Yost on Melnyk's finances, Citizen post 181

[SilverSeven]

It's funny that some are so quick to say it was all ******** from Yost, even though it's quite possible that today's quotes re. the budget could just as easily be a response from Melnyk to avoid negative publicity and placate fans. The reality may very well be somewhere between.

Well, the horses mouth is a lot more of a reliable source than a blogger at the worst hockey rumour site on the web, fabricating rumours with no evidence.

 

[SilverSeven]

I disagree about Gonchar, he was the best defenseman available that year. At the time it was speculated that he came to Ottawa because they gave him the third year when other teams were offering 2

Which shows:

a) how sought after he was....we had to sign him to a "worse" contract for us to get him.

b) that the team is willing to spend on UFAs....even if they have to go pay above what a "good" contract would be.

 

[Stylizer1]

What Yost had said may still not be wrong, it just isn't as dire as he is presenting.

How people are so convinced because Murray makes a comment shouldn't change the fact that to this point we still haven't improved this team the way we have been led to believe from previous comments by management. They still want to build from within for the most part and are in the running for Clarkson. Does he push us over the top, no, but is he an improvement, yes.

If targeting Clarkson was the grand idea of management from the start I really hope he lives up to expectations.

 

[Powdered Toast Man]

I'm pretty sure the General Manager is usually the guy with the plan and the team captain is usually the guy who skates around and shoots that hard black thing. I doubt Alfredsson has any legitimate pull in regards to acquiring exterior player personnel.

 

[sg58]

Well, the horses mouth is a lot more of a reliable source than a blogger at the worst hockey rumour site on the web, fabricating rumours with no evidence.

While his blog is certainly affiliated with that crap, he does nothing of the sort himself. Good writer, and in this case - as always - he used numbers and facts to draw intelligent conclusions. It's not like it was a nonsense text about stuff he had heard somewhere.

It'll be interesting to see if anything will open up from this at all, because it would seem like traditional media decided it would hurt more than help to dig into this at all.

Edit: Well, Citizen just started knocking on that door.

 

[danishh]

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/sports/Melnyk+costly+stock+trades/8618252/story.html

Melnyk’s costly (stock) trades

Senators’ owner drawing from a more limited pool of cash

As the Ottawa Senators try to lock down players’ contracts for next season, it’s no secret that team owner Eugene Melnyk is feeling less flush than he used to.

The signs are many. The team’s annual salary bill will likely run about $50 million — significantly below the $64-million cap that determines the upper limit for players’ wages. Unless, of course, Melnyk shells out millions for free agents. This seems a long shot, though. Melnyk has been urging Senators president Cyril Leeder for many months to keep close watch on the Senators’ operating expenses.

[...]
Melnyk has also been liquidating some of his other business interests. A year ago, he sold his Junior A hockey club, the St. Michael’s Majors. More recently, he slashed his personal stake in his latest biotech venture — Trimel Pharmaceuticals — to less than 27 per cent from 64 per cent.

And, last month, Melnyk unexpectedly terminated a 15-year marketing agreement with Scotiabank eight years early. While the deal did allow for such a possibility, insiders thought it significant that Melnyk had approached the Senators’ new partner, Canadian Tire Corp., and not the other way around.

 

[MarkZackKarl]

Can someone explain to my why the Sens have over $100 million in debt? What, if anything, did Melnyk pay for the team and arena in 2003? From what I remember, the arena was sold for like 25 million, and team around 80 million.

I know he's made some large investments over the years like buying a new scoreboard etc., but what other debt could the team possibly be incurring unless Melnyk barely paid any out of pocket cash for them and is accruing interest etc.

Don't get it.

 

[Senscore]

Turns out t-shirt cannons are SUPER expensive.

 

[Zorf]

Why are people constantly harping on the lower budget. THE TEAM HAS BEEN IN REBUILD MODE! What type of idiot owner would spend to the cap when his team is rebuilding?

Let's all take a breath and wait and see what happens in the next couple years as the team transitions out of rebuild mode and into contender mode.

Melnyk has already given the green light to spend what Alfie wants and to pursue a free agent. The purse steings are clearly loosening up.

Everyone relax.

 

[The Lewler]

Interesting now that the finance angle has been broached by the mainstream media.

Whether some people like it or not, Yost had a part in that.

 

[Zorf]

Can someone explain to my why the Sens have over $100 million in debt? What, if anything, did Melnyk pay for the team and arena in 2003? From what I remember, the arena was sold for like 25 million, and team around 80 million.

I know he's made some large investments over the years like buying a new scoreboard etc., but what other debt could the team possibly be incurring unless Melnyk barely paid any out of pocket cash for them and is accruing interest etc.

Don't get it.

He bought the team for such a low amount because he assumed a metric ton of debt. On top of that there's all sorts of reasons to keep the team in debt. He could be using the franchise to borrow money at a low interest rate which is then being used to invest to increase earnings elsewhere.

I think there are also tax reasons to keep a certain debt load.

People freak because $100m is a huge amount of debt, but it's really not something that would concern Melnyk too much.

 

[Senscore]

Why are people constantly harping on the lower budget. THE TEAM HAS BEEN IN REBUILD MODE! What type of idiot owner would spend to the cap when his team is rebuilding?

Let's all take a breath and wait and see what happens in the next couple years as the team transitions out of rebuild mode and into contender mode.

Melnyk has already given the green light to spend what Alfie wants and to pursue a free agent. The purse steings are clearly loosening up.

Everyone relax.

That remains to be seen.

