News Article: Karlsson and Dorion/Melnyk didn't talk after November

[SensFan613]

Maybe Karlsson isn't the angel everyone thinks he is. Brennan stated in one of his latest articles that he is very stubborn and that was confirmed by a player on the team in the article. Can say he loves Ottawa and the fans all he wants. Yet wouldn't meet with Melnyk to settle their differences. Although Melnyk already screwed over Alfie and Turris so I guess Karlsson has a reason not to trust him or like him.

 

[DaveMatthew]

Friedman made this claim in his latest 31 thoughts



So Karlsson might not be saying the truth.

That quote doesn't make all that much sense though.

Ottawa offered Karlsson a contract on July 1st, we know that for sure.
Ottawa then gave Karlsson permission to negotiate with other teams on an extension. That, according to all reports, happened on July 3rd.

Based on that timeline - we can assume that Karlsson rejected the offer on July 1st or 2nd, and the team knew they wouldn't be able to sign him once that offer was turned down. They then quickly gave his camp the ability to look at other options and so they can facilitate a trade.

So what was Melnyk reaching out about?

• The status of Ottawa's offer? If Karlsson hadn't rejected it yet - why did Ottawa grant him permission to negotiate with other teams?
• The status of his negotiations with other teams? Did Melnyk and Dorion have a trade lined up with someone else and need Karlsson to agree to an extension?

 

[Do Make Say Think]

That quote doesn't make all that much sense though.

Ottawa offered Karlsson a contract on July 1st, we know that for sure.
Ottawa then gave Karlsson permission to negotiate with other teams on an extension. That, according to all reports, happened on July 3rd.

Based on that timeline - we can assume that Karlsson rejected the offer on July 1st or 2nd, and the team knew they wouldn't be able to sign him once that offer was turned down. They then quickly gave his camp the ability to look at other options and so they can facilitate a trade.

So what was Melnyk reaching out about?

• The status of Ottawa's offer? If Karlsson hadn't rejected it yet - why did Ottawa grant him permission to negotiate with other teams?
• The status of his negotiations with other teams?

I don't see how it doesn't make any sense. Melnyk calls Karlsson after Karlsson turned down an offer "yo can we talk face to face?" and Karlsson said "No and I don't know when I'll want to have that talk".

Seems pretty straight-forward. Maybe they expected Karlsson to make a counter offer and they got nothing so they reached out?

 

[DaveMatthew]

I don't see how it doesn't make any sense. Melnyk calls Karlsson after Karlsson turned down an offer "yo can we talk face to face?" and Karlsson said "No and I don't know when I'll want to have that talk".

Seems pretty straight-forward. Maybe they expected Karlsson to make a counter offer and they got nothing so they reached out?

If they were waiting for an answer or still held out any hope he'd stay, why had they already given other teams permission to talk contract with him?
You don't do that unless you know it's not getting done.

 

[Fandlauer]

 

[Do Make Say Think]

If they were waiting for an answer or still held out any hope he'd stay, why had they already given other teams permission to talk contract with him?
You don't do that unless you know it's not getting done.

Fair enough.

However one thing does remain, if Melnyk did reach out, then Karlsson saying he didn't hear from management or ownership after November of 2017 isn't accurate.

Not that this means that what is currently going down (the complete destruction of the franchise) is ok. Melnyk remain the ultimate bad guy here.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

Nobody who wants to accomplish anything in their career should meet with Melnyk.

 

[DylanSensFan]

At this point I am just going to start calling Dorion by the nickname Kneel'nBob. Because that is what he spends his time doing in Melnyk's office. I used to like him, but it seems that somewhere during this travesty he lost his backbone.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

Karlsson is not worth 2 million more than Hedman

Hedman's contract was signed in 2016, before expansion and the significant cap jump. He is also in Tampa where players routinely take significant discounts because it is so tax friendly. You 2 million difference isn't accurate from a practical standpoint.

 

[branch]

Still can't believe we traded this guy


for the return we got.......

How can you royally **** up so bad

God...that slap pass to Ryan at 2:40.

No other player in the league can do that.

 

[RyCam]

Pretty much this, things were definitely soured but not through EK's side(except for him maybe saying that he's looking for fair market value, which he has every right to), asking for his no-trade list and then repeatedly trying to trade him is where things really went downhill, not this face-to-face meeting after everything was already said and done.

 

[OmniSens]

Me thinks Karlsson is lying to not hurt the fans.

 

[Joeyjoejoe]

Karlsson is not worth 2 million more than Hedman

Yes he does, and you have to take into account the difference in tax levels. $12M in Ottawa is a lot less than getting $12 in Tampa.

 

[NorthCoast]

Even a five year old would have known that if you trade EK65 at the deadline, you get the most back for him, than you would if you trade him at any point after the deadline.

PD knows this, and that is why I believe the decision to trade him, instead of whom ever they may have contemplated trading, was made after the deadline.

Okay let's get this straight.

Sept 2017 - PD evaluates the team and determines it is time to go all in
Nov 2017 - PD trades 2019 1st round pick for Duchene
Feb (mid) 2018 - PD decides team needs to go into multi-year full-rebuild
TDL - PD can't decide if EK will be part of the rebuild
July 2018 - PD offers EK an 8 year contract
Sept 2018 - PD trades EK and declares that the trade was a critical part of the rebuild

PD is either incompetent his team evaluation in summer 2017, or for not trading EK at the deadline, or for having a rebuild plan that included EK (in which case why wasn't Duchene/Stone traded at the deadline to maximise there return...or does the rebuild include all three?)

Which is it?

