Tag: Ottawa Senators

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Ottawa Senators could soon have new ownership

The Mirror

Get ready Senators fans, because it looks as though the franchise is about to have a new ownership group led by Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds and the Remington Group led by real estate mogul Christopher Bratty. The bid is worth a reported $1 billion, which would set the new record for the largest franchise sale in NHL history. 

According to a report from The Ottawa Sun:

”League sources told Postmedia Friday the Markham-based group, led by Vancouver-born actor Ryan Reynolds and real estate magnate Christopher Bratty, is prepared to bid more than $1 billion (all figures U.S.) to buy the Senators and the Canadian Tire Centre.”

As Postmedia reported Sunday, New York-based banker Galatioto Sports Partners, who has been hired by the Melnyk family to sell the team, has set May 15 as the deadline for final binding bids.”

Reynolds himself attended many home Senators games this season, and has also held meetings with the the National Capital Commission as well as Ottawa mayor Mark Sutcliffe. 

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Ryan Reynolds, Remington Group looking to bid billions for Ottawa Senators

First, it was Aviation Gin. Then, it was Wrexham Football Club. Now, famous actor and notable businessman Ryan Reynolds, along with Remington Group, are set to place a massive bid to take over the NHL’s Ottawa Senators and the Canadian Tire Centre.

League sources recently reported to the Ottawa Sun that the Markham-based group headed by Reynolds and real estate mogul Christopher Bratty is planning to bid over $1 billion (approximately over $1.35 billion CAD) for the team and its home arena.

It’s been reported that banker Galatioto Sports Partners have been hired by current owners, the Melnyk family, to sell the team. Both Reynolds and Bratty have stated that they are open to the idea of the Melnyk family keeping a legacy piece of the team. Final binding bids have a deadline set for May 15th. Reynolds and Bratty are looking to secure the deal as soon as possible and have been very open and aggressive about their interest in the hockey team.

Part of the proposal alleges the duo is planning to build a new rink close to downtown Ottawa, complete with a surrounding entertainment district. The two have already met with officials from the National Capital Commission in March 2023 to discuss potential location changes.

The general belief is that the Remington Group is ready to redevelop the space where the Canadian Tire Centre currently resides. The exact plan is unknown at this time, but Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe recently said that he wanted to make sure the current area wasn’t deserted.

If the deal is completed, it’s expected that the Remington Group will meet with FarmBoy CEO Jeff York as well as other Ottawa business heads and be brought aboard as investors. If the group is able to obtain the franchise, Reynolds already understands the importance of the organization playing a big role in the community.

Senators fans will no doubt be hoping the deal will go through. The team last won a conference championship in the 06-07 season, and the coveted Stanely Cup Trophy still alludes to them. However, in just two seasons as co-owner of Wrexham A.F.C., Reynolds was able to help lead the squad to its first league title in 45 years.

Several other groups have met with Senator executives, including:

  • Michael Andlauer, the owner of the OHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs and a minority owner of the Montreal Canadiens.
  • Jeffrey and Michael Kimel, owners of Harlo Capital Group and who recently sold their share in the Pittsburgh Penguins.
  • Toronto billionaire Steve Apostolopoulos, who made a $6 billion USD (about $8.1 billion CAD) bid to purchase the NFL’s Washington Commanders.
  • Los Angeles-based producer Neko Sparks was reportedly the highest bidder in the first round at more than $900 million USD (about 1.2 billion CAD).
  • Vivek Ranadivé, the owner of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings
  • The owner of a hockey publication has also made a bid

It is unclear how many groups will continue into the second round of bidding, perhaps motivating Remington’s recent rush to secure a takeover.

Ryan Reynolds reportedly wants to do a streaming show for the Senators in the vein of his popular Wrexham documentary. Reynolds’ U.S.-based budget wireless provider Mint Mobile was also recently bought by T-Mobile for a reported price of as much as $1.35 billion USD (about $1.86 billion CAD).

Image credit: Disney

Source: Ottawa Sun Via: Ottawa Sun

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Flashback: Leafs fans celebrate last playoff series win

YouTube

It’s no secret that the Toronto Maple Leafs are currently mired in a lengthy postseason victory drought that hasn’t seen them advance past the 1st round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs since prior to the invention of YouTube. To be exact, it was 19 years ago that Toronto last celebrated a series win, a 4-1 triumph over the Ottawa Senators at the then-named Air Canada Center. 

