Confirmed with Link: Senators are for sale - and it’s a Gong Show

[Ice-Tray]

If the team is making the playoffs and rising and you have the entire Ottawa Valley invested in the team - it’ll be a hit. RR is going to make Ottawa into something nobody else can do and people said couldn’t ever be done - RR will make Ottawa cool.

The production equivalent of the Hamburgaler run! Hahaha

 

[Yak]

The deepest pockets will win, Gary knows this team has been a budget team for too long and needs serious investment from top to bottom.

RR is cool but is more then awesome PR guy who has a small stake in the team. He has no loyalty to any group only the one who let's him play with the big boys. Prospective ownership groups will amuse Gary and use RR to their advantage best they can. A little Hollywood PR and cameos can be great for the team and the sport.

 

[Ice-Tray]

The deepest pockets will win, Gary knows this team has been a budget team for too long and needs serious investment from top to bottom.

RR is cool but is more then awesome PR guy who has a small stake in the team. He has no loyalty to any group only the one who let's him play with the big boys. Prospective ownership groups will amuse Gary and use RR to their advantage best they can. A little Hollywood PR and cameos can be great for the team and the sport.

It won’t come down to strictly dollars in the bid, not when you have a few bids already pitching value added revenue to the league as a whole through production value.

Some dude with the highest offer going to the Melnyks will be up against perhaps a bit less cash value, but untapped league wide revenue value that the other owners will just love the sound of.

The Melnyks don’t get to choose. The flip side is that Bettman wants to set a new bar for future purchase, so the winning bid will likely have to have a competitive cash bid, along with an alluring potential league revenue stream attached. That’s what RR’a involvement has done, raised the bar on buying in.

Cash for the departing owner is nice, cash for all the current owners is better.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

Yes, but nobody in Krakow is going to buy a Sens jersey because RR bought the team, but they will buy a Sens jersey after they see what the Sens Zamboni driver has been through during a tough week and have become emotionally invested in the team.

The Krakow dude will do that next year, or one or two years after that. But what about 10 years from now?

I'm not trying to diss RR here or his involvement, but I think we do have to ask what the lasting effects of these types of tv shows and things are. And the way society tends to flip flop on things, I do wonder about the concept of hanging the franchises fortunes on any public figure.

 

[Silky Johnson]

Define profit. ;-) That's tough to say for sure. This is why access to that data room was important for the buyers - trying to untangle all the different businesses under Senators Sports and Entertainment would be an interesting exercise. For example, the hockey operations themselves may technically lose money, but the revenue from concerts and other bookings at the arena help them make money, and those wouldn't exist without the hockey team...

They make a decent profit at the EBITDA level (according to Forbes). That is all the matters to buyers.

 

[HoweHullOrr]

The Bratty family have generational wealth. And Real Estate is only volatile in one direction...up!

Not sure why you made the "generational wealth" comment as I said nothing about that in my post. Commercial real estate has typically risen especially over longer time frames, but there have been periods such as 2021 (Covid) and for a period around 1981 (recession) where it has declined.

"Then, like today, inflation was driven by a dramatic spike in oil and gas prices and an unrestrained Treasury flooding the economy with money. In 1980, newly installed Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker responded by strangling the flow of currency to such an extent that in December 1981, mortgage rates hit 20%. Inflation quickly declined, but at a cost of 10.8% unemployment, a decline of 3% in GDP, and not one but two recessions. While inflation is the friend of many landlords, recession is not, and the commercial real estate business began a decade-long decline."

 

[Tnuoc Alucard]

Yeah that's exactly what you did. The new argument you have is that they will spend all the money to buy the team build an arena but put nothing else into it. Which makes absolutely no sense. Spend 1.5 billion then nickle and dime it the rest of the way. You said fans wouldn't come back when Melnyk is gone. Wrong on that one too. You have no pulse on this team or organization. You don't contribute you don't go to games.

again, you’re spinning, and putting words into my mouth, a twisting what I said recently.

the new owners will spend/finance the purchase of the franchise/CTC and also the construction of the new Arena, all within the next 5 years give or take.

Ottawa will not instantly become a ”Cap” next season as some people are suggesting. Sure, there will be a modest increase in the operational budget, but nothing along the lines that some people are dreaming of. Ottawa is still a Small Market Canadian franchise, with all the issues that go along with that.

