Anselmi out as president and CEO of Senators
Former MLSE executive in role for just one year WE THANK TOM FOR HIS CONTRIBUTIONS AND WISH HIM ALL THE BEST IN HIS FUTURE ENDEAVOURS.
TORON TO • While general manager Pierre Dorion has been charged with getting the Ottawa Senators back to respectability, president Tom Anselmi is no longer with the National Hockey League organization.
On a day when the Senators said they were going to make changes on the ice to try to get back to the playoffs, they announced that Anselmi had left his role as president after little more than a year. He had replaced Cyril Leeder on Jan. 25, 2017.
Hired to help guide the club through the development project at LeBreton Flats, Anselmi — who once led the massive Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment group — may have resigned, but this was likely a mutual parting of the ways.
“We thank Tom for his contributions and wish him all the best in his future endeavours,” the Senators said in a media release to announce Dorion’s contract extension.
The RendezVous Le Breton group received the green light to continue negotiations to build a new downtown arena with the National Capital Commission on Jan. 26, but Anselmi wasn’t at that announcement and owner Eugene Melnyk represented the Senators with partner John Ruddy of Trinity Developments.
RendezVous LeBreton has an agreement in principle to build at LeBreton, but it must negotiate the final details with the NCC before work can begin.
The two sides will spend 12-18 months trying to finalize negotiations that will allow for construction of a downtown arena, an abilities centre, hotels, restaurants and condominiums, all part of the $4-billion project.
Anselmi had also been brought in to help try to get Senators ticket sales back on track, but that hasn’t occurred. The Senators tarped off 1,500 seats at Canadian Tire Centre before this season, lowering the arena’s capacity to 17,153.
Through 28 home games, the Senators have averaged 15,974 fans, which is about 87 per cent of capacity. They didn’t sell out any of their home playoff games last spring after averaged 16,744 in 41 home games, which was also close to 87 per cent of capacity.
There was no word on a potential replacement for Anselmi.