Owner’s playoff ‘bet’ pays off for Senators
Eugene Melnyk had a decision to make before the trade deadline.
The Senators owner chose to back his team.
Ottawa general manager Pierre Dorion made two significant moves before the dealing was done at the March 1 NHL trade deadline by acquiring wingers Alex Burrows from the Vancouver Canucks and Viktor Stalberg from the Carolina Hurricanes to help give his team much-needed depth to make the post-season.
That took a big commitment from Melnyk, who agreed to add US$2.5 million to the payroll.
“There’s a certain point in the season as an owner where you need to make a bet,” Melnyk told Postmedia on Friday. “You either bet for the team going into the playoffs and (moving) on further as far as you can and hopefully to a Stanley Cup and when you get there everything is up in the air — you’re now in the Stanley Cup final and it’s got its own dynamic.
“Or you bet against the team and you say, ‘You know what? Let’s save as much money as we can. We’re going to have to revamp this team. That’s three of four years we’re not in the playoffs, we’ve got to change.’ I can’t fire any more coaches; we’ve done enough of that, so then you’ve got to really stick your hands into it and say, ‘Let’s go through every single player and see why this person is going to get us a Stanley Cup next year.’ “I made the bet for the team.” But Melnyk also said he has had a first-hand look at what makes this team tick.
He sat down with Mike Condon in the midst of the goaltender’s 27 consecutive appearances and also spoke by phone with Craig and Nicholle Anderson to make sure everything was OK with her fight against a rare form of throat cancer before the team’s No. 1 netminder returned in January. Recently, Melnyk had a call with Clarke and Jessica MacArthur before the veteran forward returned after missing almost an entire season dealing with post-concussion syndrome.
“I sit down with these people one on one because I want to hear their story,” Melnyk said. “I was concerned about Condon when he played Game 14 in a row. I said, ‘Listen, you will crack because I’ve seen it far too often,’ and he said, ‘No, no,’ and he told me all the things he does not to crack. Luckily he didn’t.” Why did he bet on this group? “I saw that we really had a functional team,” Melnyk said. “I saw that we had the players, unlike other years, in line with the coach. Some tested him and said, ‘I can do it my way,’ and that very quickly got extinguished. I think (coach) Guy (Boucher) has the room, he’s got them under lock and key as far as listening and they have bought into his system.
“By the way, it happens to work; he’s on to something. They play as a team and they’ve got each other’s backs. I saw it all the way back to the outpouring for (Nicholle). That’s real team spirit. Now they’re fighting for a whole slew of things. To me, it was all in the spirit of those players and the management of those players.” bgarrioch@postmedia.com Twitter: @sungarrioch