MELNYK SHOOTS FROM THE LIP
Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk has never shied away from expressing his opinion, even when it’s controversial. Here are the top lines from the league’s most quotable owner over the last 10 years, presented in chronological order.
“I’ve been a hockey fan since I was a kid. In this case my interest is, I don’t want to see a Canadian team going south of the border. It isn’t going to happen. My motivation is different than a lot of others, when I bought St. Michael’s (Majors Junior A team) it wasn’t because I needed an OHL team. The team was in trouble, the team had a fantastic history, and I just wanted to make sure it survived.” — Jan. 31, 2003, shortly after his name surfaced as a potential buyer for the financially distressed Senators.
“We’re gonna kill them.” — Apr. 19, 2004, on his team’s chances in a Game 7 matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs during his first playoff run as an owner. The Senators were crushed 4-1 two nights later and wound up firing head coach Jacques Martin and shipping goalie Patrick Lalime out of town as a result.
“I didn’t buy this team to be satisfied with being close. We’re going to be the best damn hockey team this city has ever seen.” — June 9, 2004, following an introductory press conference with new head coach Bryan Murray. Murray would later supplant John Muckler to take over as general manager.
“The worst-case scenario has happened. We planned for it and prepared for it, but it’s certainly not something we expected. This is unprecedented. It’s not acceptable.” — Feb. 16, 2005, the day the National Hockey League announced the entire season would be cancelled due to a lockout.
“It’s unusual for me to make a call like this, but after reading all the stories about personnel changes and me firing this person and that person, I kind of feel like I’ve been painted as the Angel of Death.” — Nov. 16, 2006, on a conference call to calm fan anxiety over a poor start for his team. The Senators would go on to make the Stanley Cup final that season.
“What we’d like is to come up with something so he is a Senator for life. We have to be realistic about what we can do and where the economy is headed. We’ll see what happens.” — Oct. 1, 2008. What happened was “he” — Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson — wound up signing a four-year deal with the Senators that would take him all the way to age 40. As the city was stunned to find out last month, however, it wasn’t enough to clinch the Senator For Life title.
“I think the media is going to call this a miracle turnaround, not me. To me, I know where we’re going. We’re going to grind out every game. But I can see those headlines come March, ‘big miracle turnaround,’ and all that.” — Dec. 22, 2008. Alas, the Senators would continue to struggle and miss the playoffs for the first time in 12 seasons. Other predictions — “Don’t get the BBQ out till mid-June” (the previous season) and “buckle up, we’re going all the way this year!” (2010) — also went awry.
“Anybody that says we should blow up this organization should get their own bomb and go blow themselves up, OK? This is not an organization that is completely crippled. It needs fine-tuning. It needs some tweaking. It needs a player here, a player there, a few good bounces and that’s it. But we’re nowhere near that type of environment.” — Jan. 28, 2009, at a media availability in Ottawa
“There’s other teams out there that should just tear apart their team and turn it into a five-year plan, but they’re not going to do it. But we learned the hard way — and that’s the only way to do it — and that is to rid yourself of some very ... expensive older players that just aren’t producing to what their expectations are.” — Feb. 20, 2012, on the rationale behind the decision to hold a trade deadline fire sale the season before. In the same interview, he opined that Erik Karlsson would “go down as one of the great defencemen of all time.” Karlsson would win the Norris Trophy as the league’s top defender that summer — just in time to negotiate a new deal with the Senators. — James Gordon, Ottawa Citizen