It was veteran forward Joe Nieuwendyk who electrified the crowd with two 1st period goals against an extremely leaky Patrick Lalime en route to a series win and a date in Round 2 with the Philadelphia Flyers. 

Take a look back the game itself and the subsequent celebrations that followed: 

Tonight, the Maple Leafs have the chance to advance to Round 2 for the first time since that night, and Toronto is ready to party like it’s 2004 again. Will they get the chance to? 

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Former NHL forward Bobby Ryan hits back at Ottawa reporter

SenShot

As you may remember, the 2016-17 Ottawa Senators exceeded all reasonable on-ice expectations by taking down the Boston Bruins and later the New York Rangers in the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs, setting up an Eastern Conference Final showdown against the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins. 

By the time it was all said and done, the Senators had come within one goal of advancing to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in what would have been a decade; the image of the knuckle puck shot from Chris Kunitz beating a bewildered Craig Anderson in overtime of Game 7 still haunts the dreams of Ottawa fans everywhere. 

There were reasonable expectations for the Senators to at least qualify for the playoffs in the 2017-18 season, given what they accomplished the year prior. However, no such repeated success took place. They would ultimately finish last in the Eastern Conference and 7th in the Atlantic Division, coming nowhere near qualifying for the postseason.

Things really began to fall off the rails after Ottawa played two games against the Colorado Avalanche in Stockholm, Sweden in November of 2017. And according to Bruce Garrioch of The Ottawa Sun in a recent social media message, the team essentially stopped practicing. 

“The reason the Sens were so bad after returning from Sweden is Guy Boucher was so convinced he and the players were exhausted they essentially quit practicing. Rest was no weapon. That’s why the year went off the rails,” Garrioch posted on his Twitter account yesterday.

But it wouldn’t be long before a member of that squad in now-former Senators forward Bobby Ryan caught wind of Garrioch’s words and responded.

“WTF are you talking about, Bruce?” Ryan replied

Garrioch would try and pivot by telling Ryan not to act like his co-hosts on his Senators based podcast called ‘Coming in Hot’. But Ryan wasn’t finished. 

“Not sure which one you’re talking about as I tell them both daily they are knobs but don’t say something that asinine when I can name about 5 things that mattered more during that season,” Ryan responded. 

Senators fans remember all too well the drama surrounding defenseman Erik Karlsson and the reported online abuse that his wife suffered allegedly at the hands of the girlfriend of teammate Mike Hoffman. There was also the ill-fated acquisition of Matt Duchene, along with an eyebrow suggestion of potential relocation from late owner Eugene Melnyk prior to the outdoor “NHL 100 Classic” game against the Montreal Canadiens. 

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Four teams chosen to play in Europe for Global Series

CBS Sports

The NHL is once again taking things international next season, and earlier today unveiled the teams who will be taking on one another in Sweden. 

The NHL announced that the Detroit Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators, and Minnesota Wild all will be doing battle in Stockholm from November16-19. The Red Wings and Senators will kick things off on November 16, followed by the Red Wings and Maple Leafs on November 17. Subsequently, the Wild and Senators will play on November 18, and capped off by the Maple Leafs facing the Wild on November 19.

For the Red Wings, this will be their first international games since they began the 2009-10 season with two straight matchups against the St. Louis Blues in Sweden. 

Swedish natives include Minnesota’s Jonas Brodin, Joel Eriksson Ek and Filip Gustavsson, Ottawa’s Erik Brannstrom and Anton Forsberg, Detroit’s Lucas Raymond and Jonatan Berggren, and Toronto’s William Nylander. 

“A lot of the people that may go to this for the first time in Australia are going because it’s an event — a North American professional sport is playing in Australia — and what we need to do is convince them that this is a sport worth following, that it’s fun, it’s interesting, it’s the kind of sport they can get involved in,” explained the NHL’s senior executive VP of media and international strategy David Proper said. “In a place like Sweden, you’re really dealing at a different level. You’re not trying to explain the sport. You’re trying to polish the sport and the brand to the fanbase there and get casual fans to become avid fans.”

