Ottawa's Owner's a Party Pooper

Published on 15-Dec-2017 by Alan Adamsson

NHL    NHL Daily Update

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Ottawa's Owner's a Party Pooper

NHL Commish Gary Bettman has been a convenient punching bag ever since he fronted the league's lockout strategy  -- as LeBron James would say -- not one, not two, but three times.

However, if he's stood even more firm on an issue, it's that he does everything in his power to prevent franchises from moving.

That's been no mean feat. Throughout its history, the NHL has been a shiftin' kinda league.

Since Bettman came over from the NBA in 1993, only five franchises have picked up stakes, and it can be argued that there wasn't much he could do in any of those cases:

In ... This crew ... Became this crew ... Because of ...
1993 Minnesota North Stars Dallas Stars a jerk owner
1995 Québec Nordiques Colorado Avalanche jerks all around
1996 Winnipeg Jets Arizona Coyotes shallow pockets
1997 Hartford Whalers Carolina Hurricanes whales don't wear red
2001 Atlanta Thrashers Winnipeg Jets the ATL don't do hockey

So when Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk comes whining to the Board of Governors that he'll have to move the club if disaster strikes, he'd better have a rock solid argument.

Not only would The Commish be loathe to a relocation, he's gonna have a chapped ass about Melnyk's timing.

After all, the Sens are a couple of weeks away from playing in one of the league's holiday cornerstones, the NHL 100 Classic outdoor game tomorrow night.

This is not the time to go pissing in his poutine.

But there was Melnyk today, center stage:

The bigger question is whether I’m prepared to blow all that money I made over many years in a different industry in a different country.

How long can you underwrite a team?

Why he chose one of his club's hottest promotional moments to do a 1%er bitch could qualify as one of the Great White North's most tone deaf outbursts of 2017.

Dude's gotta get with the program.

Yes, the Senators have issues on and off the ice, and according to fans, Melnyk's one of them.

Now, after his taking some of the luster off what's supposed to be a partying weekend for puckheads, he's provided more proof as to why.