 

[The Fuhr*]

sounds like a bunch of people are eating crow...

 

[Leachman]

sounds like a bunch of people are eating crow...

What crow, for what? There is no news in that article; it is rehashed and unrelated information on the heels of bad blog posts.

This whole "issue" is mindless noise.

 

[StefanW]

What crow, for what? There is no news in that article; it is rehashed and unrelated information on the heels of bad blog posts.

This whole "issue" is mindless noise.

Not sure what you mean by "bad blog posts." The information in the blog post, and in this article, is accurate and very relevant to the future direction of the franchise. If by bad you mean you don't want to read about this type of stuff then don't read it.

 

[Quo]

There really isn't anything new in the Citizen article. It's essentially the same brand of speculation as the Yost post. Murray has already contradicted the basic premise that his hands are tied and the estimated $50M internal salary cap is highly suspect.

This is also not new but since I don't think it's completely fruitless to investigate the matter I thought I'd share...

PurGenesis is not shuttered president insists

Between 2008 and 2012, PurGenesis received $3 million in federal loans
...
Besides taxpayer money, Boulet said he and Melnyk have sunk considerable personal savings into the company: $500,000 by Boulet, another $500,000 from his siblings, and $13 million from Melnyk.

But it’s the public money that’s under scrutiny now.

Incidently, Melnyk's personal wealth was estimated to be $973M in this article by Macleans from this January concerning the same issue reported on in the Gazette. They tallied the federal and provincial loans to PurGenesis up to $8.2M not the $3M reported by the Gazette. (The Gazette seems to have a firmer foundation for their numbers, citing the numbers for each year and the source.)

It's pretty bleak news surrounding PurGenesis (their website has apparently gone from "under construction" to "suspended" and their tax exemption expires in 2014 so they might wanna get moving).

The fact is though, Melnyk et al. aren't lying when they say that it is the nature of the pharmaceutical business to have a long, drawn out (read costly) development process.

Melnyk's other venture, Trimel, is similarly caught up in the process of FDA screening. They are currently heavily invested in the development of two drugs, CompleoTRT, a male-hormone enhancing drug, and Trefina, what's been called "the female viagra". Of the two only Compleo is relatively close to being available on the market having submitted their final application to the FDA. Trefina is still in stage II trials. That one though, could net a jackpot.

Combine this with PurGenesis's apparent stagnation (the Macleans article mentions one drug in stage II of FDA screening) and perhaps it's taking a bit longer than Melnyk expected to see some returns on his investments.

 

[HavlatMach9]

Get well (read: richer) soon Melnyk.

 

[Inf4mous0ne]

Yeah, that Citizen article is the exact same speculation that was in Yosts' article. Don't know why people are getting excited about it. This whole off-season is getting really annoying with both the Alfie over-reaction and now this stuff.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Turns out t-shirt cannons are SUPER expensive.

They kill so the cost of insuring them is off the charts (Simpsons FTW!)

There really isn't anything new in the Citizen article. It's essentially the same brand of speculation as the Yost post. Murray has already contradicted the basic premise that his hands are tied and the estimated $50M internal salary cap is highly suspect.

This is also not new but since I don't think it's completely fruitless to investigate the matter I thought I'd share...

PurGenesis is not shuttered president insists



Incidently, Melnyk's personal wealth was estimated to be $973M in this article by Macleans from this January concerning the same issue reported on in the Gazette. They tallied the federal and provincial loans to PurGenesis up to $8.2M not the $3M reported by the Gazette. (The Gazette seems to have a firmer foundation for their numbers, citing the numbers for each year and the source.)

It's pretty bleak news surrounding PurGenesis (their website has apparently gone from "under construction" to "suspended" and their tax exemption expires in 2014 so they might wanna get moving).

The fact is though, Melnyk et al. aren't lying when they say that it is the nature of the pharmaceutical business to have a long, drawn out (read costly) development process.

Melnyk's other venture, Trimel, is similarly caught up in the process of FDA screening. They are currently heavily invested in the development of two drugs, CompleoTRT, a male-hormone enhancing drug, and Trefina, what's been called "the female viagra". Of the two only Compleo is relatively close to being available on the market having submitted their final application to the FDA. Trefina is still in stage II trials. That one though, could net a jackpot.

Combine this with PurGenesis's apparent stagnation (the Macleans article mentions one drug in stage II of FDA screening) and perhaps it's taking a bit longer than Melnyk expected to see some returns on his investments.

I like you

We need more people like you

 

[pepty]

Paul Rutherford ‏@parottawa 2h
Eugene Melnyk writes letter to Ottawans. Says city is not following casino process. Seeks support. #OttNews http://*******/19XGbNK

Retweeted by Bruce Garrioch

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

Viagra for females? That's his investment? Well were doomed.

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

Paul Rutherford ‏@parottawa 2h
Eugene Melnyk writes letter to Ottawans. Says city is not following casino process. Seeks support. #OttNews http://*******/19XGbNK

Retweeted by Bruce Garrioch

Apparently Eugene found the rod bryden Playbook when he took over.

 

[HavlatMach9]

Paul Rutherford ‏@parottawa 2h
Eugene Melnyk writes letter to Ottawans. Says city is not following casino process. Seeks support. #OttNews http://*******/19XGbNK

Retweeted by Bruce Garrioch

politics ehhh,

 

[Stylizer1]

Viagra for females? That's his investment? Well were doomed.

 

[Quo]

Viagra for females? That's his investment?

And a spinach based anti-inflammatory.

They say the science is good!