Eugene Melnyk passes away

[Dazzle]

1 minute ago, IBatch said:

Yes that's what we should be doing - digging up dirt on the man who just passed away.   Good grief - like Melnyk himself is supposed to manage all his people personally.   Fact is he created something that helped people.   Again i ask why?   Nepotism lol...look at Vancouver - half the organization is ex-canucks.   

It's not digging up dirt. This was all stuff written years before his death. The history should NOT be forgotten. Why are we now pretending that he's a good man? He really wasn't. It's wrong to slander someone who really did good things, but there were a ton of question marks about his ethics before his death. That is a fact.

 

I just looked at newly formed foundation that was formerly the Sens Foundation:

 

https://www.charityintelligence.ca/charity-details/1023-ottawa-gatineau-youth-foundation

 

Terrible.

[IBatch]

3 minutes ago, Dazzle said:

It's not digging up dirt. This was all stuff written years before his death. The history should NOT be forgotten. Why are we now pretending that he's a good man? He really wasn't. It's wrong to slander someone who really did good things, but there were a ton of question marks about his ethics before his death. That is a fact.

 

I just looked at newly formed foundation that was formerly the Sens Foundation:

 

https://www.charityintelligence.ca/charity-details/1023-ottawa-gatineau-youth-foundation

 

Terrible.

Fill your boots.   Its about respect.   And you can't look just on one side of the ledger - although - like i remarked earlier, that's the side that the media loves to spin.   You don't know him personally, and neither do i, although i do know people that know him and they've only had praise.   He'd have to be someone awfully special to achieved what he did in life.   His organizations might be a reflection of the man - but it's not 100% on him either is it?   Created a ton of jobs for Ottawa - i've lived near there for 13 years so have heard all the stories, good and bad.   Don't see any point in trying to paint this guy as "evil" or "bad".   What he was - extraordinary, and much loved by those close to him.   Dorian is doing a great job too.   Smearing the guy after he's dead is really in poor taste.   Melnyk in truth spread himself way too thin to manage all his things.  It eventually cost him is actual business.   Part of that is because he's a massive hockey fan as well.   Anyways go ahead if you like - find these articles and post them.    If Melnyk didn't buy the team, who knows where it would be now.   Don't forget to add that.   There are only so many rich people in these little cities, to find to buy them.  

[Dazzle]

Just now, IBatch said:

Fill your boots.   Its about respect.   And you can't look just on one side of the ledger - although - like i remarked earlier, that's the side that the media loves to spin.   You don't know him personally, and neither do i, although i do know people that know him and they've only had praise.   He'd have to be someone awfully special to achieved what he did in life.   His organizations might be a reflection of the man - but it's not 100% on him either is it?   Created a ton of jobs for Ottawa - i've lived near there for 13 years so have heard all the stories, good and bad.   Don't see any point in trying to paint this guy as "evil" or "bad".   What he was - extraordinary, and much loved by those close to him.   Dorian is doing a great job too.   Smearing the guy after he's dead is really in poor taste.   Melnyk in truth spread himself way too thin to manage all his things.  It eventually cost him is actual business.   Part of that is because he's a massive hockey fan as well.   Anyways go ahead if you like - find these articles and post them.    If Melnyk didn't buy the team, who knows where it would be now.   Don't forget to add that.   There are only so many rich people in these little cities, to find to buy them.  

We have to remember that revisionism of history is a dangerous thing. An arguable point about people erecting buildings in their name (as is usually the case for wealthy donors) is to potentially influence how they are remembered. Of course, this is not fair to say this about every donor that does something in this way, but it's worth reflecting on it. This is also not to say that the charity or the foundation is necessarily a bad one too, simply because it has the name. There's more to it that we should look deeper into.

 

There are a ton of individuals (rich and poor) that have done a lot for society. I just didn't expect Melnyk to be remembered as this 'generous' guy when he was definitely remembered not that long ago to be the most 'cheap' owner. We've seen these types of comments on this forum, and on other boards. I also get that we should remember someone because they're dead.