It is ludicrous to actually believe that the owner and GM of a NHL franchise, constantly lies to everyone, all the time........... and in this case, for the sake of some season ticket sales.

Actually it's not. Because there is precedent for NHL horrible owners, Ballard, Wirtz..etc. So we know that it's not ludicrous, but perfectly plausible.

Owner runs out of money, doesn't want to sell the team, tells GM to trade all the expensive players away to lower costs. Why is this ludicrous to believe? It happens everyday in business, has happened before in the NHL, and provides a much simpler explanation to the events than the mental gymnastics you are trying to jump through above.

 

[topshelf15]

Me thinks Karlsson is lying to not hurt the fans.

Yep no way does he ever come back,and left because he knew there was nothing coming that would return the team back into a playoff team for awhile...He signs with a contender plays out his career and retires to live in Ottawa ...This rebuild even with money should EM ever sell will still take some time

 

[coladin]

Still can't believe we traded this guy


for the return we got.......

How can you royally **** up so bad

Still can believe the thousands of empty seats in the playoffs, well done Ottawa! Glad I was there!

 

[Pierre from Orleans]

Still can believe the thousands of empty seats in the playoffs, well done Ottawa! Glad I was there!

Thousands? It was quite embarrassing but wasn't game 1 of round 2 only 1500 shy of a sellout? Game 7 of the ECF was a couple hundred shy

 

[coladin]

Thousands? It was quite embarrassing but wasn't game 1 of round 2 only 1500 shy of a sellout? Game 7 of the ECF was a couple hundred shy

16 and change at the Rangers game. All those lovely white towels in the ends and corners, sticking out like sore thumbs. Hey, people were super loud and saw the impossible Karlsson angle goal. They had 20,500 for Alfie, 4 months earlier.

 

[OmniSens]

Yep no way does he ever come back,and left because he knew there was nothing coming that would return the team back into a playoff team for awhile...He signs with a contender plays out his career and retires to live in Ottawa ...This rebuild even with money should EM ever sell will still take some time

I give it 4 years. 3 years of building (We'll ignore this season because our pick is in Colorado) until we're back chasing for a playoff spot.

 

[FolignoQuantumLeap]

16 and change at the Rangers game. All those lovely white towels in the ends and corners, sticking out like sore thumbs. Hey, people were super loud and saw the impossible Karlsson angle goal. They had 20,500 for Alfie, 4 months earlier.

Capacity was 18,572 and attendance was 16,744 for that Monday night game during the height of the Phoenix pay crisis.

 

[coladin]

That quote doesn't make all that much sense though.

Ottawa offered Karlsson a contract on July 1st, we know that for sure.
Ottawa then gave Karlsson permission to negotiate with other teams on an extension. That, according to all reports, happened on July 3rd.

Based on that timeline - we can assume that Karlsson rejected the offer on July 1st or 2nd, and the team knew they wouldn't be able to sign him once that offer was turned down. They then quickly gave his camp the ability to look at other options and so they can facilitate a trade.

So what was Melnyk reaching out about?

• The status of Ottawa's offer? If Karlsson hadn't rejected it yet - why did Ottawa grant him permission to negotiate with other teams?
• The status of his negotiations with other teams? Did Melnyk and Dorion have a trade lined up with someone else and need Karlsson to agree to an extension?

Not a lot of this makes sense. Obviously, Karlsson is trying to protect his image about wanting to be here, but refuses to meet with the owner. He can say he could not have imagined this and it is shocking. Meanwhile, 48 hourse before he is having dinner with the GM and new coach of his team. So shocking.

We will never know the whole story. But it stinks from both sides.

 

[coladin]

Capacity was 18,572 and attendance was 16,744 for that Monday night game during the height of the Phoenix pay crisis.

There was 20,500 for the Alfie game in December 2016. I know what official attendance is. Reality is if the team advanced to the Cup Final, the bandwagoners would have jammed it to 20,500 like they did for Alfie. No one wanted to got o the Phoenix game in October on a Monday. And he was brilliant that night. Spare the excuses already. 11,069. Clear night in October. Passion personified.

 

[Acidrain66]

I give it 4 years. 3 years of building (We'll ignore this season because our pick is in Colorado) until we're back chasing for a playoff spot.

Keep hoping, I'll guarantee we will always be rebuild mood till ownership change

 

[NorthCoast]

There was 20,500 for the Alfie game in December 2016. I know what official attendance is. Reality is if the team advanced to the Cup Final, the bandwagoners would have jammed it to 20,500 like they did for Alfie. No one wanted to got o the Phoenix game in October on a Monday. And he was brilliant that night. Spare the excuses already. 11,069. Clear night in October. Passion personified.

I don't understand the point you are trying to make.

Yes, if we avg. 12k a game, and ticket prices haven't changed, then it's pretty bad considering we used to be at 18k-19k. But it seems like those were one offs that could be found in many buildings around the league. (including playoff non-sellouts which I can find has happened to 10+ teams)

However, I don't understand the debate around attendance of 16k vs 18k. What if the team increased prices and made more revenue off of 16k than they did at 18k? Shouldn't revenue be the measure of business performance? The last few years the team revenue seems to be pretty stable around 120 million according to Forbes.

Sens fans are already easily in the top ten fanbases when it comes to money spent per capita on the team by fans in the market. What is a reasonable amount of spending per fan in Ottawa? 3x what Toronto fans spend. 5x? 10x?

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Me thinks Karlsson is lying to not hurt the fans.

Friedman's claim indicates otherwise: he's unloading to paint management in an even worse light.

I get it, I tend to be very vindictive at my old bosses who treated me poorly (lots of those at Parcs Canada!) but reporters don't ask me what happened