• By: Dave Gross

Nordiques-Senators fiasco could and should have been avoided

About 25 years ago I was living in a tidy little brownstone apartment building in downtown Toronto (Yonge and Eglinton to be precise). The guy who resided directly above my place made a lot of noise.

I mean – a LOT of noise.

Eventually I moved my carcass along to get a semblance of peace and relocated to Scarborough.

My relatively quiet life was back in gear.

About 15 years ago I landed a dream apartment here in Ottawa. Along the Ottawa River, just steps from Tunney’s Pasture, the place was good value and in a prime location. Everything was rolling along swimmingly until . . .

Another noisemaker moved in above me.

This guy was so bad he made Noisemaker No. 1 in Hogtown sound like Tinkerbell.

After two years or gruelling endurance, I finally had to make my move. But the dye was cast, and I’d developed a kind of PTSD surrounding apartment noise . . . anything remotely jarring would/can set me off.

So, where are we going with this?

Well, when I look at the Ottawa Senator situation this past week with the dual jersey (Senators/Nordiques) and news that the club would be heading to Quebec City for some exhibition play, and witness the wild reaction, I get it; I understand and empathize with that reaction, aberrant or otherwise. 

The organization’s fan base also suffers from a kind of PTSD. 

Like my apartment complex (the situation, not the building), Senator fans are triggered by a provoking prompt – anything resembling talk or generating miniscule buzz involving a possible move out of Ottawa and the brain kicks into panic and scramble mode. (This is why in various quarters the organization’s devotees and operatives have garnered the nickname, the Ottawa Sensitives).

It is, quite frankly, a jumpy topic.

And like my apartment living experiences and fallout, the edginess and nervousness is well-earned.

Turning back the clock to when I first moved here in late 1999, my first job was as a paginator and editor and sometime junior hockey writer for the Ottawa Sun. Great gig for me, but a tumultuous time for the local pro hockey club.

For months the team, city and fan base were walking on eggshells waiting to see if the team could find a financial saviour as owner Rod Bryden pled with various levels of government for financial help and eventually, he reached out and demanded tax breaks.

Bryden would hoist the team up for sale, only to take down the white flag in early 2000 and try and see things through. The team’s followers, meantime, could smell a relocation in the wind.

That would continue on through the next several years as ugly words like refinancing and borrowing and bankruptcy protection filtered down through the Senators’ ivory towers. 

The capital city of the province just to the east was a constant talking point for relocation. Yup – Quebec City; a town that had lost its NHL franchise to Colorado some five years earlier.

Love him or not, Eugene Melnyk saved the Ottawa operation, and on April 27, 2003, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced the league had approved the sale.

The waters remained somewhat calm.

But like that noisy neighbour (or, neighbours), the jittery state of NHL Nation in these parts returned. Talk of a move to (you got it) LeBreton Flats started to pop up in early 2016. And hold your water if this sounds familiar – the slogging political process involving negotiations between the National Capital Commission and Melnyk’s group signalled the end of the discussions.

Shortly thereafter, Melnyk’s frustration boiled over at what was supposed to be a celebratory event featuring the Senators in an outdoor game by Parliament Hill.

The chatter gathered steam – one more time – that the Ottawa Senators were not long for, well, Ottawa.

Dwindling attendance numbers pushed the narrative forward and remained in place through the resale of the team following Melnyk’s death.

And now?

Well then, newish owner Michael Andlauer hasn’t overseen many PR gaffs during his short stay here (time will tell on this front), and his short tenure has been welcomed as professional and generally thoughtful.

He seems to have a plan.

But this whole Quebec City fiasco (yes, it qualifies as a fiasco) this week was a huge fumble. 

Given the history of the Ottawa Senators and one the management/ownership group should have been fully aware of; it was a major slip-up.

The Ottawa Sensitives?

You bet. And given the history, it’s well-earned.

OTTAWA SENATORS WEEK AHEAD:

Thursday, Jan. 30: Washington at Ottawa (7 pm)

Saturday, Feb. 1: Minnesota at Ottawa (7 pm)

Monday, Feb. 3: Ottawa at Nashville (7:30 pm)

Tuesday, Feb. 4: Ottawa at Tampa (7 pm)

 

thegrossgame@yahoo.com