[News] Senators owner Eugene Melnyk passes away

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

Sell the team and move them to Quebec City.

Arizona Coyotes become the Houston Coyotes.

Conference alignments remain the same.

I like it!

[agulati]

I didn’t realize he was only 62. Too young. RIP

[klikitiklik]

Originally Posted by Large11

all good, it is what it is. people are set in their ways and don't change. it very much why i read but very rarely post
goodnight all, ill go back to reading for another 6 months

Nah don't do that. Keep posting.

Sometimes someone will post something that someone else finds incredibly crass or I'll timed per say. We know what you meant and I thought the same thing at first but honestly don't hold back your opinion. I love to hear people's takes on different stuff as long as its honest and not from a troll.

Anyways, shocking news. 62 years old??

and about early speculation about the team....it has already begun.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1508802636912513027

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by midniteowl

May be this is out of topic but as I recall, formal Flames owner, the late Mr. Harley Hotchkiss sold his shares before he passed. It was like he sold them and not soon after, he passed. So, may be Mr. Melnyk already have something like this in process? Because Mr. Melnyk did not die suddenly and it was a long illness.

Just a thought.

With Hotchkiss it was basically early estate planning. Get it out of the way first so the family doesn't have to. But I think that kind of estate planning is a lot easier to face when you're 82 and not 62. I think it's why I'm kind of surprised with Melnyk and why it seems so sudden (despite being a long illness). All the talk about a Senators new arena and Lebreton Flats deals and Melnyk apparently being a stick in the mud about it all (given the ongoing lawsuits and mediation) made it seem like he was digging in for a long haul fight rather than finding a long term solution to the Senators.



But at the same time he is a guy that seemed to revel in confrontation and controversy, so maybe that's what was keeping him going and what best distracted him from the realities of the illness.

[undercoverbrother]

A friend of mine worked for him in Barbados.

I met him once, in passing.

He seemed nice.

Condolences to his family and friends.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by midniteowl

May be this is out of topic but as I recall, formal Flames owner, the late Mr. Harley Hotchkiss sold his shares before he passed. It was like he sold them and not soon after, he passed. So, may be Mr. Melnyk already have something like this in process? Because Mr. Melnyk did not die suddenly and it was a long illness.



Just a thought.

I suspect the partners in CSEC have a unanimous shareholders agreement that governs succession, the right to buy each others' shares, etc.

[VilleN]

Originally Posted by Large11

no you didn't

but it was your first thought

Get off your moral high horse, no one is impressed. It was a fair question… I’m not going to pretend to be sad that this man died. I didn’t know him, I’ve never met him. People die every single day. It is sad for his loved ones. For me, and I assume most of us here, not so much.

[liamenator]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

Sell the team and move them to Quebec City.

Arizona Coyotes become the Houston Coyotes.

Conference alignments remain the same.

This is the wrong take. I live in Ottawa -- the team has great support from the community that has endured in spite of bad ownership decisions that predate Melnyk. Perhaps the worst being the bad bad not good gamble of plunking an arena down in a farm field in Kanata. The fans are desperate for an ownership group that cares about this place and its people, that can work with its municipal government to get a new rink built, and that in the meantime will invest in even a very basic organizational infrastructure from which to build. They have had none of this for a decade or more.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by klikitiklik

and about early speculation about the team....it has already begun.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1508802636912513027

Wait a minute...I've been told there's no way anyone would want to buy a team [and keep it local] in a small-mid size Canadian market that needs a new building...

[Vansmack]

Originally Posted by klikitiklik

Nah don't do that. Keep posting.

Sometimes someone will post something that someone else finds incredibly crass or I'll timed per say. We know what you meant and I thought the same thing at first but honestly don't hold back your opinion. I love to hear people's takes on different stuff as long as its honest and not from a troll.

Anyways, shocking news. 62 years old??

and about early speculation about the team....it has already begun.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1508802636912513027

There was some speculation in December that Alf and Chris Phillips were interested in buying the sens, with a 3rd providing most of the financial backing. Those two players earned about 80 million combined, so they would need a large sum to get to the 500-600 million range.

