Speculation: Who wants to be President of Hockey OPs; survey says...

[bert]

There is zero evidence of that the majority of the fan base is as jaded. No way it is 90% as you are stating.

Stating it is that high shows the disconnect between reality and false statements.

If it was that bad the NHL would step in when it hit 50 or 60%. For sure.

I do not think the board has any relation to the overall spectrum of fans.

None of my friends post on here and easily 85% are absolutely disinchanted or flat out dont care. No one went to any games last year. Everyone I know that had seasons or packages cancelled. Its very real, many of you are in absolute denial.

 

[Micklebot]

None of my friends post on here and easiky 85% are absolutely disinchanted or flat out dont care. No one went to any games last year. Everyone i know that had seasons or packages cancelled. Its very real many of you are in absolute denial.

I think demographics plays into the differing views. I imagine younger fans that grew up with the Sens might react differently than fans who adopted the Sens back in the 90s but grew up of fans of other teams.

Casual fans likely don't get as jaded, they either aren't invested enough to care about anything off ice, or walk away outright.

One thing you do see on HF is a concentration of highly invested sens fans, so they are likely far more likely to have strong opinions than somebodies buddy at the office water cooler or the guys they play beer league with.

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

I think we can all agree that there are good things happening, and we can definitely be excited about our young players.

But it's so tiring that everything the team does is constantly undermined by the dark cloud hanging over the franchise. We shouldn't have to sit here worrying about whether or not we can sign Thomas ****ing Chabot as an RFA. It should be the easiest slam dunk of a contract known to man, but for the Eugene Melnyk's Ottawa Senators, its not.

Hey PD said he would take a run at signing him, what more do you want sheesh?

 

[BatherSeason]

There is zero evidence of that the majority of the fan base is as jaded. No way it is 90% as you are stating.

Stating it is that high shows the disconnect between reality and false statements.

If it was that bad the NHL would step in when it hit 50 or 60%. For sure.

I do not think the board has any relation to the overall spectrum of fans.

There is also zero evidence supporting the opposite either. Stating that 90% of non-casual fans feel this way may not be completely accurate, but it is much closer than referring to this group of fans as the vocal minority.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Choosing your words carefully or coincidence?

Our short term outlook is no playoffs. I'm not happy with ownership and PD has some warts.

The brand of the Ottawa Senators has tanked. That is the point of what I wrote.

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

There is also zero evidence supporting the opposite either. Stating that 90% of non-casual fans feel this way may not be completely accurate, but it is much closer than referring to this group of fans as the vocal minority.

Agreed.

I just find it hard to accept that the way a few people take verbal swipes at each other when 95% of the people are hardcore fans in here. (Not pointing fingers, I think we all are at fault, sometimes)
Respect for your brothers is long gone.
I sometimes think this board has turned into something like the far left vs far right battle on social media in NA. It’s like people overlook the content of the argument and become hostile regardless of the content.

Whatever, that’s my two cents on the soap box.

I am still hopeful that we get a POHO. Maybe it was a ruse, by EM. But if every candidate walked away as it has been rumoured, it will surely make the league dig deeper. The other thing is maybe he really has no cash to pay anything above cap numbers. Regardless, I doubt we will see EM too much anymore ...but the damage is done. I figure it be another year without proper management.

The rudderless ship needs a keel first.

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

Most of my friends and surrounding area people are Detroit Lions fans, so I like consider myself an expert when evaluating mediocrity and terrible management. The Sens get my stamp of awful management/ownership approval.

 

[slamigo]

Even the most passionate season ticket holders I know are not happy with Melnyk. They see him as an just another element that is against the team, like injuries or something. They support the team but have completely isolated and compartmentalized ownership as “other” and separate from the team. It’s a bit odd but that’s how it is.
I have yet to hear one STH say that they hope Melnyk keeps the team. I think they view this period as a badge of honour almost. As in “I fully supported the Senators even throughout the Melnyk years and those were dark times”.

 

[BatherSeason]

The brand of the Ottawa Senators has tanked. That is the point of what I wrote.

