Landscapers work around Ottawa Senators NHL team signage at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa on June 13.The Canadian Press
“This ain’t no joke!”
So sayeth the rapper Snoop Dogg early in the proceedings to sell the Ottawa Senators. There were times, however, when it certainly seemed like one.
On Tuesday, Senators Sports & Entertainment announced that a group of investors led by Toronto billionaire Michael Andlauer would be purchasing 90 per cent of the NHL club. Anna and Olivia Melnyk, daughters of late owner Eugene Melnyk, will retain a 10-per-cent interest in the franchise.
The modern Senators, first dreamed up by Bruce Firestone, Randy Sexton and Cyril Leeder after a local beer-league hockey game, are now owned by a former beer-league goalkeeper who came up with US$950-million to post the winning bid.
To gain some sense of the ridiculous values in modern sports, know that the Firestone-led group paid US$50-million for the franchise in 1990, and that Melnyk bought the franchise out of bankruptcy in 2003 for $130-million.
The team finished last in its inaugural season, 1992-93, but the fans loved them anyway. When thieves broke into the team’s practice facility and made off with all the video equipment, leaving behind the game tapes, assistant coach E.J. McGuire tagged them “Burglars with taste.”
The club built a new rink in Ottawa’s Kanata suburb and, under Melnyk’s tenure, reached the Stanley Cup final in 2007. Since then, it has been mostly disappointment and Melnyk-driven turmoil. At one point, he threatened to move the team if ticket sales didn’t improve. During the 2017-18 season, disgruntled fans took to billboards – hashtag #MelnykOut – and the team hasn’t made the playoffs since.
To avoid paying to the NHL salary cap, the Senators either traded away or let go several of the most beloved stars, including Mark Stone, captain of the Stanley-Cup-winning Vegas Golden Knights. Daniel Alfredsson, the long-time captain of the Senators, retired back to Ottawa but would eventually have nothing to do with Melnyk’s team.
Melnyk – who had a much-publicized liver transplant in 2015 – died in March, 2022. Since then, the team has been run by a board of directors led by president Anthony LeBlanc. The Melnyk daughters decided in the fall that they would put their father’s debt-ridden franchise up for sale.
Suddenly it seemed everyone who was anybody wanted in. Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds said he wanted to be involved, attended games in Ottawa and soon linked with the Remington Group on a bid. Then it was Snoop Dogg joining Los Angeles producer Neko Sparks. The Neko bid soon included comedian Russell Peters, several investors from the Dragons’ Den television show and Olympic sprinter Donovan Bailey, who told CBC he was a “100-per-cent” Toronto Maple Leafs fan.
Reynolds’s group dropped out before the May 15 deadline after failing to arrange extra time in which to explore the possibilities of building a new rink close to downtown Ottawa. Many have long argued that the Kanata rink is too far out for downtown and cross-river fans.
(Melnyk had previously worked with a local developer to launch a massive rink-retail-and-residential project on National Capital Commission land closer to Parliament Hill, but the proposed partnership soon dissolved in lawsuits.)
Four groups remained in the hunt. Andlauer, who made his fortune through health care transportation, seemed the obvious choice, pending NHL board of governors’ approval. He already has links to the league through a minority ownership in the Montreal Canadiens (which he would have to sell if the league approves his bid). He has owned both an AHL and an OHL junior team in Hamilton. His teams have won several championships.
Melnyk, who lived in Barbados, never moved to Ottawa. Andlauer, who grew up in Montreal and lives in Oakville, has said he will relocate to Ottawa to be closer to what is now his main business concern. He has also, wisely, taken on local partners such as the Malhotra family that has Claridge Homes and Jeff York of the successful Farm Boy grocery chain.
Ottawa is a fickle sports town that can be difficult to read from a distance. Andlauer said in a statement that “the Senators’ fan base is one of the most passionate in the league,” but emotions can run in different directions. Having lost the Senators once (1934) and almost a second time (2003), having lost and regained its football team, Ottawa fans suffer separation anxiety in the air and on the airwaves.
Andlauer, like Melnyk, would be coming to Senators ownership when the team is on the rise. Just as Melnyk had Alfredsson, Erik Karlsson and Jason Spezza, Andlauer will come to a team largely built by general manager Pierre Dorion that features young stars such as Tim Stützle, Brady Tkachuk, Thomas Chabot and Jake Sanderson. Attendance soared this past season when it seemed the team might reach the playoffs after six fallow springs.
As for a new rink, Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe openly mused this week on CityNews radio that it could end up closer to downtown than anyone imagined.
Remote working has put the downtown core into what the Board of Trade has called an “existential” crisis. And given that the federal government has said it plans to rid itself of as much as half of its properties….
NEW YORK – Toronto Blue Jays reliever Chad Green and Canadian slugger Tyler O’Neill of the Boston Red Sox were named finalists for the Major League Baseball Players’ Association’s American League comeback player award on Monday.
Chicago White Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet was the other nominee.
New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani and Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. were named player of the year finalists.
The award winners, selected via player voting, will be named Saturday before Game 2 of the World Series.