 

All I'm saying is that we should not confuse 'respect for the dead' with falsifying history to fit how we think we should remember someone.

 

Yes, he 'saved' the team in 1993, and there have been questions about how he did that too - but my point being is that we shouldn't spin a story about how good someone is when all of us at some point in time have definitely criticized Melnyk for his behaviour when he was alive.

 

 

[Coconuts]

I don't have anything good to say about him, but it's a damn shame he's passed. That's pretty young nowadays. My condolences to his friends and family. 

[Kelly Green]

Not sure why I thought he was a lot older than 62 but I did, RIP Eugene.

[butters]

2 hours ago, Dazzle said:

 I just didn't expect Melnyk to be remembered as this 'generous' guy when he was definitely remembered not that long ago to be the most 'cheap' owner. 

Probably because you are thinking of him only in terms of how much he spent on a hockey team.

[mll]

10 hours ago, Dazzle said:

 

https://www.thescore.com/nhl/news/1976361

 

 

Eugene Melnyk's charity previously directed a small fraction of the money it generated toward its intended cause.

The Ottawa Senators owner created The Organ Project - a private, Toronto-based not-for-profit foundation - in 2016, with the goal of ending the organ transplant waiting list and "changing the current environment so that, in the near future, nobody in Canada will die while waiting for an organ transplant."

However, while it gained $991,708 in revenues during 2018, it contributed barely $5,000 of that to organ donor awareness, according to Postmedia's Rick Gibbons, who cited filings from the Canada Revenue Agency.

 

Melnyk's charity is separate from the Senators Foundation - the team's charitable arm - which announced its intent to sever ties with the club last week.

The Senators Foundation budgeted $100,000 toward The Organ Project but eventually decided against donating it, Gibbons added.

Of the roughly $1 million taken in by Melnyk's charity, it spent $779,464 on fundraising costs and another $238,118 on management and administration, according to the filings obtained by Gibbons, who was informed that these types of figures are "almost certain" to be scrutinized by tax officials.

Unlike the Senators Foundation, the Organ Project doesn't require a board of directors to oversee operations, and according to Gibbons, the latter entity appeared to be directed solely by Melnyk. However, it shut down in 2019 and didn't fulfill a promise to reopen this spring.

The Senators and their foundation will formally part ways if they're unable to resolve their dispute by July 31.

 

 

The Ottawa Sun, who published the initial articles, apologised to Eugene Melnyk as it turned out that the claims by Rick Gibbons were false.  The link marked in red directs to the Ottawa Sun where they've corrected the claims by Gibbons with their apology.

 

Edited March 29, 2022 by mll

[Chickenspear]

Why are people slagging Melnyk right now? The dude just died. Poor form people.

[The Lock]

3 hours ago, Dazzle said:

We have to remember that revisionism of history is a dangerous thing. An arguable point about people erecting buildings in their name (as is usually the case for wealthy donors) is to potentially influence how they are remembered. Of course, this is not fair to say this about every donor that does something in this way, but it's worth reflecting on it. This is also not to say that the charity or the foundation is necessarily a bad one too, simply because it has the name. There's more to it that we should look deeper into.

 

There are a ton of individuals (rich and poor) that have done a lot for society. I just didn't expect Melnyk to be remembered as this 'generous' guy when he was definitely remembered not that long ago to be the most 'cheap' owner. We've seen these types of comments on this forum, and on other boards. I also get that we should remember someone because they're dead.

 

All I'm saying is that we should not confuse 'respect for the dead' with falsifying history to fit how we think we should remember someone.

 

Yes, he 'saved' the team in 1993, and there have been questions about how he did that too - but my point being is that we shouldn't spin a story about how good someone is when all of us at some point in time have definitely criticized Melnyk for his behaviour when he was alive.

I think your arguments are for later on, not for right after someone passes away.