Sweden isn’t the only international destination the NHL is headed for next season, as Los Angeles Kings and Arizona Coyotes are going to be playing a pair of exhibition games in Melbourne, Australia, in September.

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Dylan Larkin says Red Wings must toughen up

The Detroit Free Press

Detroit Red Wings fans were riding high and dreaming of a postseason spot after an incredible late February 4-1 road swing that included victories over the Edmonton Oiler and Calgary Flames, followed by a complete victory at home over the contending New York Rangers.

But then, Detroit ran into a brick wall in the form of goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy. The Russian superstar made 45 saves in a Herculean shutout effort in late February, stealing the game for the Tampa Bay Lightning. But it was two straight brutal losses against the Atlantic Division rival Ottawa Senators that essentially sealed Detroit’s fate of once again being a seller at the Trade Deadline. 

Not only did Detroit lose the back to back series against Ottawa by a combined score of 12-3, but they were completely outmatched physically and offered little pushback, even when yapping Senators captain Brady Tkachuk challenged the Red Wings bench. 

General manager Steve Yzerman talked about the need to be a more physical team to play against next year in his end-of-season media remarks, and it wasn’t long before captain Dylan Larkin echoed his sentiments. 

“There were plenty of times this year I felt guys took liberties,” Larkin said earlier today. “Whoever it was, whatever their role on the other team — their tough guys — they kind of had free nights. I think that’s something that needs to be addressed, to have an answer to that.”

To Larkin’s credit, he’s shown absolutely no hesitation to mix it up with the opposition. Understandably, Detroit wouldn’t be fond of their captain and top player risking injury by fighting. And while the team did add much-needed grit last offseason in the form of Ben Chiarot, more pushback is needed. 

“You can’t have Mo Seider step up and look over his shoulder all night,” Larkin said. “But in terms of playing competitive games, where it’s just battling and competing, I think we’re there. The Ottawa games were more so where those tough guys were running around and we didn’t have an answer for it.”

“But when we stuck together, when we played hard, guys blocked shots — we had countless injuries with broken bones and guys doing it the whole season. So I thought we really competed together and you saw scrums and guys were in there together, sticking up for each other.”

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Could Kyle Dubas join Leafs division rival?

NHL Trade Talk

Right now, the Toronto Maple Leafs and general manager Kyle Dubas are preparing to do anything and everything in order to finally break through and win their first postseason series since 2004. Should they fail in that endeavor, there will almost certainly be major changes in the organization, and that could potentially include Dubas losing the gig as Leafs GM that he’s held since 2018.

But is there a bit of a power struggle taking place behind the scenes in Toronto? And could it potentially lead to him joining a bitter division rival, especially if the Leafs were to falter in the postseason yet again? 

According to Frank Seravalli of The Daily Faceoff, there’s a rift between Dubas and team president Brendan Shanahan. What’s more, Dubas could depart this summer for the Ottawa Senators if Pierre Dorion is shown the door. 

Take a look at what Seravalli had to say during the latest episode of The Daily Faceoff Rundown:

“I think everything is on the table for the Leafs. There’s been a real power struggle there between Kyle Dubas and Brendan Shanahan, and they’ve done a great job of keeping it lower case and lower key. But, who at the end of the day is holding the keys and who has final decision making power? Brendan Shanahan has it and he’s leveraged it on multiple occasions. I think that relationship has been stressed is the best way to say it. How does that play out? If the Leafs win…if they don’t…I mean, the fact that Kyle Dubas doesn’t have a contract would probably indicate to you what might be coming next in that Brendan Shanahan did ask the board for an extension for Kyle and wasn’t granted one last summer. Yeah, who knows/ Everyone has been saying Kyle Dubas and Pittsburgh and I think people draw lines that may or may not be there. I wonder what happens with the Ottawa Senators. Like, I think that could be a team that could be a destination for Kyle Dubas if he ends up leaving.”

“Pierre Dorion was talking this week like he was going to be the guy, but I think there’s a greater than 9 in 10 chances that he’s not.” 

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Senators officially cut ties with goaltender Cam Talbot.

Marc DesRosiers/USA TODAY Sports

The Ottawa Senators are moving on.

