If You Thought It Wasn't Possible For The Ottawa Senators Offseason To Get Any More Bizarre, This Video Should Do The Trick
By now everybody knows that the past year and some change has been an absolute circus show for the Ottawa Senators. In case you’ve been in a coma for the last 15 or so months, here are the Sparknotes version. The Senators were 1 win away from advancing to the 2017 Stanley Cup Final. The following season they traded for a disgruntled and underachieving Matt Duchene that has yet to be worth the 1st round pick they lost in the deal. The team finished 2nd to last in the entire league only above the Buffalo Sabres. Erik Karlsson had reportedly requested a trade before the deadline. Then a cyber-bullying scandal rocked the locker room between Mike Hoffman’s fiance and Erik Karlsson’s wife. This resulted in Hoffman getting traded to San Jose and then back into the division with Florida. There’s a strong chance that Erik Karlsson gets traded soon and if not, he could just leave in free agency next summer. If Karlsson leaves then chances are that Duchene leaves as well. While all this was going on, assistant GM Randy Lee was charged with sexual harassment of a 19-year-old Uber driver in Buffalo and subsequently resigned from the team. Soooo yeah if ever there was a time to break out the dumpster fire meme, it would be for the Ottawa Senators. The organization is in complete free fall mode right now and in a bizarre attempt to “get out ahead of the story” and try to save whatever face they have left, they decided to put out this ridiculous video with owner Eugene Melnyk and Mark Borowiecki.
Yes, that’s right. A depth defenseman and an owner wearing a team jersey are here to tell you that everything is going just according to plan, and that there’s nothing to worry about here. First of all, let’s talk about Euge real quick. Buddy. You are the OWNER of the Ottawa Senators. I know that ticket sales are low and everything but I’m pretty sure you can afford to shell out the extra $50 or so to get yourself the new Adidas jersey instead of wearing the Reebok one thats probably been stashed away in the closet for a few years. It’s a strange decision in the first place for the owner to be wearing the team jersey in some random ass video in early September. I guess it’s meant to signify that he’s just as part of the team as everybody else but still weird regardless. But if you’re going to wear a jersey, at least wear the current one for god’s sake. And then you have goofy ass Mark Borowiecki looking uncomfortable as all hell there being the face of your franchise? A 29-year-old 3rd pairing defenseman being the focal point of the franchise? Yikes!
Now to me, this video screams “hey guys, a major trade is about to happen and we’re just trying to build up as much good faith right now and beg you guys to stick with us after this happens”. Like buying a kid a bunch of ice cream to soften the blow before telling him that his puppy died or something. Only the ice cream was a video with Eugene Melnyk in a jersey and Mark Borowiecki. Not the best flavor. But this seems like a scramble move to make sure they don’t get shit on even more than they already have been this summer. And you hear it in Melnyk’s voice when he says “1 player, 2 players, 3 players in the dressing room are not going to do it”. He didn’t name any name there but that was code for “yeah so listen, Erik Karlsson, Mark Stone and Matt Duchene aren’t going to be here anymore”.
But even if this wasn’t a video meant to soften the blow for when those guys inevitably leave the organization. Even if the idea behind this video was actually to put out a detailed plan for the Ottawa Senators’ rebuild. Even if that were the case…. what in the actual heck did this video answer? It was Eugene Melnyk saying that they have a bunch of new young guys this year, they’ll have some more new young guys next year, and then Mark Borowiecki saying there are some characters in the locker room. That’s your big rebuild? That’s what is supposed to get everybody fired up to buy season tickets? That you have young guys and within 2 years at least 75% of the current team isn’t going to be there anymore? Or in other words your plan is to not be competitive for at least the next 5 seasons? That may have worked on Sixers fans but I’m not quite sold on the idea that Eugene Melnyk is Sam Hinkie.
“We’re loaded up with draft picks now for the next 4, 5, 6 years” – Eugene Melnyk (actually not Sam Hinkie)
Reality:
No first round pick next year. And then it’s not like they’re loaded with 1st and 2nd round picks after that. They have the same amount of picks as literally everybody else in the league. Saying you’re loaded with draft picks because you have the ones that the league gives you simply for existing is quite the stretch. Unless, of course, the Senators do have a ton of draft picks coming in return for Erik Karlsson. But unless that’s the case, I think Eugene Melnyk is putting just a little too much stock in some extra 6th and 7th round picks.
#OttawaRising. At least they have the new hashtag.