I never suggested ”the fans would not come back“ after the previous owner was gone. I have been saying, for years, that EM had stated numerous times that he had no intention to sell the team…. And said that he would most likely pass it on to his daughters, rather than sell. Well I was 100% correct on that, and there is no way you can say otherwise.

a lot of people fantasized that the MelnykOut campaign was going to send a message to EM and push him to sell the franchise, as if a small percentage of fans had that kind of influence…. right on that assessment too.

no one here, you and myself included, have any idea on how much of fan each other is, so don’t delude yourself into thinking you do.

 

[Golden_Jet]

again, you’re spinning, and putting words into my mouth, a twisting what I said recently.

the new owners will spend/finance the purchase of the franchise/CTC and also the construction of the new Arena, all within the next 5 years give or take.

Ottawa will not instantly become a ”Cap” next season as some people are suggesting. Sure, there will be a modest increase in the operational budget, but nothing along the lines that some people are dreaming of. Ottawa is still a Small Market Canadian franchise, with all the issues that go along with that.

I never suggested ”the fans would not come back“ after the previous owner was gone. I have been saying, for years, that EM had stated numerous times that he had no intention to sell the team…. And said that he would most likely pass it on to his daughters, rather than sell. Well I was 100% correct on that, and there is no way you can say otherwise.

a lot of people fantasized that the MelnykOut campaign was going to send a message to EM and push him to sell the franchise, as if a small percentage of fans had that kind of influence…. right on that assessment too.

no one here, you and myself included, have any idea on how much of fan each other is, so don’t delude yourself into thinking you do.

Sens are 3 million under the cap this year.

 

[HoweHullOrr]

This place is classic for arguing to the extreme. No one described Gary as the pied piper, and no one described the BOG as hapless…

This was lots of words to simply try and downplay Bettman’s influence on the BOG. I’m surprised to see such naivety in here to be honest.

It’s like folks just read the league constitution, quote it, but haven’t been watching how the league actually operates.

Bettman “works for the owners”, but the owners aren’t sitting around running the NHL, that’s what Gary has been doing, and his influence on what directions the league takes is enourmous. That’s what happens when you hire the right guy for the job (from an ownership perspective). He is literally the guy who informs the decisions they make at BOG meetings.

They tend to take the advice of the guy they hired to advise them and run the league… shocking!

That’s why when people say that if Gary wants RR in the ownership group because he see tremendous publicity and league revenue opportunities there, you can bet that the BOG is going to back that presentation.

The league will get who they want in the owners box, especially since they have a ton of options here, and it’s not up to the Melnyks, but at the end of the day if folks want to believe that it comes down to what the BOG think, and that Bettman is just the front man, so be it.

No one is naive, and your sarcasm, while expected, is unnecessary & doesn't help your cause. I wasn't even replying to your post LOL.

Bettman serves the BoG who are the owners of the various NHL clubs. The owners are astute, successful business people who can figure out what will be good for them.

All I did was describe the process of how decisions are made. What I said, my actual words versus your tangental/strawman stuff (i.e., Melnk's will decide) is accurate.

Bettman needs to understand what those that employ him want to do. It's the BoG that vote according to NHL constitution and they ultimately make the decisions as the quote that I provided directly from Bettman pointed out.

If there's something that benefit the owners, the BoG will vote in favor of whatever it is. As long as he continues to do things that are good for the owners which he has done in the past, Bettman will continue to serve in his role as Commissioner.

And another important part of the process that I described is the veto type power that the BoG if something is put in front of them that they don't like or feel would not benefit them. The process of the sale of the Senators starts at the other end, with the current owners. If the BoG decides they don't like the potential new owners, they can vote against it (a so called veto). Again, this was pointed out in my previous post.

Naturally, all parties communicate with each other and collaborate through the entire process because they have common goals and ultimately want to get something done. It's not a surprise or coincidence that they go through the process with all parties collaborating and that things work out. But in the end, once again, it's the owners who decide to either approve or reject something. They have ultimate approve/reject power, not Bettman.

And, I'm not sure why you keep bringing up Ryan Reynolds. I said nothing about Reynolds.

Please don't expect further debate (would be pointless), so no need to respond back.

 

[Golden_Jet]

No one is naive, and your sarcasm, while expected, is unnecessary & doesn't help your cause. I wasn't even replying to your post LOL.

