One more day remaining in another long stretch without Senators hockey.
And while this time the Senators didn’t really deserve another break, fans certainly did. The last three months have been rough on the fan base and a few days without watching this team is probably good for our collective health.
But tomorrow, they are back at it with a road game in Carolina. They’ll play four games this week, including a home game against the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday and a rare weekend matinee back to back in Philadelphia and then in Montreal. Looking at the schedule, it’s going to be pretty busy for the Senators the rest of the way.
Including this weekend, they’ll play eight more back to backs. 35 games to go.
The Senators are on the ice for practice at 4:00 PM today, another edition of Monday News and Notes.
On LeBreton and Ownership
With last week’s announcement on LeBreton, I’ve had a lot of people asking what that might mean for the rumours surrounding Ownership. So I’ll clarify some things from my perspective.
First of all, I really don’t think the situation has changed. Prior to the latest LeBreton development and leading up to the Outdoor Game, the “rumour” was that Melnyk was financially incapable of keeping it afloat much longer. At the same time, there was talk of multiple groups (Desmarais and Ruddy among the names mentioned) making concrete offers to purchase the team. Some people suggested that a specific price had been established. There were rumours that one of the interested parties had apparently taken the step of buying up a portion of the team’s debt that we have heard so much about.
Melnyk himself confirmed that the rumours about his future as Owner may have been related to a “routine refinancing of our debt” and that they were holding a “financial roadshow”.
As we have heard from Melnyk so many times, he does not want to sell. Although he wouldn’t say it even if he was considering it. But the rumours seemed to be more about the fact that it was reaching that point where he had to sell. Where he no longer had the financial capacity to absorb the losses. And at the same time, with the LeBreton land agreement in place, the value of the franchise is at an all-time high and there were motivated buyers.
The people that I spoke to (employees of the team, members of the media, etc) believed that the situation had reached the tipping point. I think my tweet on Grey Cup weekend was probably premature and certainly lacked appropriate context but I know that it reflected what a lot of people were hearing at that time.
In the last couple months, I have had random people reaching out to tell me that a sale was close. Others in the local media wrote about that possibility and really got the rumour mill going. I don’t know if that’s true and I’m not sure I believe it. But I’m sure you have seen it discussed here and elsewhere. At the same time, every “Insider” that addresses this topic (except for Garrioch) continues to say things like “If Melnyk is still around” which tells me they are all hearing the same thing.
That talk has not gone away the latest LeBreton announcement and I don’t think it will anytime soon.
Meanwhile, Gary Bettman spoke with Ron MacLean during the intermission of last night’s All Star Game festivities and commented on the latest development in the process to build a new rink at LeBreton Flats. His answer was brief and mostly focused on the amount of work that is still required to make this a reality. Specifically, Bettman said “There’s still a lot for Eugene Melnyk and the Senators to work out. A lot of steps that have to be timed. But at the end of the day it would be awesome for the Senators to come downtown.” There was a deliberate and somewhat awkward pause on the “a lot of steps” part.
You can see the full interview here. The LeBreton part starts at 5:25.
On Mike Hoffman
It’s clear that Mike Hoffman’s name is going to be a fixture in the rumour mill leading up to the Trade Deadline. It’s rare that a quality goal-scorer is available on the trade market so it’s not surprising that there are a handful of teams showing interest. St. Louis, Calgary and San Jose have all been linked to the Ottawa sniper. Maybe the Los Angeles Kings. In the East, it sounds like Florida, Boston and Carolina have reached out. Plenty of teams kicking tires although to this point, nobody is offering enough to get a deal done. While on the surface, trading what appears to be a piece of the team’s core may seem like a strange move, there have been whispers that Hoffman isn’t exactly the most popular player in that locker room and that maybe he would be open to a deal. It’s funny how those kind of rumours always seem to come up when a big name is on the trade block but they are definitely out there with Hoffman.
On Smith and Pageau
Smith’s name has been coming up a lot lately and it’s clear that Dorion is listening. Smith has had a terrible year like most guys on the team but he scored at a pretty good clip the last two seasons and brings a physical element that many teams are looking for this time of year. I’ll admit, it’s a little bit surprising that there are teams considering taking on his contract (3 more years at $3.25 mil) but apparently there is legitimate interest. The Calgary Flames are one of the teams that has been linked to Smith and their Assistant GM was in town for the Bruins game last week. Similar story with Jean Gabriel Pageau. The Pittsburgh Penguins are definitely interested and while it’s hard to imagine Dorion would trade his favourite player, the rumours persist. Derick Brassard and Cody Ceci are the other two players you’ll hear a lot about the next month or so.
On Erik Karlsson
Watching Erik Karlsson skate alongside the likes of Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov made me wildly uncomfortable. And as you might expect, it had Tampa Bay fans and media dreaming of what could be. Karlsson’s name has been kicked around since Dorion’s “even Gretzky was traded” remark and the contending Tampa Bay Lightning are clearly a team that would have interest if he really was available. But to this point, it doesn’t sound like he is. Dorion has been steadily pouring cold water on Karlsson trade rumours in the last couple weeks and while you can be sure teams are calling, the Senators preference is to wait until the summer to find out exactly where they stand with Karlsson. Karlsson addressed the situation during All Star weekend and handled some pretty difficult questions about the current situation in Ottawa and his future with the team.
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