SENS SEVERANCE PACKAGES
Leeder, others to get continuances
The Ottawa Senators have reached severance agreements with several former club executives, including longtime president and co-founder Cyril Leeder, the Citizen has learned.
A notable exception is former chief marketing officer Peter O’Leary, who filed a $1.55-million lawsuit against the hockey club and its owner, Eugene Melnyk. O’Leary was fired by Melnyk on Dec. 12, 2016, according to O’Leary’s statement of claim filed in Ontario Superior Court earlier this year.
Leeder, who was fired by Melnyk in late January, declined to comment on the severance negotiations, which were completed earlier this summer on a case-by-case basis. It’s believed that confidentiality agreements were part of each deal.
“We made changes to the executive leadership at the Senators last year for the purpose of revitalizing the internal team and enabling it to succeed in difficult market conditions. The changes we made were painful but necessary,” Melnyk said in a statement.
“We have reached mutually satisfactory arrangements with all parties except one which was Mr. O’Leary who was terminated for cause. Mr. O’Leary’s case is before the court and as a result we cannot comment further.”
Unless the O’Leary case goes to trial, the severances should put to rest a turbulent 2016-17 inside the office walls of the Canadian Tire Centre. The Senators can only hope for a more stable office environment in the coming season.
In contrast to the Senators’ surprisingly smooth run to the 2017 Eastern Conference final, the scene inside the club offices was turbulent, messy and ripe with carnage.
Beyond Leeder, fans were largely unaware of the turmoil within. They were more struck by a departure beyond the front office, post-season, when franchise icon Daniel Alfredsson chose to leave the hockey club for a second time, citing a need to be with his family.
Alfredsson had been employed as senior adviser of hockey operations. He first left the team as a player in 2013 to sign a contract with the Detroit Red Wings. After some fencemending by then-general manager Bryan Murray, Alfredsson signed a symbolic one-day contract to officially retire as an Ottawa Senator in December 2014. Alfredsson had his No. 11 jersey retired by the Senators on Dec. 29, 2016.
Pleasant public ceremonies for Alfredsson and Murray, the first inductee into the club’s Ring of Honour, helped paper over the unrest within. On the very day Murray was honoured, Leeder was fired. Murray died last month, leaving a void that can’t be filled. He died of colon cancer while serving as a senior adviser to new GM Pierre Dorion. Murray also played a vital role as buffer between the owner and hockey management.
Between August 2016 and the middle reaches of the 2016-17 NHL season, the mercurial Melnyk fired virtually his entire executive team, including Leeder, O’Leary, chief financial officer Ken Taylor, broadcast VP Jim Steel (like Leeder, an original Senators staffer), general counsel Wendy Kelley and director of human resources Sandi Horner.
According to sources, all of the out-of-court severances reached with the individual parties involve a “salary continuance” rather than a lump-sum payout. Each arrangement had to be painstakingly negotiated, including those of executives who had contracts spelling out terms of departure — namely Leeder, O’Leary and Taylor. Those negotiations took months, but Melnyk at least managed to avoid a messy court case against the likes of Leeder, one of the most respected sports execs the region has known.
O’Leary’s lawsuit, made public in this newspaper in March, shed light on a dysfunctional office cowering in Melnyk’s presence, according to the allegations in the statement of claim. O’Leary said that Melnyk “at times used profanity and leveled insults at executive team members, including constantly calling into question their competency. Mr. Melnyk sent abusive emails to the executive team and frequently threatened to dismiss them.”
Melnyk was especially miffed about game ticket sales, which he deemed a “dismal failure” in a memo to all executives with the club.
According to O’Leary’s claim, his contract terms included a base salary of $285,000 per year, with increases at financial year-end in 2016 and 2017, as well as bonuses, health benefits and perks.
Leeder often went to bat for O’Leary, stepping in to ensure a late bonus was paid.
Among his claims, O’Leary is seeking $650,000 in wages (in lieu of 24 months dismissal notice); $200,000 in unpaid bonuses; $200,000 in damages for breach of faith as well as punitive and exemplary damages of $500,000. None of the allegations or claims has been tested in court.
A lawyer representing O’Leary declined to comment on the matter. No court date has been set in the case, and it’s believed both sides are trying to settle out of court.
The front office departures didn’t end with the hockey season. Just last month, chief financial officer Stephen Brooks left the Senators. Brooks had replaced Taylor last summer, becoming the club’s third CFO since January 2015, when Erin Crowe left the position after 18 years with the organization. Crowe had been an executive vicepresident and alternate governor.
Tom Anselmi, the former MLSE executive hired as president and CEO to replace Leeder, will begin his first full season as the club’s top executive just as the Senators prepare to be a major player in the plans to develop LeBreton Flats, with the promise of a new NHL arena close to downtown.
Leeder, meanwhile, is mainly busy with charitable ventures these days. He has joined several not-forprofit groups, including Hydro Ottawa’s board of directors and the Investment Partners Fund. He is also an elected member of the board of governors at Hamilton’s McMaster University, his alma mater.