 

The way I see it, there's a time for remembering positively after a death, whether you like the person or not. Then, after a certain amount of time, these other thoughts can come up. Otherwise, you just end up sounding insensitive and disrespectful about it all. Let people who want to remember the positives remember the postives rather than being the little weasel that goes "yes, but..."

 

 

[RakuRaku]

4 hours ago, Dazzle said:

It's not digging up dirt. This was all stuff written years before his death. The history should NOT be forgotten. Why are we now pretending that he's a good man? He really wasn't. It's wrong to slander someone who really did good things, but there were a ton of question marks about his ethics before his death. That is a fact.

 

I just looked at newly formed foundation that was formerly the Sens Foundation:

 

https://www.charityintelligence.ca/charity-details/1023-ottawa-gatineau-youth-foundation

 

Terrible.

OMG!!!! That so-called charity is letting the staff milk it good!!! 

 

Anyhow... I won't comment much since I don't know enough about his history... but fair to say most of the Sens fans didn't adore him much... so it gotta be something

 

But I do hope the team can build a better future and commit to staying in Ottawa long term!! I still remember their team making one good playoff run against the Devils like more than 15 yrs ago??

[Dazzle]

1 hour ago, mll said:

 

The Ottawa Sun, who published the initial articles, apologised to Eugene Melnyk as it turned out that the claims by Rick Gibbons were false.  The link marked in red directs to the Ottawa Sun where they've corrected the claims by Gibbons with their apology.

 

There's more to it than it being false. Gibbons isn't/wasn't fired by the Ottawa Sun for reporting false info.

 

https://awfulannouncing.com/newspapers/ottawa-sun-correction-apology-errors-senators-foundation-eugene-melnyk.html

 

This article does a fair job of distinguishing what was problematic with his article, but also what Melynk didn't address. It's clear that Melnyk had a lot of influence in Ottawa, but if Gibbons had made a huge mistake as reporting numbers falsely, would it not be grounds for termination?

---

 

A notable element of this saga even the lengthy correction and apology providing the Senators/Melnyk/The Organ Project side of things, and even the team statement and its further detail, doesn’t really answer all the questions raised by Gibbons’ pieces in the first place. Yes, his Senators Foundation rent number was wrong, and his framing of the finances of The Organ Project is at least disputed (but wasn’t portrayed as such in the initial piece). And those missteps, combined with the decision to not seek pre-publication comment, appear to have given Melnyk enough ammunition to push for this lengthy correction and apology.

 

Gibbons' article remains up too, not removed.

Edited March 29, 2022 by Dazzle

[Dazzle]

31 minutes ago, RakuRaku said:

OMG!!!! That so-called charity is letting the staff milk it good!!! 

 

Anyhow... I won't comment much since I don't know enough about his history... but fair to say most of the Sens fans didn't adore him much... so it gotta be something

 

But I do hope the team can build a better future and commit to staying in Ottawa long term!! I still remember their team making one good playoff run against the Devils like more than 15 yrs ago??

It really is. I guess I can understand why that charity is so bad when it had its roots in a not-so-good charity. Supposedly there was a 100M of help from it, but other websites cite 30-40 million... and the distribution of those funds mostly went to the running of the company. That's not a charity, imo. That's a business that does some charity on the side. A charity should be something which has a primary purpose of donating a significant amount of money from the company's efforts.

 

Interestingly...

 

https://ottawa.citynews.ca/local-news/former-sens-foundation-revokes-charitable-status-joins-oseg-foundation-4469616

 

he Ottawa-Gatineau Youth Foundation (OGYF), formerly the Senators Foundation, has a new agreement with the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG) Foundation, which will see the OGYFs cash and in-kind assets be mobilized and invested within the community through the care of the OSEG Foundation.

As a result of this new partnership, the OGYF has filed for voluntary revocation of its charitable status.

 

 

Edited March 29, 2022 by Dazzle

[PetterssonOrPeterson]

16 hours ago, King Heffy said:

So is how he treated the franchise after a fan saved his life.

Just stop dude.

 

Just stop.

