At yesterday’s ‘Melnyk Skate for Kids’, Senators owner Eugene Melnyk met with the media yesterday to discuss the latest happenings regarding his health, the state of the Ottawa Senators and the LeBreton Flats RFP bids.
The full interview can be streamed above, but below is a transcript of what he said.
As always, my thoughts are in bold.
On how everything is going with his health…
“Fantastic. Honestly, I couldn’t be better. I can’t remember the last time I felt this good, really, in my life. (I’m) just full of energy. I get up very early, go to bed at decent hours and eat well and that’s it.”
Again, I mentioned this in yesterday’s blog, if Melnyk’s voice is any indication, this is the healthiest he’s sounded in years.
On what he has learned in the past year…
“A lot. How to stay out of hospitals. Yeah, it’s been a life-changing kind of thing and I can see it now. It’s for the better and I’m just happy to, frankly, be alive. It’s the best way to put it.”
On whether it’s changed his view on life…
“Yeah, it does. A lot of things are miniscule compared to that. This puts everything back into perspective for me. If we lose a game, I used to be walking around moping for five days. Now, I just come down and talk to somebody and say, ‘Okay, next game.’ So, I just hope that we do better and do well and get into the playoffs and win a Stanley Cup. It creates an urgency for me now. It’s like, ‘Slow down, but hurry up!’”
Coupled with this sense of urgency is the realization that Ottawa’s best players on the most cost-efficient deals of their careers. If the Senators are serious about contending for a Cup, they should be in win now mode and looking to augment their current roster with supporting players who can actually help them win now. The problem for the Senators is that feels like their supporting cast right now isn’t good enough to get the job done. It doesn’t help that the Senators: a) believe the young supporting players will get better simply because they are young; b) have loyalty to gritty character guys at the expense of better alternatives; and c) hold onto players too long because they had pedigree or were acquired via trade for one of the team’s star players.
Obviously losing Clarke MacArthur and Milan Michalek will exacerbate the team’s depth, but even if both players were healthy, the Senators’ roster looks pretty top heavy. So if Melnyk is serious about contention, I’d imagine he will put a lot of pressure on management to put the short-term interests of the team above all else. Being a small market team, inevitably there are going to be concerns about moving cost-controlled young talent, but if there’s an opportunity for the organization to move guys like Lazar, Chiasson, Ceci, Cowen, Wiercioch, Borowiecki, O’Connor, Puempel or any other prospect not named Colin White or Thomas Chabot, to bring in some quality, do it up.
On it being good news or bad moves that both LeBreton Flats proposals want an arena…
“I think it’s misleading, to tell you the truth. I mean, come on. You (the media) have to read through this stuff. How in God’s name do they want to build an arena? I don’t get it because there’s no NHL team available. This team is mine for life. My daughter has already taken first dibs on it when I go to heaven. That’s what she (asked), ‘When you go to heaven, can I have the Senators?’ (I responded by saying), ‘Yeah, I guess so.’ The long and short of it, the team’s not for sale. It never will it ever be in my lifetime, for sure. Number two, you can’t come into my territory. What’s the matter with you? Like, who’s going to play there? It’s misleading. I don’t understand why they would put (an arena in the proposal), but who knows?”
According to an unconfirmed report, the DCDLS bid will apparently include an arena, but until both proposals are presented on January 26 and 27, 2016 at the War Museum, I’m surprised that Melnyk is even bothering to comment on the speculation – given the strict conditions and gag order that the NCC put on each of the parties involved in the RFP process.
I mean, even if the other group believes that Melnyk’s hold on the Senators is tenuous and is using this opportunity as a play to create leverage and position themselves as a prospective new ownership group, until they formally present their proposal, Melnyk discrediting the other group’s intentions may draw the ire of the NCC.
On whether the Senators would play there if the other group won the NCC RFP…
“Not a chance and I’ll tell you why. It’s not cause of any of the egos or anything. It’s specifically, we need to control the building. Forget about the financial part which are your revenue drivers, but we’ve got to control things like… I don’t want to have to go get permission to do (Melnyk’s Skate for Kids). Nor do I want to pay someone for that privilege. If we want to do something here, we get it done. I’ve never in my life really had problems holding other companies, so we can’t see us operating the way we do. So no, we wouldn’t consider going into somebody’s building that we don’t control completely.”
Looking back at when Melnyk negotiated the purchase of the Senators back in 2003, one of the conditions of the sale was ownership of what was then the Corel Centre. As glammed up as Melnyk’s answer was, do the opposite of what he said. Do not forget about the financial part in which the arena and the accompanying assets (parking, concessions, etc.) serve as major sources of revenue for the Senators. More than anything, it’s cash issue.
On hypothetically losing the RFP bid and whether the Senators would simply stay at the Canadian Tire Centre…
“Yeah.”
I’d love to know what the contingency plan is if the Senators lose the bid. Jim Watson has already informed the media that neither party should count on a publicly subsidized arena, so I can’t wait to see how the Senators plan on financing their arena.
From a long-term perspective, I don’t know how the Senators, or Melnyk, respond if they lose this RFP.
On whether he was dumbfounded to see it as part of their proposal…
“I didn’t know until somebody told me. It was a CTV tweet that somebody pointed out to me. I just don’t get it. It discredits them a bit because I’ve never met them. I don’t know them. There’s speculation (over) who just joined them. But, I don’t want to speculate but we’ve heard the name floated around, but again, it’s just not going to do it.”
According to Bruce Garrioch’s latest, the name being mentioned is that of Andre Desmarais. Desmarais is the Deputy Chairman, President, and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Power Corporation, and Executive Co-Chairman of Power Financial.
Per the Power Corporation of Canada’s website, the company is a “is a diversified international management and holding company with interests in companies in the financial services, communications and other business sectors.”
