Melnyk sanguine on arena talks

Owner wants downtown digs

Eugene Melnyk is hopeful negotiations with the National Capital Commission on the development of LeBreton Flats will be completed before the end of the year, and he has repeated that getting a downtown arena is paramount.

The Senators owner, speaking on Hockey Central at Noon on Wednesday, indicated talks with the NCC are ongoing and he’s optimistic they will get everything in place to begin building the new arena just west of the downtown core.

“We have to be respectful of the process so I’ve got to be careful,” Melnyk said. “But I’m hoping that this is negotiated throughout this year and completed this year. It’s got to be, and then we move to a very rapid process of getting approvals and building. It’s going to be gorgeous.”

Melnyk said when he bought the team in 2003, he couldn’t do anything about the Canadian Tire Centre being in Kanata.

“I bought the team out of bankruptcy and that’s where the arena was, and that’s what I bought,” Melnyk said. “But we need to move things downtown, if it’s Ottawa it’s got to be downtown.”

Melnyk wouldn’t blame the attendance struggles early in the season on the location of the rink, though.

“The early part of the season, we had a bizarre schedule that somebody dropped the ball on — not at the NHL, at our place — that didn’t notice that we had (a lot of games) in November,” Melnyk said. “People get fatigue and there’s only so many games you can go to. Now, we’re selling out.

“We’re doing well now. It was that early part (of the season) when I saw empty seats I was about to throw up.”

Melnyk said the Ottawa market has changed.

“People who know the suburbs of Ottawa, this is out there, a solid 30-minute drive from downtown ... It’s tough when you start comparing it to getting a cheap (case of beer) and kicking back with your friends ... versus driving 45 minutes and then driving back 45 minutes.”