The Senators' Mess Is On Eugene Melnyk, Now He Has To Lie In It
In the capital city of Canada, the Ottawa Senators have had its fair share of ups and downs. Currently in 7th place in the Atlantic Division and trying to secure a lottery pick, the turmoil in the front office has become the bigger story in the franchise today. Since Eugene Melnyk purchased the Senators in 2003, the team went from Stanley Cup finalist in 2007 to a dysfunctional mess in the front office. This time however the icing was on the cake.
When the team hired Jim Little to be their new CEO, it was supposed to be the perfect start of the new era in Senators hockey. Instead Little was quickly fired eight weeks after he was hired. On Monday, Vice President of Communications and Community Relations PJ Loyello went on leave, as reported by TSN’s Brent Wallace. This is another chapter of why poor handling by ownership will lead to failure.
In the National Post in Canada, Little was canned when an investigation by the Senators revealed several allegations of harsh or abusive behavior, including public claims of domestic abuse from his former wife, Lara Smith. Another version of how Little got fired was he was angrily cussing at Melnyk, which generated frustrated amusement among many Senators fans who often blame Melnyk for the team’s crusty performance in recent years.
I understand the fact that the Senators fans hate the holy hell out of Melnyk for their recent failures, such as not holding on to key guys like Erik Karlsson and Jean-Gabriel Pageau, the would be in the playoffs for years to come. Instead, he decided to break up what seemed to be a good team and took a page from the late Harold Ballard when it comes to managing his franchise. Now I’m not a Senators fan and I’m not from Canada. I can understand why the fans hate this guy so much.
Melnyk's total rebuild was a total payroll dump by getting rid of all those players in an attempt to cut expenses. The Senators could have had a Stanley Cup team in Ottawa had he decided not to get rid of all these players (too numerous to mention) but decided to go on this snow job of a plan. Why do you ask why the fans don't show up? Well, that's pretty much self-explanatory, don't you think?
The surprise firing of Jim Little is a sorry situation. The Senators at the beginning were in the playoff contenders but have been pitiful and pathetic of late. Melnyk doesn’t want to part ways nor lose on his investment because of the ridiculous price of franchises. Will the Senators stay in Ottawa with or without Melnyk or will they move south to a city that can pay boatloads of cash? I really hope that they stay in Ottawa and I hope fans will support them as much as one person can do. But for the healing process can begin, Eugene Melnyk must take ownership of his failures and do whatever is necessary to build a winner in Ottawa. Melnyk for years is the reason that the franchise can’t draw fans anymore. Senators fans are tired of his knee jerk behavior and his price gouging while he enjoys his tax-free living in the Bahamas.
The Ringer called Eugene Melnyk the worst sports owner in North America, right up there with the Knicks’ James Dolan, the Redskins’ Dan Snyder and the Mets’ Fred Wilpon. But his mismanagement of the Ottawa Senators is awful; and the only way to make the team better is if he stood out of the way.