[-Vintage Canuck-]

 

[Bell]

Seemed like a flaky owner but the man died way too young.  RIP Eugene and condolences to his family, friends and the Sens.

[Ghostsof1915]

10 hours ago, Kelly Green said:

Not sure why I thought he was a lot older than 62 but I did, RIP Eugene.

That's what scares me. He's only 7 years older. He's my brother's age! 

[Mackcanuck]

Strange time for a story like this to surface!

 

https://5aial.com/nhl-senators-games-in-quebec/

 

(Quebec) It’s still preliminary. But discussions have begun and involve the Legault government, the National Hockey League, Quebecor and the Ottawa Senators so that this team presents five games at the Videotron Center in Quebec City next season.

 

On the sidelines of these talks, in Quebec, we have the feeling of walking on eggshells; a premature announcement is likely to raise questions from Senators fans and their sponsors, it is warned. Especially against the backdrop of the death of club owner Eugene Melnyk on Monday.

But according to the sources of The Press, it was Gary Bettman who himself put forward such a scenario during his virtual meeting with the Quebec Minister of Finance, Eric Girard, in mid-January. And he seemed convinced that it would be done without too many obstacles, we confide.

During the meeting, the great financier of the Legault government asked Mr. Bettman what could be done to demonstrate that Quebec City is a market for the NHL. The commissioner of the League then raised the idea of presenting a few matches of a team’s season.

 

Subsequently, the NHL presented a scenario to Quebec to verify its interest in hosting five Senators games. The financial package is “in preparation”, but not finished, it is specified.

The Senators would obviously demand a fee to give up these five games on the quarantine presented at home in season. The figure would not yet be decided, it seems. The Legault government could be invited to contribute, but we see for him rather another avenue.

Edited March 30, 2022 by Mackcanuck

[IBatch]

26 minutes ago, Mackcanuck said:

Strange time for a story like this to surface!

 

https://5aial.com/nhl-senators-games-in-quebec/

 

(Quebec) It’s still preliminary. But discussions have begun and involve the Legault government, the National Hockey League, Quebecor and the Ottawa Senators so that this team presents five games at the Videotron Center in Quebec City next season.

 

On the sidelines of these talks, in Quebec, we have the feeling of walking on eggshells; a premature announcement is likely to raise questions from Senators fans and their sponsors, it is warned. Especially against the backdrop of the death of club owner Eugene Melnyk on Monday.

But according to the sources of The Press, it was Gary Bettman who himself put forward such a scenario during his virtual meeting with the Quebec Minister of Finance, Eric Girard, in mid-January. And he seemed convinced that it would be done without too many obstacles, we confide.

During the meeting, the great financier of the Legault government asked Mr. Bettman what could be done to demonstrate that Quebec City is a market for the NHL. The commissioner of the League then raised the idea of presenting a few matches of a team’s season.

 

Subsequently, the NHL presented a scenario to Quebec to verify its interest in hosting five Senators games. The financial package is “in preparation”, but not finished, it is specified.

The Senators would obviously demand a fee to give up these five games on the quarantine presented at home in season. The figure would not yet be decided, it seems. The Legault government could be invited to contribute, but we see for him rather another avenue.

Got to be ARI.... right?   Doesn't it?   Ugh.   Melnyk saved a team from bankruptcy and kept it here for almost 2 decades ... would have been in his early 40's at the time.    Didn't have too.   But he did.   This would be an awful idea for the league.   Sens are an institution in OTT now.   This seems more like a trial run to see how many people will attend the games more then anything.   And no way TO or MTL would agree to losing that revenue.    

[PetterssonOrPeterson]

On 3/28/2022 at 7:32 PM, Devron said:

Lost his life Heffy

I find it very ironic that Heffy is so outspoken about how players on other teams have no class and shouldn't be on our team (Tkachuk for example) and then goes on to say something as gutless and disgraceful as joke about a person who literally just passed away. 

 

Pretty f*cking embarrassing and the epitome of a hypocrite.