Karlsson reveals he was expecting a former Senator to stop the trade to San Jose.

Former Ottawa Senators superstar Erik Karlsson continued his troubled season last night, this time in front of a crowd that had spent the last several years cheering him on in Ottawa. The San Jose Sharks defenseman's returns to Ottawa was not the one he had been hoping for however and instead turned into another night of disappointment in what has been a rather underwhelming season for Karlsson overall. 

Karlsson had to watch as one of the players he was traded for, Mikkel Boedker, went off for 4 points on the evening leading the Senators, leading the team Karlsson once captained, to a 6 - 2 victory over a man many once considered the greatest player in the short history of the Senators franchise. It had to be a bitter sweet evening for Karlsson who was returning to the city for the first time since a ton of controversy surrounded him in Ottawa, and it had to be especially so because for Karlsson it was a moment he once thought would never come. 

In a very interesting article leading up to last night's game Ottawa Senators reporter Don Brennan revealed that the Swedish superstar never believed that the trade would actually come to pass. Interestingly enough Karlsson, like many who have been closing following the rumors floating around the Senators, believed that another ownership group would make a power play to buy the franchise and oust Eugene Melnyk as owner of the Senators franchise.

From Brennan:

He never wanted to leave Ottawa, or at least that’s what he led people to believe. Days before the start of Senators training camp, he apparently told friends he wasn’t going anywhere, that Eugene Melnyk was selling the team, Daniel Alfredsson was joining the new ownership group and he would be signing a new, long-term deal.

Now while that may sound crazy let me assure you that it is not. It's no secret that both political and business interests in Ottawa have aligned against Eugene Melnyk in an effort to encourage him to sell the team and in fact things have gotten so serious on that front that Melnyk is now suing a former business partner for over $700 million. Alfredsson was on record earlier this year making comments regarding both his and Ottawa mayor Jim Watson's distaste for Melnyk as Senators owner and I truly do believe that there have been attempts on Alfredsson's part to buy the team as part of a larger ownership group.

Certainly not a story that is likely to endear fans to Melnyk anymore than they already are.