Bettman serves the BoG who are the owners of the various NHL clubs. The owners are astute, successful business people who can figure out what will be good for them.

All I did was describe the process of how decisions are made. What I said (my actual words versus your tangental stuff) ) is accurate.

Bettman needs to understand what those that employ him want to do. It's the BoG that vote according to NHL constitution and they ultimately make the decisions as the quote that I provided directly from Bettman pointed out.

If there's something that benefit the owners, the BoG will vote in favor of whatever it is. As long as he continues to do things that are good for the owners which he has done in the past, Bettman will continue to serve in his role as Commissioner.

And another important part of the process that I described is the veto type power that the BoG if something is put in front of them that they don't like or feel would not benefit them. The process of the sale of the Senators starts at the other end, with the current owners. If the BoG decides they don't like the potential new owners, they can vote against it (a so called veto). Again, this was pointed out in my previous post.

Naturally, all parties communicate with each other and collaborate through the entire process because they have common goals and ultimately want to get something done. It's not a surprise or coincidence that they go through the process with all parties collaborating and that things work out. But in the end, once again, it's the owners who decide to either approve or reject something. They have ultimate approve/reject power, not Bettman.

And, I'm not sure why you keep bringing up Ryan Reynolds. I said nothing about Reynolds.

Please don't expect further debate (would be pointless), so no need to respond back.

Yes and it’s Bettman who brings the new owner to the table for a vote, he doesn’t bring 5 possible candidates, and choose who you like. The process is vetted before any vote.

 

[HoweHullOrr]

Thanks for that lecture in corporate governance. You definitely took my post too literally.

Bettman is the kind of CEO that can convince the board what move to make and why, while letting them think it was their idea. I'm sure the BoG wants RR on board.

I'm not arguing that "Commissioner" Bettman is incompetent or is not good at his job.

I was just pointing out that there is a process (a constitution) that is already laid out and that is followed for things like this.

As long as Bettman is facilitating things that result in good things for owners, he will continue to serve the BoG. If what is put in front of the BoG makes sense for the owners, the process laid out in the Constitution will be followed and they will approve it.

The owners are successful business people. I just think they do their own due diligence and would not approve whatever Bettman recommends if they believed it was not good for them.

Bettman's success and longevity has been based on understanding what the owners want. Bettman makes sure the Owners are onside with whatever is at hand and being planned before he proceeds, and then executes the work that needs to be done to get it to final step and the approval process which is done by the BoG. The owners just don't rubber stamp or follow blindly whatever Bettman recommends.

I can only read what is written, so if their was some unstated nuance in what you stated, then that's fine & its all good.

 

[Larionov]

I think the game has now changed with the attachment of Ryan Reynolds to the Remington Group. The fact that he has now aligned himself with one group tells me that the Remington Group is willing to give him a stake in the team in exchange for lending his name exclusively to them. In other words, Reynolds won't have much, if any, of his own money in this, or will own a share of the team larger than his actual contribution in recognition of the value his name brings. That's fair - celebrities often leverage their name in this manner. Wayne Gretzky has been doing it forever.

My guess is that the other prominent groups were either a) unwilling to do that for him or b) were flat out uncomfortable with having a celebrity around who attracted too much attention for their liking. It's worth remembering that rich people didn't become rich by giving their money away, and they tend not to like having to share the limelight.

We were originally told that, well, of course every ownership group would welcome Ryan Reynolds with open arms. As it turns out, this is a competitive process, and when push came to shove he had to cut his own best deal and pick a team...

 

[HoweHullOrr]

Yes and it’s Bettman who brings the new owner to the table for a vote, he doesn’t bring 5 possible candidates, and choose who you like. The process is vetted before any vote.

In the case of the sale of the Penguins to Fenway, Penguins owners dealt with Fenway to work out details of the sale. Then after this was done, it was brought to BoG for approval.

In the case of the Senators, the process is different. Galatioto Sports Partners are coordinating the bid process on behalf of the current owners. They will do the initial legwork before it gets to BoG for approval. Its pretty obvious that all the parties involved in this will collaborate so that they don't get offside with each other because that is waste of time.

In the case of Balsillie and Phoenix, Balsillie worked a deal with the then current owners, and the BoG rejected it ultimately. Balsillie took it to court and lost.

All of this info (above) has been presented in a previous post.