It really is unbelievable, they can't even sell merchandise anymore since they failed to listen to the fans regarding the logo/jerseys. The brand is at its lowest point, which is absolutely crazy to think about. Imagine how different things could be in following the run to the ECF they actually marketed and branded the team properly and then went out and spent just a little bit of money to keep the team competitive. Then throw in the Lebreton deal and Melnyk had it made. This is all not even two years ago. Its crazy to think about how quickly he and smug Dorion drove this organization to its lowest point. It really is sad.

Imagine if Dorion would have just fired GB in December of 2017 things may be completely different. Instead, Melnyk was cheap and preferred to not pay another coach instead he kept a bad coach, who the players disliked (according to some) because of budget. Its nuts. Look what happened to St Louis this year..

 

[branch]

It happens every day. You spend your life playing sports and you end up hanging out and chatting with people that have done the same. Everyone has opinions....I just know a guy that sounds like the worst of what you read in here and people avoid him. The comical part of it is that people are to polite to tell him to shut up and stop constantly whining so they listen when trapped and the guy thinks they're in agreement with him.

Look I'm not saying people are walking around town thrilled. There's a lot of mixed feelings as I said. But there is a negativity amongst some in here that in my experience people try to avoid in real life. And I have a real life experience with it.

That doesn't just apply to hockey, that's life man. If you're negative all the time people don't want to be around you and listen to it.

Look man, this story is obviously made up. Just accept it and move on.

 

[branch]

There is zero evidence of that the majority of the fan base is as jaded. No way it is 90% as you are stating.

Stating it is that high shows the disconnect between reality and false statements.

If it was that bad the NHL would step in when it hit 50 or 60%. For sure.

I do not think the board has any relation to the overall spectrum of fans.

You also live in Toronto so to say you have your finger on the pulse enough to make a claim like this is borderline comical.

 

[branch]

I don't know a single Sens fan who is happy with the short-term outlook and isn't deeply concerned about ownership and management.

I don't include anyone on here and I know a lot of people who are Sens fans. Hell, the biggest Sens fan I knew essentially gave up on hockey altogether recently. I will grant you that most of them stay informed with what is going on, they are not typical "I watch games and never look into anything beyond that" fans who make up the strong majority of the fanbase.

Then you have absolutely terrible attendance. The team was selling out games in 2011 and we finished 5th worst that year: people believed in the rebuild that had been announced with the trades of fan favourites (and good players) like Mike Fisher.

You are fooling yourself if you don't think this team has a major branding issue these days.

Doesn't mean we have nothing to look forward to of course. That isn't the point however.

I too know several lifelong hockey fans who gave up on supporting the Senators and the NHL (going to games, watching games, showing any kind of interest) once all this shit started happening.

 

[MiscBrah]

There is zero evidence of that the majority of the fan base is as jaded. No way it is 90% as you are stating.

Stating it is that high shows the disconnect between reality and false statements.

If it was that bad the NHL would step in when it hit 50 or 60%. For sure.

I do not think the board has any relation to the overall spectrum of fans.

The NHL has stepped in. They are forcing the team to get a POHO.

You're trying to obfuscate the reality, which is that an overwhelming majority of fans are disenchanted with the team. Yes, not all of them are to the same degree, but to try and pretend that it's less than 50% of the fanbase is ridiculous.

 

[bert]

The NHL has stepped in. They are forcing the team to get a POHO.

You're trying to obfuscate the reality, which is that an overwhelming majority of fans are disenchanted with the team. Yes, not all of them are to the same degree, but to try and pretend that it's less than 50% of the fanbase is ridiculous.

Do you know this for certain? Its great news, I just havent seen anything concrete.

 

[slamigo]

The NHL has stepped in. They are forcing the team to get a POHO.

You're trying to obfuscate the reality, which is that an overwhelming majority of fans are disenchanted with the team. Yes, not all of them are to the same degree, but to try and pretend that it's less than 50% of the fanbase is ridiculous.

I think you’re both right. As weird as s it seems, even the people that are turning their back on the team are also simultaneously hoping for the team to change and are looking for any glimmer of hope. There is a crap ton of support out there but it’s being held in check by EM’s bizarre last 18 months or so.
I believe that an ownership change could help but only if new ownership behaved differently. So it’s not so much the owner as it is ownership behaviour.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

The NHL has stepped in. They are forcing the team to get a POHO.

