Rumor: Political and business interests in Ottawa attempting to force out Melnyk.

Big trouble for the Ottawa owner?

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 5 years ago
Rumor: Political and business interests in Ottawa attempting to force out Melnyk.
Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press

The Ottawa Senators have had a very ugly 2018 with a huge number of controversies surrounding the team at various stages of the year. 

First there was the scandal that is believed to have led to the exit of superstar defenseman Erik Kalrsson and offensive sniper Mike Hoffman. Hoffman's fiancee Monika Caryk was accused of cyber stalking and/or cyber harassment by Karlsson's wife Melinda Karlsson a claim that understandably caused strife in the Senators locker room. 

That was quickly followed by accusations of sexual harassment against Ottawa Senators assistant general manager Randy Lee, accusations that were made by a young man that had been driving a shuttle between the National Hockey League's scouting combine and the hotel at which Lee was staying during the combine. The Senators would initially keep Lee, a married man, in his role but as pressure mounted from fans and the hockey community, as well as very reasonable concerns regarding the close proximity to young men his job provided him with, on their payroll but he would eventually resign from his position after it became clear that the lawsuit filled by the alleged victim wasn't going away.

It was not much longer after Lee left the organization that yet another scandal involving the Senators players his the front page. This time players were recorded inside of an Uber disparaging a member of the Senators coaching staff, a video that was later released by the driver of that Uber. That would be more than enough for any team to deal with in a single year but it looks like the Senators now have more trouble knocking at the door, or at least Senators' owner Eugene Melnyk does. 

According to a report from BullDog Ottawa there are now efforts from "important political and business interests" in Ottawa that are trying to force Melnyk out as the owner of the Ottawa Senators. This may come as a major surprise to some fans, however we have known for some time that there are many who would rather see the Senators under new leadership. It was just earlier this year that former Senators star forward Daniel Alfredsson made comments, comments that Alfredsson claimed were meant to be off the record, regarding his feelings and the feelings of Ottawa mayor Jim Watson towards Eugene Melnyk.

"We've talked a lot, we've talked about the future of the Senators and of its ownership and we agree," Alfredsson said at the time. "We hope we get a new owner."

Now according to Bulldog Ottawa a source close to the initiative attempting to push Melnyk out has informed them that a "prominent Ottawa figure" has been brought in to contact the creditors that Melnyk has just recently secured financing with in an effort to enlist them to their cause. Coul that prominent Ottawa figure be Alfredsson himself? That is purely speculation on my part to be clear by there is certainly reason to suspect that Alfredsson and Watson could both be involved in this at this stage. 

Melnyk is currently also embroiled in a $700+ million dollar lawsuit with partner John Ruddy who also appears to now be doing his best to block Melnyk's plans for expansion into downtown Ottawa with a new arena. Add to that the fact that the Senators fan base now has nothing but open disdain for Melnyk following some extremely careless comments made by the Senators owner as of late and you may have an entire city united in their goal to get a new owner for the Senators.

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