[Goriders]

Not good news. 62 is young. Puts things in perspective.

Will be interesting to see what happens with the team. Assuming the family is now the “owner”.

[bdubbs]

Rip.

[getbak]

I was surprised to see he was only 62, I would have guessed somewhere in his 70s, but I guess the liver issues he had aged him quite a bit. In the photos from 2015, before he had his transplant, I would have guessed he was in his 80s.


It looks like he has two young daughters. Based on this photo from the Sens' home opener in 2015, after his transplant, his oldest daughter is probably not yet 25 and the younger might not even be 20. That's way too young to lose a parent, so worrying about what's going to happen to the Sens isn't likely high on their list of priorities right now.

https://twitter.com/user/status/653358237270560768


I'd assume he would have put a succession plan in place when he first got sick in 2015 and still had something now if he has been sick for a while.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

Wait a minute...I've been told there's no way anyone would want to buy a team [and keep it local] in a small-mid size Canadian market that needs a new building...

Kill the LeBreton project and see how many buyers would want to keep the team in the old building.

[Pizza]

Originally Posted by getbak

It looks like he has two young daughters. Based on this photo from the Sens' home opener in 2015, after his transplant, his oldest daughter is probably not yet 25 and the younger might not even be 20.

A Sens fan on reddit mentioned the Oldest is turning 21 in September

[liamenator]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

Kill the LeBreton project and see how many buyers would want to keep the team in the old building.

Yes, but this is true of probably 80% of pro sports franchises. Fans and media tend to focus on tickets and merch and prestige and community engagement, which are all interesting and important in various ways. But for 25 years, pro sports franchises have been used primarily for real estate development and, um, "creative" approaches to taxation (maybe they always were).

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

Kill the LeBreton project and see how many buyers would want to keep the team in the old building.

Is LeBreton Flats any different than the Rivers District at this point? If not further behind from an arena standpoint?

I don't know much about the OTT situation, but it seems like CGY at least has a higher degree of certainty and far quicker path to shovels in the ground.

OTT has an incredibly dysfunctional city council and an election this October. Maybe new owners could get an even sweeter deal out of Ottawa, but there are also a lot of potential landmines.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

Kill the LeBreton project and see how many buyers would want to keep the team in the old building.

My understanding is that the LeBreton project is currently dead and the National Capital Commission is looking for a new partner to build an "attraction" in the area -- which may or may not be an arena. Proposals were due at the end of February and it's not known if the Sens submitted one.

There were also rumblings that the Sens were looking for alternate locations close to downtown, including possibly across the river in Gatineau. The Olympiques just moved into a new arena this year and there was some speculation that the site of their old arena could be redeveloped.

Melnyk has also talked about building a new building near the existing one, but that's probably similar to any chance the Flames would consider building something in Balzac.

[Jordan!]

Originally Posted by liamenator

This is the wrong take. I live in Ottawa -- the team has great support from the community that has endured in spite of bad ownership decisions that predate Melnyk. Perhaps the worst being the bad bad not good gamble of plunking an arena down in a farm field in Kanata. The fans are desperate for an ownership group that cares about this place and its people, that can work with its municipal government to get a new rink built, and that in the meantime will invest in even a very basic organizational infrastructure from which to build. They have had none of this for a decade or more.

It's Canada, location and on ice success shouldn't matter. The arena should sell out every game regardless

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by getbak

My understanding is that the LeBreton project is currently dead and the National Capital Commission is looking for a new partner to build an "attraction" in the area -- which may or may not be an arena. Proposals were due at the end of February and it's not known if the Sens submitted one.

There were also rumblings that the Sens were looking for alternate locations close to downtown, including possibly across the river in Gatineau. The Olympiques just moved into a new arena this year and there was some speculation that the site of their old arena could be redeveloped.

Melnyk has also talked about building a new building near the existing one, but that's probably similar to any chance the Flames would consider building something in Balzac.

I wonder what the Gatineau idea would mean for players' taxes?