The fallout from the death of Eugene Melnyk was always going to lead to this end. The family of the late Eugene Melnyk has announced that they are selling the Ottawa Senators, though they will demand that team stays in Canada.
Even though Eugene Melnyk and the Ottawa Senators fans relationship spiraled into a place of no-return during his final few years in charge, I’m sure none of them wanted him to go out in the manner that he did. Through all of his faults, Melnyk was a rather successful owner as he brought the Senators to numerous playoff berths (9), two Conference Finals appearances, and even a Stanely Cup Finals appearance back in 2006 (Sens lost 4-1 to Anaheim).
Plus, more importantly, Melnyk never committed the sacrilegious sin: moving the Senators out of Ottawa.
Sure, there was a time that it seemed like Melnyk was going to commit the sin of moving the Senators out of Ottawa, but he never did. Even when there were far more marketable and profitable locations begging for a hockey team down in the US, Melnyk held firm and kept the team in Canada’s capital.
Easily, when he first bought the team back in 2003, Melnyk could have packed up the Sens and moved them to the US or another part of Canada as the Senators were on the verge of going bust.
Despite reaching the Stanely Cup Conference Finals, the team was hemorrhaging cash under the previous owner and was only saved from another disgraceful downfall (the first coming in 1954 when the original Ottawa Senators went under) by Melnyk.
Yes, Melnyk went off the deep end during his final years and plunged the Senators into cap hell with his stupid trades/free agent acquisitions, but I don’t think these recent dark days should overshadow the light that Melnyk originally brought to this club. I’m not diminishing his faults when I say that, but rather I hope he is remembered with nuance.
Anyway, the news today was inevitable. The Melnyk family already expressed their desire to move on from hockey, and especially so after Eugene’s death. I’m not sure who will be on the running for buying the Sens, though I’m glad that the new owners will not be able to move the franchise out of Ottawa.
There are already too little hockey teams in the country that invented the sport, so it would have been a great shame if the Melnyk family had allowed the new owners to move the team.
Thankfully, they did not as they have honored the memory of their late patriarch and have kept his promise to the Senators fans.