So, the front end of the process can work differently & that will depend on the situation. The last part of the process remains the same. It will go to the BoG for approval. And, I never stated (or suggested) that the BoG would select among 5 different bids. Let's just stick with what's actually being said versus tangents or strawman stuff.

It has to be good for the owners, that's all I'm saying. Bettman will ultimately push something through that the owners will want ultimately as the owners are the ones that will approve, not Bettman.

 

[Golden_Jet]

In the case of the sale of the Penguins to Fenway, Penguins owners dealt with Fenway to work out details of the sale. Then after this was done, it was brought to BoG for approval.

In the case of the Senators, the process is different. Galatioto Sports Partners are coordinating the bid process on behalf of the current owners. They will do the initial legwork before it gets to BoG for approval. Its pretty obvious that all the parties involved in this will collaborate so that they don't get offside with each other because that is waste of time.

In the case of Balsillie and Phoenix, Balsillie worked a deal with the then current owners, and the BoG rejected it ultimately. Balsillie took it to court and lost.

All of this info (above) has been presented in a previous post.

So, the front end of the process can work differently & that will depend on the situation. The last part of the process remains the same. It will go to the BoG for approval. And, I never suggested that the BoG would select among 5 different bids.

It has to be good for the owners, that's all I'm saying. Bettman will ultimately push something through that the owners will want ultimately as the owners are the ones that will approve, not Bettman.

Yes, but Bettman won’t bring a party to the BOG if he doesn’t think he has the votes.

It’s been stated the 15 parties make bids, get lopped down to about 5 bids, then sounds like a rebid.

 

[HoweHullOrr]

Yes, but Bettman won’t bring a party to the BOG if he doesn’t think he has the votes.

It’s been stated the 15 parties make bids, get lopped down to about 5 bids, then sounds like a rebid.

I agree. I don't think you even needed the word "but" because this is what I've been saying all along. I agree that Bettman understands his job and will make sure that whatever is presented for a vote is going to get support from the BoG. In fact, Bettman has been successful and has remained as Commissioner because he understands what the Board wants, and Bettman's success & continued tenure depends on this as he serves at the pleasure of the BoG.

I would imagine the whole sale "process" was vetted and approved by all parties (the BoG, Bettman, the Melnyks) before the process even began. They aren't going to go about this in a willy-nilly way and there's plenty of precedent & expertise available to utilize and get this done.

 

[Micklebot]

Yes, but Bettman won’t bring a party to the BOG if he doesn’t think he has the votes.

It’s been stated the 15 parties make bids, get lopped down to about 5 bids, then sounds like a rebid.

Ok, we're getting into different issues here,but

The owner selling the franchise is the one bringing it to the board, not Bettman, board approves a sale, Bettman makes recommendations.

The argument has been made that Bettman will chose the next owner, which seems a bit odd, if we get past the screening process and end up with say three serious bidders who have the finances to be considered for approval, is Bettman going to pick one even if the other two outbid them? Seems unlikely.

The NHL has publicly stated that negotiations are between the owners and buyers and the league doesn't get involved unless asked, they'd be opening themselves up to a lot of headaches if they get too hands on without being asked imo so I suspect that's not just for show.

I don't expect the BoG or Bettman to be vetoing anyone that makes it past the initial screening, and I expect more than one group will get there. Once you have your finalists, Bettman should be hands off and let the Melnyk's choose the best offer, if he were to do anything else it would likely rub a lot of owners the wrong way.

 

[Crosside]

Interesting. In the 32 tough, a individual in the process to buy the team, was surprise by the book, better that he was expect. Was septic about the 800m number, now not really

 

[Golden_Jet]

I agree. I don't think you even needed the word "but" because this is what I've been saying all along. I agree that Bettman understands his job and will make sure that whatever is presented for a vote is going to get support from the BoG. In fact, Bettman has been successful and has remained as Commissioner because he understands what the Board wants, and Bettman's success & continued tenure depends on this as he serves at the pleasure of the BoG.

I would imagine the whole sale "process" was vetted and approved by all parties (the BoG, Bettman, the Melnyks) before the process even began. They aren't going to go about this in a willy-nilly way and there's plenty of precedent & expertise available to utilize and get this done.

Agreed

 

[Golden_Jet]

Ok, we're getting into different issues here,but

The owner selling the franchise is the one bringing it to the board, not Bettman, board approves a sale, Bettman makes recommendations.

