Why is there a need to make it all complicated and everything?
It's only one person responsible for all of this
He hired a cheap unqualified GM, AGM and a cheap coaching staff and that's what it does at the end of the day
I don't blame Guy Boucher one minute, he should have been hired as an
assistant coach. I don't blame Dorion, he should be
AGM and/or in charge of scouting and drafting. I believe they're good people that are good hockey heads but are completely miscast in their current position. Is it their fault? No, they took the job and the salary and most importantly, the challenge. But as shown in the last 2 seasons, it was too big for them, even though they had success the first season, which was mainly due to the team that Murray built.
Since we don't have access to Melnyk's accountants work, it's hard to say how much it's him being cheap and how much it is because the team is not profitable. Sure, he owns the arena so he makes profits on other venues but that doesn't mean that he will accept losing millions every year with the hockey team. He manages this business like he would for any other type of businesses (I have to specify here, this is not MY opinion). The problem is that there's FANS who care... I have worked for a Claridge company in the past and watched them go for a + 10 M$ investment write-off just like that, instead on investing and re-work the brand and products of the division. It was a big company purge after the financial crisis of 2008 but just a succession of mismanagement after me and my boss were gone. On the website, their management style says "Collaborative approach with management." I would say lol to this.
Anyway, Melnyk doesn't have the management style required to operate a NHL franchise, first he should stay quiet all the time (outside of talking about positive stuff like foundations, etc) and he should know where to put his money. COACHING is vital and can actually fix a lot of problems, teach the young guys the right way.
Here's a rich club who has hired competent and qualified personnel :
Hockey Operations
Melnyk was lucky to have a quality executive like Murray for years, who delayed the inevitable. I was wondering why Murray was constantly hiring unproven coaches. Now I know why
There's another thing as to why Melnyk is very lucky : Sens drafting has been one of the best since Murray took over in 2008.