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The NHL quickly shot down media reports
Thursday that suggested Melnyk was engaged in talks to sell the
Senators.
According to NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly, Melnyk disclosed
that there was an offer to buy the Senators when he spoke to the
NHL board of governors at their meeting in Las Vegas last week.
"We were aware that an offer was going to be made -- but that,
in and of itself, is not unusual," Daly told ESPN in an email.
"That doesn't mean Melnyk wants to sell. And, in point of fact,
he doesn't. So, there's not really any story here."
The Senators announced the completed financing of $135 million
of debt on Wednesday with a collection of financial
organizations.
Melnyk, 59, told reporters in December that he would consider
moving the franchise -- whose ticket sales lagged in the middle
of a 67-point season -- elsewhere "if it becomes a disaster,"
adding that he would not "blow a lifetime of working hard to
support a hockey team." He also said, as he has many times, that
he has no intention of selling the team.
Many Senators fans showed disdain for Melnyk late in the season,
bringing anti-Melnyk signs to games and buying billboards across
the city bearing the hashtag #MelnykOut.
Daniel Alfredsson, who captained the Senators for 13 of his 17
seasons with the team before retiring in 2014, reportedly spoke
with Ottawa mayor Jim Watson in May about the hope for new
ownership.
"We've talked a lot, we've talked about the future of the
Senators and of its ownership and we agree," Alfredsson told
former Ottawa Sun columnist Susan Sherring. "We hope we get a
new owner."
According to ESPN, Guy Laliberte, a billionaire co-founder of
Cirque du Soleil, has been rumored to be interested in buying
the Senators.
--Field Level Media
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