The argument has been made that Bettman will chose the next owner, which seems a bit odd, if we get past the screening process and end up with say three serious bidders who have the finances to be considered for approval, is Bettman going to pick one even if the other two outbid them? Seems unlikely.

The NHL has publicly stated that negotiations are between the owners and buyers and the league doesn't get involved unless asked, they'd be opening themselves up to a lot of headaches if they get too hands on without being asked imo so I suspect that's not just for show.

I don't expect the BoG or Bettman to be vetoing anyone that makes it past the initial screening, and I expect more than one group will get there. Once you have your finalists, Bettman should be hands off and let the Melnyk's choose the best offer, if he were to do anything else it would likely rub a lot of owners the wrong way.

It’s actually the firm that is overseeing the process, the best bid is not necessarily the winner, if the league prefers someone else, they might wink wink nudge nudge them to increase their bid though.

 

[HoweHullOrr]

Ok, we're getting into different issues here,but

The owner selling the franchise is the one bringing it to the board, not Bettman, board approves a sale, Bettman makes recommendations.

The argument has been made that Bettman will chose the next owner, which seems a bit odd, if we get past the screening process and end up with say three serious bidders who have the finances to be considered for approval, is Bettman going to pick one even if the other two outbid them? Seems unlikely.

The NHL has publicly stated that negotiations are between the owners and buyers and the league doesn't get involved unless asked, they'd be opening themselves up to a lot of headaches if they get too hands on without being asked imo so I suspect that's not just for show.

I don't expect the BoG or Bettman to be vetoing anyone that makes it past the initial screening, and I expect more than one group will get there. Once you have your finalists, Bettman should be hands off and let the Melnyk's choose the best offer, if he were to do anything else it would likely rub a lot of owners the wrong way.

You make a good point. I don't think it's been reveled anywhere what the penultimate steps are. Maybe there's a short list that is presented. Maybe there's a short list and then those are shortlisted go through a "Best and Final Offer (BAFO)" process. All of these things have been done before in similar circumstances, but as far as I know. no info has been presented before on the penultimate steps.

 

[Ice-Tray]

No one is naive, and your sarcasm, while expected, is unnecessary & doesn't help your cause. I wasn't even replying to your post LOL.

Bettman serves the BoG who are the owners of the various NHL clubs. The owners are astute, successful business people who can figure out what will be good for them.

All I did was describe the process of how decisions are made. What I said, my actual words versus your tangental/strawman stuff (i.e., Melnk's will decide) is accurate.

Bettman needs to understand what those that employ him want to do. It's the BoG that vote according to NHL constitution and they ultimately make the decisions as the quote that I provided directly from Bettman pointed out.

If there's something that benefit the owners, the BoG will vote in favor of whatever it is. As long as he continues to do things that are good for the owners which he has done in the past, Bettman will continue to serve in his role as Commissioner.

And another important part of the process that I described is the veto type power that the BoG if something is put in front of them that they don't like or feel would not benefit them. The process of the sale of the Senators starts at the other end, with the current owners. If the BoG decides they don't like the potential new owners, they can vote against it (a so called veto). Again, this was pointed out in my previous post.

Naturally, all parties communicate with each other and collaborate through the entire process because they have common goals and ultimately want to get something done. It's not a surprise or coincidence that they go through the process with all parties collaborating and that things work out. But in the end, once again, it's the owners who decide to either approve or reject something. They have ultimate approve/reject power, not Bettman.

And, I'm not sure why you keep bringing up Ryan Reynolds. I said nothing about Reynolds.

Please don't expect further debate (would be pointless), so no need to respond back.

There was no sarcasm in my post, I meant exactly what I said.

As for the rest, you simply repeated yourself with more words. Everyone know how the constitution works and what the process is.

What you don’t seem to understand is how much influence the commissioner has on how the league is run, and what ownership groups enter the league. The BOG let’s Gary run the business, and his ‘recommendations’ are all about what’s best for the league and the current owners pocketbooks.

Yes of course the BOG could remove Gary, they can actually remove each other too! But in real life, where we all live for the most part, they don’t, in fact they tend to defer to his judgment on matter of league business over and over and over again because he’s good at his job and he’s made them hundreds of millions over the years on their investments.

What Gary wants for the league, he usually gets.

