His personality, his way of doing business, the beliefs he tried to impose upon others, his disregard for those operating and playing for his team, pervaded the franchise for almost two decades, and it wore people down. Plenty of owners fail to win big that is not the reason fans and Senators employees grew disillusioned with Melnyk. He was also, at times, a tyrant, and by the end there weren’t many people in the organization or in the community who considered him an asset. Melnyk could be charming and charismatic he could be benevolent. The team’s performance over the years has been as erratic as the owner himself. Progress, like a run to the 2007 Stanley Cup Final, was marred by messy divorces with some of the organization’s most beloved players, squandered talent and organizational resources, and a wholesale erosion of trust between the team, its loyal fan base, and the greater Ottawa community. But since then, their success has been sporadic. They had advanced to the conference final the previous season before losing to the New Jersey Devils, the eventual Stanley Cup winners. When Melnyk purchased the team, the Senators were stacked with talent. Melnyk’s death on March 28, 2022, and the uncertainty around who will lead the team in the future, brings about a moment to assess his almost 19 seasons as the franchise’s leader. Middles and endings can be messier, and for Melnyk that was certainly the case.
It was a blissful and upbeat time for Senators fans and those in the organization, as beginnings often are. The next evening, the Senators hosted the Montreal Canadiens in the season opener - a 5-2 win - the first victory of the Melnyk era. Melnyk took in the show with his wife, Laura the couple celebrated their ninth wedding anniversary that night. The Eagles’ set lasted an hour-and-a-half, with two encores. “The fans can count on, the players, the vendors can count on.” “There is stability that you can count on,” he said at the time. The financial instability that marred the franchise was a thing of the past now, he assured the locals. Melnyk had purchased the Senators and the arena in Kanata for $92 million, after the franchise had fallen into bankruptcy protection, with creditors owed more than $200 million. Earlier, during the summer, he assured locals who had long worried about the team relocating, “I’m guaranteeing you the team is going to be staying in Ottawa now.” And he knew the right notes to hit with the team’s most fervent fans. The 44-year-old billionaire introduced a new era for the franchise with a bang, an event that cost more than $2 million.
8, 2003, and actor Alan Thicke was at Melnyk’s side, helping him kick off a free Eagles concert for season ticket holders, suite owners and sponsors of the Senators. Eugene Melnyk stood before a microphone on a stage at the Corel Centre in Ottawa, blushing as the crowd of around 16,000 people cheered the new owner of the city’s beloved NHL team.