The Ottawa Senators want you to know they are going to be going through some changes. A lot of changes. Many, many, many changes. Coming off of a tumultuous 2017-18 season — both on and off the ice — the team is looking to head in a new and exciting direction starting this year. In an effort to help give their fans some sense of what that direction might be, the team released a six-minute video late Monday night featuring team owner Eugene Melnyk involved in what is supposed to look like a casual discussion with defenseman Mark Borowiecki about the state of the team.
It is … something. It is really, really something, and it seems to have done nothing but further enrage the loyal fans that are already disenfranchised with the team under Melnyk’s leadership (the old #Melnykout hashtag has already returned).
Let’s get to the highlights.
1. The owner isn’t wearing one of his team’s current jerseys
Let’s start with nitpicking something and point out that Melnyk is very clearly wearing an older Reebok jersey instead of one of the current ones.
This is only noteworthy because the NHL’s jersey sponsorship is with Adidas (all of the jerseys hanging in the background are Adidas) and, well, given how big sponsorships and brands are in the business world of professional sports (and Melnynk references “sponsors” at least three different times in this video) it is at least a little odd to see the team owner not wearing one of the new, current jerseys.
Maybe this is his lucky jersey and he likes it?
2. “Right now we’re kind of in the dumpster.”
As for the message itself, the whole thing starts off with Borowiecki asking a simple question: “What’s the plan here?”
That is a totally reasonable question that everyone in Ottawa — including the players currently on the roster — should be asking.
In response, Melnyk gives a pretty honest assessment of where the franchise is before trying to paint a rosy picture of where it can go.
“I think what are fans are looking forward to, and what I’m looking forward to, is a season that is fresh and brand new. Something we can look forward to with young players coming in. I think we can gel them into a very very serious team. Much bigger than a lot of people I think believe,” said Melnyk.
“Right now we’re kind of in the dumpster. You know, everyone says ‘ah they are not going to do anything.’ I do not believe that. I think with character in the dressing room, and people working very, very hard we can accomplish more than a lot of people believe. When I signed up for an owner I really didn’t expect going through something like we did last year. It was a tough, tough year for us .. in the offices, on the ice, now we are starting off fresh. A lot of things have changed I think this year is going to become one of those watershed years for us.”
3. He is not going anywhere
One of the many controversies that surrounded the Senators’ organization in 2017-18 was Melnyk, on the day before the team’s outdoor game against the Montreal Canadiens, throwing around a relocation threat if things ever become desperate for him and the team financially in Ottawa. Now he wants you to know that neither he nor the team is going anywhere anytime soon.
“We’re going to give everything we’ve got. Some people are talking in town, ‘ah he may move the team.’ First thing’s first, is I am going to stick around here for a long, long time. I’m not going anywhere. Number two the franchise is not going anywhere. That’s like, totally solid. So everybody can focus, get rid of the noise. What you try to do is try to ensure you’ve got some veterans in the room. That’s what everybody kind of counts on to take these young players under their wing.”
Just a reminder, again, that Eugene Melnyk was the person that talked about the team potentially moving.
4. The Senators are not currently loaded with draft picks … at least not yet
At one point during the interview Melnyk refers to the core already in place and how they plan to supplement it with younger players.
“We’re going to build that with young prospects that are now coming through, and the picks,” says Melnyk. “We’re loaded up now with draft picks for the next four, five, six years.”
Are they?
Maybe this will change in the coming months (and Melnyk seems to unintentionally hint to this later, which we will get to shortly) but the Senators are not really loaded with picks. At least not more than any other team in the NHL.
- Over the next three years the Senators have 22 draft picks, which would be a net gain of one draft pick over what every other team in the league starts off with (seven rounds per draft, one pick per round, seven picks per team).
- The Senators’ first-and third-round picks in 2019 currently belong to the Colorado Avalanche as part of the Matt Duchene trade from early last season. That first-round pick may be the most valuable pick out of all of the Senators’ near future picks given 1) where the Senators may finish in the standings this season, and 2) the possibility of that pick turning into Jack Hughes.
- The Senators do still have a third-round pick this year (originally belonging to the Pittsburgh Penguins) but it will most likely be significantly lower than what their own pick would have been.
To be fair, perhaps Melnyk knows what is going to happen in the coming weeks and months. This roster currently has a ton of upcoming free agents — Duchene, Mark Stone, and the best of the bunch, defenseman Erik Karlsson — and other veterans that could be sold off. It is possible, if not likely, that all of them will be playing for new teams before the end of this season. If they are, draft picks will almost certainly be a part of those returns.
But those trades still need to get made.
It also remains highly doubtful that they get a better pick in return than the pick they sent to Colorado.
So … yeah.
5. Expect a lot of new faces over the next two years
How many new faces? Let’s let the owner tell you what he sees happening.
“Well that’s what our rebuild is going to be. It is kind of a cliche term, but we take it seriously. I think this coming year we are going to have 10 out of the 22 players are going to be new, meaning they are either rookies, or they played maybe under 10 games last year. Then the following year it is going to go up to about 15 of the 22 … maybe 16. So that is a total turnover, so that is exactly what should be in a rebuild.”
Assuming that actually happens, that is a lot of change, and it also almost certainly spells the end of Stone, Duchene, and Karlsson in Ottawa, and probably a few other players under contract beyond this season (there are nine players on the roster under contract through at least 2019-20). It is also worth pointing out that a team with that many new, young players on the roster is almost certain to get steamrolled over the course of an 82-game regular season.
Finally, some words about being excited because of the energy the young players will bring to the organization.
“You get excited because they’re excited, it gets me excited, it gets all of our fans excited and our sponsors,” Melnyk says. “So it’s going to work out! I think we’re looking forward to a great, great coming year. I really think the fans are going to be supportive. We’ve got some great fans. These are great, great hockey fans, great sponsors. We just have to give them the hope that they know, that we know what we’re doing and that translates the team knowing what they’re doing and bring some wins together.”
Hey, full credit to the Senators for trying to get the message out that the team actually is rebuilding and trying to offer some insight into the plan, even if it isn’t necessarily great. There is something to be said for transparency, and some acknowledgement that a rebuild is on the way is a better approach than, say, whatever it is Montreal is doing by trading all of its best players and refusing to say the world “rebuild.”
On the other hand, you also could have just penned a letter like the Rangers did.
Related: 10 NHL people that need to have a better season in 2018-19
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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.
