CHAMPIONS - Ottawa Senators Fans

Michael Andlauer, as announced by the Senators on June 13, was the winner of the sale process, as he has acquired a controlling interest in the Ottawa Senators. He won fair and square, as he led his group to outbid and outlast all the others after a gruelling eight-month sale process. I know how long and difficult the process was, because I was in it.?

I also know Michael Andlauer well, and if I am going to lose the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire what has been my NHL home team since the 1990s to someone, I can tell you Michael is the one person who I am happy to see skate around the ice carrying the prize. But he and his partners are not the champions.

The financial winner of the sale process was the estate of Eugene Melnyk, and having known Melnyk personally, I can tell you he is smiling right now, as he always believed investing in Ottawa would be a great investment. Remember, he was the only one back in 2003 who was willing to step up and buy the Sens out of bankruptcy for $92 million and be willing to commit to keeping the Sens in Ottawa.

Critics often forget there were many willing to buy the Sens with the stipulation that they could move the team. It was only Melnyk who committed to keeping the Sens in Ottawa, and that is the only reason Ottawa today has an NHL franchise. Critics, give the man his props.

As a result, the net financial winners are the beneficiaries of the estate, primarily Melnyk’s daughters, Anna and Olivia Melnyk, who during their lifetime have seen their dad’s investment increase more than tenfold, from just over $90 million to over $900 million. They will continue to see that investment grow, as they will collectively retain a 10-percent interest in the team. However, they are not the champions.

The sale price of $950 million U.S. is a record price for an NHL franchise and makes every other owner of an NHL franchise a big winner of the Ottawa Senators sale process. Overnight, with this announcement, the wealth of the remaining 31 clubs has collectively increased by way over $10 billion U.S.?

All of these 31 NHL owners and their respective minority partners have one person to thank for the franchise value gains, and that is Gary Bettman. Even though the league was not involved in the actual sale process, the reason it fetched the premium price was directly because of Bettman and his leadership over the past three decades. Even they are not the champions.

In fact, all of the AHL owners, the ECHL owners and owners from every league where franchises are bought and sold should send Bettman a thank-you card, as their franchises just became more valuable. Bettman has lifted all boats by running the NHL in a way where more buyers want to own an NHL franchise than ever before. Nope, not the champions.

During the process, it was comical to see, especially in one particular case, the media was actually rooting for one group over another. Being that I own The Hockey News, I can tell you none of my writers would ever be pushing one ownership group over another, as it would be clearly unprofessional, in my opinion. That is different from someone writing a column, in which case the word “opinion” must go before the headline.?

When writers hype up one narrative, it hurts all journalists. In a previous Publisher’s Note, I attempted to explain the process to acquire the Ottawa Senators was an auction and not a popularity contest in an attempt to undo the damage that was being put out by some in the media. When combined with the person or people who were leaking confidential information, clearly there were no champions there in my opinion.

The Ottawa Senators need and deserve to have an authentic owner, a hockey person who they can connect with on a personal level, and they have the very best in Andlauer. I first met Andlauer in 2009, when we were both in the Montreal Canadiens sale process. I quickly connected with him when I learned he and I both grew up in Montreal, and both of us are what some would refer to as self-made.

We both started out as goalies, and while today he still is a goalie in his beer league, I moved out from the crease. The Sens community will connect with Andlauer just as quickly as I did.

People in Carleton Place, Stittsville, Almonte, Smiths Falls and in a hundred communities within driving distance of the Canadian Tire Centre truly love their Sens. Every day, when my mom and I would look out our window, we would see the school buses pick up and drop off the kids wearing their Sens hats and sweaters (I am old school). In the local Giant Tiger, owned by our neighbour, Ray, I would see all the Sens merchandise out on the racks year-round.

The real champions of the Ottawa Senators sale process is the entire fan base of the Ottawa Senators around the world, the city of Ottawa and all of the communities surrounding it, including the one where I have called home since the 1990s, Carleton Place.?

Sens fans, you are the CHAMPIONS.