“That’s, like, totally solid.”It turns out that as these assurances were being uttered, the deal for a new downtown arena for the Senators was already in a complete shambles. The LeBreton deal isn’t technically dead, but all that’s left is to shovel soil over the corpse. When one partner sues another for $700-million, as Melnyk has done to developer John Ruddy, that is pretty much the end of that. And so, while Melnyk continues to insist that he has every intention of keeping his team in Ottawa and pursuing a downtown arena, Senators fans could be forgiven for wondering if this is the beginning of the end. Melnyk has already said that he has no interest in being a tenant in someone else’s downtown arena, should LeBreton end up in the hands of a different group entirely.

Source: National Post November 29, 2018 19:41 UTC