BACK TO THE FUTURE
Sens owner Eugene Melnyk’s strong words sounded eerily similar to those of Rod Bryden years ago
No disrespect to the Minnesota Wild, but there just wasn’t the same buzz in the city for their appearance on the ice here Tuesday.
Clearly, we’re all still coming to terms with all the great, bad and ugly from the outdoor weekend that was — and we probably will be for quite some time now.
We’ll start with the brilliant concept of the alumni game on Parliament Hill, a picture perfect postcard that played out better than anyone could have imagined. Until, that is, Senators owner Eugene Melnyk steered the positive attention in a negative direction, bringing back painful memories of the past and fears for the future — threatening relocation of the franchise and/or a slicing of the club’s payroll because of declining attendance.
It was enough to make an observer actually feel sympathy for NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. He thought he was coming here for a photo-op lay-up, but ended up spending his weekend trying to douse the flames, talking about league by-laws that will kick in if the Melnyk moving threats become more real.
Now imagine you were one of those alumni players, having lived through the financially turbulent ownership days of Bruce Firestone and then Rod Bryden. You return to Ottawa, maybe a generation removed from your days in the NHL, wondering what has changed around the city and with the franchise.
Instead, Melnyk must have sounded like The Grinch — er, Ghost — from Christmas Past. Or was this a scene from Hot Tub Time
Machine or some other back-to-the-future classic?
Almost 15 years after Melnyk bought the team and the then-named Corel Centre for $127 million, the words sounded awfully familiar.
Today, there are countless hints, allegations and things left unsaid about Melnyk’s mounting debt load. He has acknowledged the club is operating with a razor-thin management staff. Yet while the rumblings of Devcore Canderel DLS looming in the background continue to grow, he insists he’ll never sell.
Now reach back into the memory banks.
The current situation isn’t yet so dire as back on New Year’s Day 2003, when the players didn’t get paid. But it’s intriguing to recall the complex financing package Bryden tried to arrange to keep the house of cards from falling in on itself.
“We went through a lot through our years here, most of us,” former captain Daniel Alfredsson said when the Senators of old first arrived in Ottawa last weekend. “We shared a lot of great memories. We were a closeknit team for a lot of years. We were always kind of like the underdog, trying to overachieve every year. And most of the time, I thought we did.”
Let’s recall the words from coach Jacques Martin.
“You’ve got to learn to put those things aside,” he said. “Our players have been good as far as keeping their focus and looking at the task at hand.”
In the first four weeks of 2003, in the midst of that financial crisis, the Senators won nine of 13 games. They were at the top of the standings.
Perhaps this is a stretch, but maybe, just maybe, the current edition of the Senators can also use Melnyk’s situation as some type of rallying cry to get back into contention for a playoff spot.
The 2002-03 squad was far more talented than the 2016-17 team, but there’s no doubt that the Senators have once again been cast as underdogs around the NHL, a low-budget team with a fickle fan base.
We don’t often compare close-to-the-vest former coach Martin to current talka-mile-a-minute coach Guy Boucher, but they are on the same page when dealing with financial distractions.
“We didn’t even talk about it,” Boucher said on Monday. “That’s just something that stays on the outside. It’s not going to help our power play or the penalty killing. I don’t go there. That’s above me and outside me.”
In keeping with the theme of yesterday and today, current captain Erik Karlsson — Alfredsson’s close personal friend — is also doing his best to not talk about the current financial situation.
After he received a slap on the wrist for opening up about his contract future a few weeks ago, he was decidedly less outspoken in the lead up to facing Minnesota.
“Whatever (Melnyk) chooses to say is on him,” Karlsson said. “We just worry about showing up wherever we’re told to.”
There are, of course, differences between today’s Senators from the latter-day Senators.
For all the annual losses Melnyk is dealing with, the value of all NHL teams continues to grow. Last month, Forbes Magazine estimated the value of the franchise at $420 million US — or $540 million Canadian. With a potential new arena on the LeBreton Flats horizon, a new ownership group could go well above that to gain control of the team.
Both Bettman and Karlsson are bullish about that arena project eventually being completed at LeBreton Flats. Eventually.
Before that happens, though, there figure to be countless more twists and turns in the Senators saga.
Who knows? When a new building is finally ready for the Senators, perhaps it will be time for the current players to return for an alumni game.
kwarren@postmedia.com @Citizenkwarren