Thankfully you won’t respond, so I won’t have to be walked through the league constitution yet again…. (There’s some sarcasm for you).

 

[bert]

again, you’re spinning, and putting words into my mouth, a twisting what I said recently.

the new owners will spend/finance the purchase of the franchise/CTC and also the construction of the new Arena, all within the next 5 years give or take.

Ottawa will not instantly become a ”Cap” next season as some people are suggesting. Sure, there will be a modest increase in the operational budget, but nothing along the lines that some people are dreaming of. Ottawa is still a Small Market Canadian franchise, with all the issues that go along with that.

I never suggested ”the fans would not come back“ after the previous owner was gone. I have been saying, for years, that EM had stated numerous times that he had no intention to sell the team…. And said that he would most likely pass it on to his daughters, rather than sell. Well I was 100% correct on that, and there is no way you can say otherwise.

a lot of people fantasized that the MelnykOut campaign was going to send a message to EM and push him to sell the franchise, as if a small percentage of fans had that kind of influence…. right on that assessment too.

no one here, you and myself included, have any idea on how much of fan each other is, so don’t delude yourself into thinking you do.

You dont know any of this. You are simply saying it because you are trying to cover for your previous posts. You absolutely suggested the attendance wasnt a Melnyk issue. Ottawa selling out games and their T.V deal is not a small market team. Wrong on that one too.

I think the game has now changed with the attachment of Ryan Reynolds to the Remington Group. The fact that he has now aligned himself with one group tells me that the Remington Group is willing to give him a stake in the team in exchange for lending his name exclusively to them. In other words, Reynolds won't have much, if any, of his own money in this, or will own a share of the team larger than his actual contribution in recognition of the value his name brings. That's fair - celebrities often leverage their name in this manner. Wayne Gretzky has been doing it forever.

My guess is that the other prominent groups were either a) unwilling to do that for him or b) were flat out uncomfortable with having a celebrity around who attracted too much attention for their liking. It's worth remembering that rich people didn't become rich by giving their money away, and they tend not to like having to share the limelight.

We were originally told that, well, of course every ownership group would welcome Ryan Reynolds with open arms. As it turns out, this is a competitive process, and when push came to shove he had to cut his own best deal and pick a team...

He will have to have a stake in the purchase they are probably just promising him ghost shares. 5% in and an extra 5% to join their team or something like that.

 

[Micklebot]

It’s actually the firm that is overseeing the process, the best bid is not necessarily the winner, if the league prefers someone else, they might wink wink nudge nudge them to increase their bid though.

The firm was hired by the Melnyks, they work for the Melnyks not Bettman, not the league. The idea that Galatioto is going to screw over its client is pretty far fetched.

 

[Ice-Tray]

Ok, we're getting into different issues here,but

The owner selling the franchise is the one bringing it to the board, not Bettman, board approves a sale, Bettman makes recommendations.

The argument has been made that Bettman will chose the next owner, which seems a bit odd, if we get past the screening process and end up with say three serious bidders who have the finances to be considered for approval, is Bettman going to pick one even if the other two outbid them? Seems unlikely.

The NHL has publicly stated that negotiations are between the owners and buyers and the league doesn't get involved unless asked, they'd be opening themselves up to a lot of headaches if they get too hands on without being asked imo so I suspect that's not just for show.

I don't expect the BoG or Bettman to be vetoing anyone that makes it past the initial screening, and I expect more than one group will get there. Once you have your finalists, Bettman should be hands off and let the Melnyk's choose the best offer, if he were to do anything else it would likely rub a lot of owners the wrong way.

What would rub the owners wrong even more would be an outgoing owner being able to foist an undesirable partner on the rest of the group.

The Melnyks won’t be choosing the winning bid in their own. The BOG with Bettman will have heavy influence on who joins the group, and Bettman will have favourites based in league wide business to present to the board.

Bettman is obviously not “choosing” the next owner, I figured the turn of phrase would be understood by everyone in here. He will have a lot of influence on who ends up with the team, through his influence on the BOG and the running of the league.

I hope that clears that up… in the end it looks like most opinions are in the same orbit.

 

[Golden_Jet]

The firm was hired by the Melnyks, they work for the Melnyks not Bettman, not the league. The idea that Galatioto is going to screw over its client is pretty far fetched.

Melnyks don’t choose, is what I’m saying. That is obvious , for any pro league.