To be fair, we don't know that for sure. I think it is as likely that management realized that the short staff is making things much more difficult than they have to be considering we essentially are a cap floor team.

It is to everyone's benefit to not have the Senators be run the way the way they have been since BMurr passed away. I have no trouble believing that the NHL head office wanted to help once they knew Melnyk wanted a PoHO rather than the head office calling Melnyk telling him to get one.

At the end of day here is what matters: we were told the team wanted to hire a PoHO and from the sound of it, none of the preferred candidates even entertained Melnyk and Dorion. We shall see what happens by summer's end but the optics still look bad, no matter who initiated the search/call for a PoHO.

 

[Joeyjoejoe]

Wonder how long Jesse Winchester and Clarke MacArthur is gonna last.

 

[FormentonTheFuture]

Wonder how long Jesse Winchester and Clarke MacArthur is gonna last.

Pretty sure Kelly wouldn’t be at dev camp right now if he had any ill will

 

[Qward]

Wasnt that the same reason why Alfy left the second time?

 

[Upgrayedd]

It's certainly not all encompassing but out of the roughly 2 dozen or so casual to die hard fans that I converse with weekly about the Sens, not a single one is currently content and universally point to the Melnyk factor, this includes current employees of the team. Worse case if and when we get new ownership is that we still have the worst owner in sports which seems unlikely, however anything beyond that is gravy for this fan base in my eyes.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Pretty sure Kelly wouldn’t be at dev camp right now if he had any ill will

It is business, there seldom is any ill will.

If Kelly wants to move up and make more money, the Sens are not the best fit. We are in full desperation, he isn't likely to be given much more responsibility very quickly. We need results but won't pay for it, so we go after experienced people who will accept being paid poorly in comparison to their peers for a chance to move up. Kelly is still pretty green when it comes to coaching; that and the word is he is excellent with the players so the opportunities should be aplenty if he doesn't stay in Belleville.

He's at camp because he likes being at camp but he knows the pastures are much greener and open elsewhere.

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

Little known tidbit Chris Kelly is actually single with no kids

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

Little known tidbit Chris Kelly is actually single with no kids

He was also raised by a pack of wolves just outside of Sudbury.

 

[Cosmix]

Even the most passionate season ticket holders I know are not happy with Melnyk. They see him as an just another element that is against the team, like injuries or something. They support the team but have completely isolated and compartmentalized ownership as “other” and separate from the team. It’s a bit odd but that’s how it is.
I have yet to hear one STH say that they hope Melnyk keeps the team. I think they view this period as a badge of honour almost. As in “I fully supported the Senators even throughout the Melnyk years and those were dark times”.

The first years were great when he bought and retained the team in Ottawa and when we had some success with Spezza, Heatley, etc. However in the past 2 years the team has hit bottom trading away its top level talent for much lesser players. The lies they tell are not helping them.

The sooner Melnyk sells the team to a new owner the better it should be. A clean slate of Hockey ops would then hopefully occur at the same time. Start anew. Try to win back the fans who have stopped going to games. Stop telling lies. Hire some experienced successful hockey ops management.

 

[Cosmix]

It really is unbelievable, they can't even sell merchandise anymore since they failed to listen to the fans regarding the logo/jerseys. The brand is at its lowest point, which is absolutely crazy to think about. Imagine how different things could be in following the run to the ECF they actually marketed and branded the team properly and then went out and spent just a little bit of money to keep the team competitive. Then throw in the Lebreton deal and Melnyk had it made. This is all not even two years ago. Its crazy to think about how quickly he and smug Dorion drove this organization to its lowest point. It really is sad.

Imagine if Dorion would have just fired GB in December of 2017 things may be completely different. Instead, Melnyk was cheap and preferred to not pay another coach instead he kept a bad coach, who the players disliked (according to some) because of budget. Its nuts. Look what happened to St Louis this year..

So firing Boucher and hiring anyone would make a huge difference ? Not in my mind. The problems start at the top and go deep into the Hockey Ops department. Boucher was not the right coach, following a long string of "not the right coaches" for many years now. But Boucher is not the Major problem; he is just the latest scapegoat!