The rumours have been there for the better part of two years now.
And maybe even longer than that. If you live Ottawa, chances are you’ve heard it directly. Or maybe from the friend of a friend. Yet to this point, the media has sort of tip-toed around the topic.
In the last couple weeks, we have seen a couple prominent American media outlets take pretty healthy runs at current Senators Owner Eugene Melnyk. First it was the New York Post and then earlier this week, a pretty similar summary from The Ringer.
For the most part though, the mainstream media and more importantly, some of the national guys with strong league connections have been pretty careful in how they discuss the subject.
“Kicking tires” and “people are interested” has been just about as far as any league insider has been willing to go.
Until Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston made an appearance on Fan 590 earlier this afternoon, that is.
“We believe the team is for sale”.
Well then.
You can listen to the full interview here. Johnston’s remarks on the Senators start at about 15:45. The comments about where he believes things currently stand can be found at 17:40.
It’s worth pointing out that Johnston followed that statement up with a few qualifiers including the fact that Melnyk has had people supporting him in trying to find a buyer for the team for almost a year now and that it might take a while to get what he wants.
While this likely won’t come as a huge surprise given the amount of speculation that has surrounded the team lately, it does feel pretty significant to have someone with a direct link to the league speak so openly on the subject.
Pierre LeBrun was on TSN 1200 this afternoon and his own comments on the situation in Ottawa.
Despite the recent turmoil (including a lawsuit, a repossessed jet and a done deal announced on snap chat), Melnyk himself has been fairly quiet lately.
You’ll recall that as far back as December 2018, there was talk of an actual offer on the team being discussed at the NHL’s Board of Governor’s meeting. At the time, it was believe that the offer was in the neighbourhood of $400,000,000.
When, not if.
Another rumour I’m looking into, and this is a juicy one, but apparently the Ottawa Senators might play an actual hockey game tomorrow.
More on this story as it develops.