Upon the death of his father Paul Sr., his family inherited billions. Desmarais is also the husband of Jean Chretien’s daughter Francine.
If rumours are true, Desmarais could be a heavy hitter for the DCDLS group.
On not being able to say much about the RFP process…
“I would get in so much trouble. Just so everybody knows, I would love to talk all day about it, but there are very specific restrictions. We could lose. We could get disqualified – just get a letter one day saying you’ve been disqualified because (we talked about it). So we don’t want to get near that.”
Still surprised he’s even addressing the other group’s proposal when nothing has been publicly revealed yet.
On looking forward to late January when the public will have access to the two proposals…
“Yeah, I look forward to the public presentations and then we can talk all we want. We’ll have a model and everything and everybody can see it. I’m very, very bullish on it.”
On not getting upset over losses and whether that’s true…
“Oh yeah, I take it personally. There’s nothing I can do. I leave it up to guys like Bryan (Murray) and to Dave (Cameron), our coach, and then the players have to step up. If they want it, they can do it. They’ve got a good enough team, they could go a long way. If everyone just went lock-step all the time, consistently, we’ve got a good shot. You see how we played against L.A. and then we bomb out against the (Washington Capitals), so it’s just consistency. I wish we’d won by like four or five (goals) and then we could sit back. It’s like your horse winning by ten (lengths). Just win by ten guys, once. They always have to make it like drama queens. It’s always down to the last minute. We’re enjoying it and everybody is trying their hardest and that’s all I can ask.”
I don’t know if hashtag #dramaqueens will catch on as quickly as #peskysens did.
On how he feels about the Canadian dollar…
“It’s horrible. I made predictions by the way, 60 cents. No, no, no (laughing). It’s not good for us because we have to pay (our players in American dollars) and our revenues are (in) Canadian (dollars). So for us, it’s horrible. Again, it’s something I don’t control. I can just try to adjust the team, the budgets accordingly, but you can’t squeeze more money. I think we’re doing very well for the market we’re in here and we chose to be here. But, the Canadian dollar is not helping at all and there’s nobody we can complain to. Who do you complain to? The Prime Minister? You guys complain to him, but it does affect us negatively so, it is what it is.”
Ugh, it’s hard enough listening to fans bemoan ownership’s unwillingness to invest more capital into the franchise when the dollar was close to on par with its American counterpart. If the Canadian dollar continues to struggle, it’s only going to be that much more unlikely that the Senators will pump more money into payroll.
On whether Melnyk sees the other LeBreton Flats proposal as a threat against his ownership to get the team…
“They can do whatever they want. I own it. It’s not like it’s a public company. It’s one-hundred percent owned by me. I’m not selling the team, so I don’t understand what they think they’re doing. And why they referred to the NHL, God knows why. It’s just misleading. It’s not very credible, but let them do what they want to do. I, frankly, only care about my submission. We worked very hard on ours and last minute (for them) to try and jump in and say, ‘Oh, we’ll build you a rink.’ Why? We’re not interested, so God bless them. That’s all I can say.”
The deadline for the RFP process was extended by a month, so it’s probably fair to assume from Melnyk’s comments that DCDLS group was the group that looked for an extension to get their bid in.
On what he’s looking forward to in 2016…
“Oh, next year? Nothing other than good health, hopefully, and my kids continue to do well in school and stuff. Just getting closer to family and that’s all.”
On hoping to win a Stanley Cup…
“Oh yeah, that’s on the top priority (list) now. It’s zoomed to the top of the list, but yeah, we’re hoping to win a Cup. If not this year then next year, but it’s going to happen. We started this build like three years ago and all these guys – Zibanejad, Stone and Hoffman – that’s all through the (development) system. I’m very happy with how we’re doing in Binghamton as far as getting these kids ready for the NHL. That’s all I can hope for: just consistently winning and being… I believe, we’re a trophy franchise. I really do. There are only six in Canada and 30 in the world. You’re not going to give that up. No, no, no, no, no.”
Maybe I’m reading too much into Melnyk’s last few sentences, but it’s a bit odd to see him talk about how unique it is to own an NHL franchise considering the question dealt with how important it is to win a Stanley Cup. I can’t help but shake that feeling that he feels his ownership is threatened by this DCDLS bid.
On another note and at the risk of being overly cynical, I’m glad Mike Hoffman’s here too considering he was waived two years ago. As far as developing players in Binghamton, they’re off to a 6-17-2 record to start their season and management just sent a message to their players by neglecting to promote a forward, electing instead to use Mark Borowiecki up front. And as much as guys like Mark Stone and Hoffman have taken steps forward in their development, there are a number of young players who have hit the wall in their development.
On Bryan Murray’s contract being up at the end of the year and when he plans to discuss his future role within the organization…
“He knows what the timeframe is because he’s the GM. So he knows when he has to bring somebody new in if he’s not going to be involved. If he is going to be involved in some way, he’ll know the right time because we have a lot of things that start at the beginning of the year including the draft, any final trades that we might want to do, budgets, all that stuff. If we promote from within, that’s different because that person would be familiar with us, but if we go outside (the organization), then you’ve got to get somebody in a headspace of, ‘Welcome to Ottawa, this is how we do things.’ It’s much different than the big, big franchises, so it’s up to him. I want him to stay, but he has to want to stay as well. So it works both ways.”
The interesting takeaway for me here is that Melnyk’s leaving the door open to the possibility of an external hire. After listening to the ‘Insider Trading’ segment on TSN the other day, it sounded like it was a foregone conclusion that Pierre Dorion would be named as Bryan Murray’s successor.
It may not happen and may be a bit of a pipedream, but I’d love to see Julien BriseBois merit some serious consideration for the opening when it becomes available.
http://video.senators.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=1141&id=905001&lang=en
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