There had been reports indicating that veteran goaltender Cam Talbot had rejected a contract offer from the Senators during the course of the 2022-23 NHL regular season, and on Monday morning Senators general manager Pierre Dorion confirmed those rumors… and then some.

Dorion not only confirmed that the contract offer had been rejected by Talbot, but shared specific details about the negotiations. Dorion revealed that the Senators offered Talbot a one-year deal with a significant pay cut, understandable given that Talbot posted a 2.93 goals against average and a .989 save percentage over 36 regular season games, not exactly inspiring numbers.

Dorion went on to reveal that Talbot wanted a two-year contract, with rumors suggesting that Talbot also wanted a raise to go along with it. It comes as no surprise that the Senators balked at this suggestion and instead opted to move on from Talbot, something Dorion also confirmed on Monday.

Now that we know that Talbot will not come back next season, the next questions become how will the Senators look to shore up their goaltending in the offseason and where might Talbot end up next?

It seems likely that Talbot’s options will be relatively limited, despite a weak goaltending market this summer, given the struggles he had between the pipes for the Senators this season.

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Matthew Barnaby chimes in on the coaching situations in Vancouver and Ottawa.

Craig Melvin/Getty

Over the last several days we have seen a number of coaches around the National Hockey League get their walking papers after their respective teams failed to make the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs.

At this time of year the question is always who will be the next domino to fall, and although we don’t know the answer to that, it sounds like there are at least 2 coaches who should be feeling pretty safe. On Sunday, former NHL enforcer Matthew Barnaby took to social media and, unprompted, shared his thoughts on the coaching situation currently in Vancouver.

The Canucks of course famously made a mid-season coaching change when they brought in Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet and relieved Bruce Boudreau of his head coaching duties, and Barnaby believes that Tocchet will turn that team around in short order.

“Coaches can make a team or break a team at any level,” said Barnaby on Sunday. “Trust me there are some bad ones. A great one is Rick Tocchet. He is going to change the culture and turn the Canucks into a winner”

Barnaby was asked about a number of other coaches around the league but thus far has only chosen to respond to one of those, a question about DJ Smith’s future in Ottawa. When it comes to Smith, Barnaby wasn’t as confident as he was with Tocchet, but he did suggest that the Sens head coach deserves another season behind the bench.

“I would keep status quo one more year,” admitted Barnaby.

As a former NHL player that played for several teams and under several coaches, and as a former assistant coach in the Ontario Hockey League, Barnaby likely has a pretty good idea of what he is talking about here.

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Report: Alex DeBrincat could be traded from Senators!

Yardbarker

For an Ottawa Senators team that found themselves on the cusp of their first postseason spot since 2017 thanks to a late season push, this would be a significant setback.

According to Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch, forward Alex DeBrincat, who is coming off his first season with the Senators after a trade last year with the Chicago Blackhawks, doesn’t appear at all committed to staying in the Canadian capital city on a long term basis. 

“From what I heard this morning, I think we’re talking about a guy who has no inclination of signing here,” said Garrioch. “He said he’s open to having discussions but I found what he said was very non-committal. He didn’t show any signs that he’s going to sign a contact extension here.

“The Senators won’t keep him unless they can get some kind of long-term extension in place. They’ve had the door open since they acquired him last July. There have been no substantial discussions between DeBrincat, his agent, Jeff Jackson, and Dorion. I think there’s a possibility that at the draft, we may see Alex DeBrincat get moved.”

DeBrincat was a key addition made by the Senators last summer that also saw them lure veteran Claude Giroux back to his home city. He finished fourth on the team in goals scored with 27, along with total points in 66. He’s eligible to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, as he just wrapped up the final year of the three-year, $19.2 million contract he inked with Chicago in 2019. 

“I think the Senators can look at this [season] as a success. They’ve made steps in the right direction, with the emergence of Tim Stutzle and the best free agent signing in the history of this club with the addition of Claude Giroux,” said Garrioch. “I think the pieces are in place for this team to head in the right direction. I think as they head into this offseason there’s a lot of promise and hope for next year and I think they can feel good about themselves.”

Will DeBrincat be part of the long term future of the Senators? Or will he be one and done?