Green, who missed most of the 2022 and ’23 seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery, was a high-leverage option for the Blue Jays this past season and filled in at closer over the second half of the campaign.
The right-hander converted his first 16 save opportunities and finished the year with a 4-6 record, 17 saves and a 3.21 earned-run average over 53 appearances.
O’Neill, a native of Burnaby, B.C., also endured back-to-back injury-plagued seasons in ’22 and ’23.
After being traded to the Red Sox in the off-season, O’Neill set an MLB record by hitting a homer in his fifth straight Opening Day. He finished with 31 homers on the year and had an OPS of .847.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
NEW YORK – Florida Panthers centre Sam Reinhart was named NHL first star of the week on Monday after leading all players with nine points over four games last week.
Reinhart had four goals, five assists and a plus-seven rating to help the Stanley Cup champions post a 3-0-1 record on the week and move into first place in the Atlantic Division.
New York Rangers left-winger Artemi Panarin took the second star and Minnesota Wild goaltenderFilip Gustavsson was the third star.
Panarin had eight points (4-4) over three games.
Gustavsson became the 15th goalie in NHL history to score a goal and had a 1.00 goals-against average and .962 save percentage over a pair of victories.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Deshaun Watson won’t finish the season as Cleveland’s starting quarterback for the second straight year.
He’s injured again, and the Browns have new problems.
Watson ruptured his right Achilles tendon in the first half of Sunday’s loss to Cincinnati, collapsing as he began to run and leading some Browns fans to cheer while the divisive QB laid on the ground writhing in pain.
The team feared Watson’s year was over and tests done Monday confirmed the rupture. The Browns said Watson will have surgery and miss the rest of the season but “a full recovery is expected.”
It’s the second significant injury in two seasons for Watson, who broke the glenoid (socket) bone in his throwing shoulder last year after just six starts.
The 29-year-old went down Sunday without being touched on a draw play late in the first half. His right leg buckled and Watson crumpled to the turf. TV replays showed his calf rippling, consistent with an Achilles injury.
He immediately put his hands on his helmet, clearly aware of the severity of an injury similar to the one Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers sustained last year.
As he was being assisted by the team’s medical staff and backup Dorian Thompson-Robinson grabbed a ball to begin warming up, there was some derisive cheers and boos from the stands in Huntington Bank Field.
Cleveland fans have been split over Watson, who has been accused of being sexually inappropriate with women.
The reaction didn’t sit well with several Watson’s teammates, including star end Myles Garrett, the NFL’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, who was appalled by the fans’ behavior.
“We should be ashamed of ourselves as Browns and as fans to boo anyone and their downfall. To be season-altering, career-altering injury,” Garrett said. “Man’s not perfect. He doesn’t need to be. None of us are expected to be perfect. Can’t judge him for what he does off the field or on the field because I can’t throw stones for my glass house.
“Ultimately everyone’s human and they’re disappointed just like we are, but we have to be better than that as people. There’s levels to this. At the end of the day, it’s just a game and you don’t boo anybody being injured and you don’t celebrate anyone’s downfall.”
Backup quarterback Jameis Winston also admonished the uncomfortable celebration.
“I am very upset with the reaction to a man that has had the world against him for the past four years, and he put his body and life on the line for this city every single day,” he said. “The way I was raised, I will never pull on a man when he’s down, but I will be the person to lift him up.
“I know you love this game. When I first got here, I knew these were some amazing fans, but Deshaun was treated badly and now he has to overcome another obstacle. So I’m going to support him, I’m going to lift him up and I’m going to be there for him.”
The injury is yet another twist in Watson’s tumultuous time with the Browns.
Cleveland traded three first-round draft picks and five overall to Houston in 2022 to get him, with owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam approving the team giving Watson a fully guaranteed, five-year $230 million contract.
With a solid roster, the Browns were desperate to find a QB who could help them compete against the top AFC teams.
The Browns had moved on from Baker Mayfield despite drafting him No. 1 overall in 2018 and making the playoffs two seasons later.
But Watson has not played up to expectations — fans have been pushing for him to be benched this season — and Cleveland’s move to get him has been labeled an abject failure with the team still on the hook to pay him $46 million in each of the next two seasons.
Watson’s arrival in Cleveland also came amid accusations by more than two dozen women of sexual assault and harassment during massage therapy sessions while he played for the Texans. Two grand juries declined to indict him and he has settled civil lawsuits in all but one of the cases.
Watson was suspended by the NFL for his first 11 games and fined $5 million for violating the league’s personal conduct policy before he took his first snap with the Browns. The long layoff — he sat out the 2021 season in a contract dispute — led to struggles once he got on the field, and Watson made just six starts last season before hurting his shoulder.
Cleveland signed veteran Joe Flacco, who went 4-1 as a starter and led the Browns to the playoffs.
Before Watson got hurt this year, he didn’t play much better. He was one of the league’s lowest-rated passers for a Cleveland team that hasn’t scored 20 points in a game and is back in search of a franchise QB.
:format(jpeg)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tgam/FQIO74DG5VPFBHMLDGVRJKUS4I.jpg){kind=link}