[JD1]

I disagree. I think the team took a major nose dive when he took over as GM, the coaching mess right from the start. Heatley. Emery and how poorly that was handled. The sense of entitlement he gave to EK, Ryan. The lack of leadership. The summers of Heatley and Spezza and Alfie couldn’t of been handled worse IMO.

Good guy, not a great GM and in fact, I think he was a bad GM strategically he didn’t adjust to where the game was going by aging guys like Smith, Richardson, Legwand, Kovalev, Phaneuf - and drafting was overrated and now we can evaluate it as poor. And bad signings - Cowen, Greening, Weircohe, Michalek, Ryan and who he couldn’t sign - Alfie, Spezza, Fisher, Kelly, Vermette.

I know it’s not popular to criticize a local guy who can make you laugh - but when you evaluate his term critically, he took a Stanley Cup Finalist with a ton of talent and turned it into a bottom dweller for over a decade.

Also, Murray always praising Melnyck and asking him Mr. Melnyck really went a long way to himazing Melnyck - that no longer exists, or it does and we see Melnyck is all to human

a bottom dweller for a decade?

A new low for you. I think you embarrassed yourself with that one.