[News] Senators owner Eugene Melnyk passes away

[Locke]

Originally Posted by bdubbs

Rip.

"What?"

[Badgers Nose]

That guy kept the NHL in Ottawa when no one else would. Not sure why he would be polarizing. Is no hockey better than Sens hockey? Snide remarks aside, I doubt it.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

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

I assume it works the same as Lloydminster where everything depends on where you live, not where you work. As long as the players live in Ontario, it should be the same as if the arena was in Ottawa or Kanata.

[dissentowner]

There is a perfectly good arena in QC and hardcore Senator fans will follow the team there. Bring back the Nords!

[Boreal]

Originally Posted by Badgers Nose

That guy kept the NHL in Ottawa when no one else would. Not sure why he would be polarizing. Is no hockey better than Sens hockey? Snide remarks aside, I doubt it.

Think of it another way.

He’s like the consortium of owners that saved the Oilers only they suddenly become one person and acted like Darryl Katz.

The only real difference is Melnyk was debatably a worse Owner with exponentially more success.

Either way good on Sens fans for not enabling a clown show like Edmonton.

[dustygoon]

A significant and somewhat disturbing piece in the Athletic on Melnyk's legacy. The authors are getting some mixed reviews for posting this after his death, but i'm not sure there is ever a good time for this. Unreal stories if true, but folks like Friedman would allude to suspect behaviour but never call it out perhaps out of fear?

https://theathletic.com/3243198/2022...tawa-senators/

After the Senators’ run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2007 ended with a 6-2 loss to the Anaheim Ducks in Game 5, Melnyk stood in the middle of the visitors dressing room and delivered a speech to the dejected players that went on several wild tangents. At one point, he declared that he was once a goalie and pretended to make stick saves in front of the players. Melnyk, who to many in the room appeared intoxicated, also had a hard time identifying Ottawa players outside of stars like Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley.

“It was beyond embarrassing,” says one person who was in the room.

“Are you the one responsible for this ####ing gay campaign? Have you lost your ####ing mind? You need to take that #### down immediately.”

When she finally wrote back, reminding Melnyk she was on a scheduled vacation, he responded in all caps: “YOU ####ING C – – T – WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? WHEN I SAY CALL YOU DO IT. WHEN I TELL YOU TO DO SOMETHING YOU DO IT. YOU ARE DONE!”

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by dustygoon

A significant and somewhat disturbing piece in the Athletic on Melnyk's legacy. The authors are getting some mixed reviews for posting this after his death, but i'm not sure there is ever a good time for this. Unreal stories if true, but folks like Friedman would allude to suspect behaviour but never call it out perhaps out of fear?

Not much different than beat-writers who don't share real details/dirt until a season is over or a player leaves.

I understand there is a journalistic balance of maintaining access/relationships and reporting uncomfortable truths, but I suppose it could also be asked: if it wasn't 'reportable' before, what makes it reportable now?

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by dustygoon

A significant and somewhat disturbing piece in the Athletic on Melnyk's legacy. The authors are getting some mixed reviews for posting this after his death, but i'm not sure there is ever a good time for this. Unreal stories if true, but folks like Friedman would allude to suspect behaviour but never call it out perhaps out of fear?

https://theathletic.com/3243198/2022...tawa-senators/

Actually sounds exactly like some CEOs for a company I used to work for.

[Reggie Dunlop]

A certain type of personality buys a sports franchise, or so it seems. The Melnyk story seems pretty typical.

[dustygoon]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

Not much different than beat-writers who don't share real details/dirt until a season is over or a player leaves.

I understand there is a journalistic balance of maintaining access/relationships and reporting uncomfortable truths, but I suppose it could also be asked: if it wasn't 'reportable' before, what makes it reportable now?

The podcast that accompanies it mentions that this story has been in the works for a long time. Perhaps they just completed it. Who knows.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

So he’s basically like a lot of other CEOs and pro sports owners. No surprise there.

[manwiches]

Originally Posted by dustygoon

A significant and somewhat disturbing piece in the Athletic on Melnyk's legacy. The authors are getting some mixed reviews for posting this after his death, but i'm not sure there is ever a good time for this. Unreal stories if true, but folks like Friedman would allude to suspect behaviour but never call it out perhaps out of fear?

https://theathletic.com/3243198/2022...tawa-senators/

lol

This sounds very similar to my ex senior partner. Except instead of tirades, he would sewer people (and me) by going behind our backs.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

So he’s basically like a lot of other CEOs and pro sports owners. No surprise there.

I think some of you are being too kind. If you read the entire article the guy comes off as pretty poor example of a sports owner that eventually turned on everyone in his circles. It did appear that near the end he was making amends for some of his past behaviours and some of the stuff he did in front of the players in a drunken stupor was kind of funny.

Melnyk then made a memorable vow to the players, promising if they ever won the Stanley Cup, their rings would be the size of animals. “He started by saying they would be the size of beavers. Then he said they would be the size of deer,” says a former player. “And then it was (that) the rings would be the size of a moose. It just got progressively bigger.”

When Daniel Alfredsson, the team captain and franchise icon, signed a free agent contract with Detroit in July, he accused the Senators of failing to follow through on a promise to sign him to a contract extension on two occasions. Melnyk was outraged by Alfredsson’s departure, referring to him as a “prick” and “an #######” to members of the Senators executive staff as they mulled over ideas for how to handle the public messaging of his departure.

In March 2017, Melnyk called Sidney Crosby a “whiner beyond belief,” a comment that rankled Crosby and teammates. Later that season, after the Senators beat the Bruins in a playoff series, Melnyk taunted Bruins players, mimicking a golf swing when they passed him in the hallway at Boston’s TD Garden to let them know their season had ended.

“He chirped Patrice Bergeron,” one Senators player said. “Imagine disrespecting one of the classiest players in the game? But it didn’t shock me at all. I was just like, ‘Well, that’s our owner.’”

Melnyk also “fired” senior staff members on a regular basis, although he rarely followed through on those terminations. It was not uncommon for executives to be told to clean out their desks but return to the office the next day as if nothing had happened.

[CliffFletcher]

I like to think I’d be one of those judicious, hands-off owners watching the games discretely from my box and letting the team management and coaches do their thing. But knowing I could walk into the dressing room all liquored up after a bad loss and lay into the coach and players…

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I think some of you are being too kind. If you read the entire article the guy comes off as pretty poor example of a sports owner that eventually turned on everyone in his circles. It did appear that near the end he was making amends for some of his past behaviours and some of the stuff he did in front of the players in a drunken stupor was kind of funny.

I stand by my comment. I worked for one company, a fairly large firm in Canada that a lot of people on here would have heard of, I can can find things pretty relatable to these descriptions of Melnyk (some things even worse in my opinion). Mocking and humiliating employees, threats of ruining their careers, being told you are terminated, but then taking it back... Work place abuse, especially in big corporations seems to be fairly common thing from talking to others.

Not that anything he did was excusable. It's just someone normal in a lot of corporate cultures unfortunately.

[Poe969]

I met melnyk a couple times and sat down and had a drink with him. The guy was a grade A prick. At first I was a little excited to meet him, that didn't last long.

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Maybe it is written after his death because he was obviously a narcissistic ass who seemed to take joy out of being in positions of power, particularly over women it appears.

Just because someone is dead doesn't mean that we should forgive and forget their previous actions. Why should we sugar coat the legacy of a giant prick, just because he is dead?

[dustygoon]

Originally Posted by Mean Mr. Mustard

Maybe it is written after his death because he was obviously a narcissistic ass who seemed to take joy out of being in positions of power, particularly over women it appears.

Just because someone is dead doesn't mean that we should forgive and forget their previous actions. Why should we sugar coat the legacy of a giant prick, just because he is dead?

Exactly. I think the toxic culture and bullying is significant enough to report. And those folks wouldn’t have given these interviews had while Melnyk was alive.

[PuckSlap]

Originally Posted by Mean Mr. Mustard

Maybe it is written after his death because he was obviously a narcissistic ass who seemed to take joy out of being in positions of power, particularly over women it appears.

Just because someone is dead doesn't mean that we should forgive and forget their previous actions. Why should we sugar coat the legacy of a giant prick, just because he is dead?

George Floyd was an absolute pos lol

They practically ignored all of that when he died.

[TheScorpion]