Ottawa Senators: Eugene Melnyk Just Revealed His Hand

When will the owner of the Ottawa Senators realize he needs to shut the hell up?

The night before the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs clashed at Scotiabank Arena, Eugene Melnyk was at a corporate event in downtown Toronto.

At the event, Melnyk laid out the multi-year plan he had for the Senators. Among the talking points was his belief that the Sens rebuild had just two seasons left, and that when the Sens go “all-in” from 2021-25 (A period Melnyk called a “five-year run of unparalleled success”) the team would “spend close to the league’s salary cap.”

Folks, if you read between the lines, Melnyk just revealed what the Senators will be doing over the next few weeks.

Trade Them All! Trade Them All!

Say that in Pennywise’s voice, it sounds much more terrifying.

Anyway, so the Senators are expecting to continue their rebuild for the next two years and won’t spend anywhere close to the league salary cap (Which will continue to rise over the next few years)? Does that sound like a team that is going to re-sign their star players?

The issue for the Senators was paying Mark Stone and Matt Duchene not only for their production, but basically bribing them to stay in Ottawa and deal with the clown show in the front office. Both of them could fetch between $6 million and $8 million on the free agent market without the bribery. If the Sens aren’t going to spend near the salary cap, Melnyk is not going to want to spend $16 million, or possibly more, on only two players.

If the rebuild is that important to Eugene, he won’t hesitate to trade his two best players for draft picks, prospects and that sweet, sweet financial relief. We don’t know how much the Sens actually plan to spend over the next two years, but knowing what we know about Melnyk it probably won’t be as much as it should be. I hope I’m wrong, but it would be a safe bet to say that Duchene and Stone will be gone by the deadline.

Rebuild, eh?

Apparently this extensive rebuild, which has only been a true rebuild since Erik Karlsson was traded in the offseason, only has two years left! So good news Sens fans, Eugene Melnyk says you won’t have to suffer for much longer!

Does he really think this is going to work? Going from dead last in the NHL to a Stanley Cup contender in just a few years is a tall order. Yes the Maple Leafs did it after they finished last in 2015-16, but they also have a structured organization with owners who let the hockey executives run the hockey team. The Ottawa Senators don’t have that luxury.

That period of “unparalleled success” he mentioned isn’t going to come if things keep going the way that they are. If this turmoil continues for another two years the only people showing up to Canadian Tire Centre for Sens games in 2021 will be Melnyk, the puppet he has for a GM and whoever he chooses to shoot another ridiculous video with.

Listen Up Melnyk

Eugene let me put this in terms you’ll grasp easily: You are not good at your job. You think suing your business partner over a failed arena venture is smart, you prioritize finances over performance on the ice and you are always opening your gob about hockey operations that you have no grasp of.

And now you have created this ridiculous seven-year plan that will see the Senators continue to alienate their fans and gut the team. You didn’t outright say it, but your salary cap proclamation should make it abundantly clear to Sens fans what you plan to do before the trade deadline.

I’m sorry to keep bringing this guy up, but he is infuriating. Maybe if people call him out on his crap he will change his approach to hockey operations, but that isn’t likely. The double agent reared his ugly head again, when all he needed to do was keep his mouth shut and stay out of the spotlight.

But in the end, that spotlight may be more important to Melnyk than the Ottawa Senators, and the franchise is going to continue to pay for it.