48 hours. He lasted less than 48hrs until he made headlines for all the wrong reasons once more this off season. With the Senators wrapping up their season on a high following a 4-3 overtime victory against the Leafs this week, Sens fans were riding a crest of positive outlooks, and optimism for next season and beyond. Sentiments that have been missing from the nation’s capital for the last few seasons as Ottawa entered its rebuild years.
Finally the kids are playing, the team is gelling, how could anyone NOT root for the Ottawa Senators? And then owner Eugene Melnyk reminded us Friday morning once more why people can sleep easy at night not supporting his team. In a lengthy investigative piece by the CBC (full article can be found here) it was revealed that Melnyk (or at least his associates) are embroiled in yet another lawsuit. This time, the matter revolves around such a first world problem during a global pandemic it makes you wonder how even someone as tone deaf as Melnyk would view this as a worthwhile venture given the landscape.
The Coles Notes version of the story is that Melnyk rented a $500,000 per week superyacht to tour his family around the Carribean during the holidays. Evidently he and his associates did not have a good time (despite guest book entries indicating otherwise) and elected to sue the boat company and the captain for the usual list of “emotional damages” and the like, suffered as a result.
It would be one thing if Melnyk was the victim of circumstances and happened to be embroiled in some sort of vendetta against him, or hostile takeover “smear campaign”. But in nearly every instance where he makes the headlines, he appears to be the one pouring the gasoline, striking the match, and starting the fire, only to be befuddled why there’s public push back. The matter can truly be boiled down to the following solution: just stop suing people.
It was stated above, but it bears repeating once more that this is an “opinion piece”, it is my opinion on the matter after reading the CBC article. I have not reached out to Mr. Melnyk for comment, nor do I particularly care for his take on the matter because frankly this is merely another addition to the long list of social missteps during his time as owner of the Senators franchise. I restate this, simply because I wouldn’t put it past him to launch some sort of defamation suit against the website or myself after reading this. One almost needs a calculator to keep track of how many current lawsuits Melnyk has on the go at the moment. It does however beg the question, what role does the NHL have when it comes to managing it’s owners?
The short answer is none. This is the same league who broke off it’s partnership with the Hockey Diversity Alliance in October of 2020 at the height of racial tensions in the States. This is the same league that to this day refuses to admit any link between repeated brain trauma and CTE. And this is the same league whose commissioner (Gary Bettman) is merely the face of the “old boys club” charged with doing the owners’ bidding as opposed to making any kind of real changes to the game for the better.
A blueprint exists to remove an owner from a franchise, albeit it was done by a league that prides itself on being progressive rather than reactive to matters, the NBA. If you’d like to relive the Donald Sterling, Los Angeles Clippers fiasco, you can read Adam Silver’s full statements on the matter here. It’s a privilege to own a professional sports team, not a right. Professional sports owners are essentially the North American version of royalty this side of the Atlantic. Just like how every uber wealthy billionaire in Europe doesn’t get to be a Prince, or Duchess, not every member of the upper 0.01% gets to own a pro sports team.
If the league stepped in and said “enough is enough” with Melnyk, there’s precedent there where he could be forced to sell the franchise. Unfortunately, unlike Donald Sterling, who at that point was happy to slink out of the spotlight and not put up much of a fight, it’s a fairly good bet that based on his past that Melnyk wouldn’t be quite so acquiescing. Which is why the league is more likely to bury its head in the sand than to take any kind of public stand against Melnyk, regardless of how much of a thorn in their side he may be.
Yet for someone who clearly craves the spotlight, and wants to be viewed as a big player in the larger markets (often choosing to go on Toronto Sports radio as opposed to a station in his own backyard), being in a smaller market like Ottawa is perhaps the best thing Melnyk has going for him at the moment. Could you imagine the uproar all the headlines Melnyk has made in the last 5 years would have caused if he was owner of the Leafs, Blackhawks, or Rangers? Three major media markets, who have had their share of bad owners over the years. One has to wonder where Melnyk would rank in the Harold Ballard, James Dolan, Bill Wirtz trifecta of infuriating owners.
Fans at this point have reached their wits end with Melnyk’s antics. Some have vowed to no longer attend Senators games until the franchise is sold. Others have erected billboards with #MelnykOut splashed across them around town. But aside from voicing their displeasure with ownership, there’s not much they can do. There would be no shortage of deep-pocketed individuals who would be interested in purchasing an NHL franchise if/when Melnyk ever sold the club. Yet Eugene has publicly stated numerous times he has no intention of selling.
At this point, the best hope for fans is that once the final Seattle expansion fee cheques clear, that Melnyk perhaps changes his tune. Until then, it’s all but assured that we haven’t heard the last of Eugene Melnyk and his offseason antics. Which is truly a shame given the on ice product his team has finally put together. While the hockey future of the Ottawa Senators seems as bright as ever, the ownership side remains a muddled future at best.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner