Eugene Melnyk is a terrible NHL owner.

From the Ottawa Citizen:

Melnyk hasn’t liked what’s happened with the Senators since Day 1. He was mystified by Cameron’s decision to sit starter Craig Anderson in the club’s home opener in October and give O’Connor, a raw rookie, the start in a 3-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens. 

He was asked why it went so badly?

“No idea. Bryan and I sit there and we just nod our head. We can’t get it. We get it now. I remember back in December some of those games, three in a row that we lost by a goal we were leading. It was inconsistency and some stupidity,” said Melnyk, who then pointed at Cameron’s decision in Game 3 of the season.

“I go back to the very first game. You put in the second goalie. What was that about? On opening night and the guy gets clobbered. It’s not fair to him, not fair to the fans. Just a lot of little tiny mistakes that all of a sudden escalate and get serious and get in people’s heads.”

Man, I’m so glad we have an owner like Geoff Molson instead of windbag Eugene Melnyk. To start off, our owner is an honest purveyor of a staple to the masses, a scion of an honourable Montréal family, not a shady pharmaceutical shell-gamer. I still can’t quite shake the opinion that his public appeal for an organ donor was unseemly, an example of the plutocrats line-jumping the system.

When it comes to his team, despite his denials, it’s a fact that he doesn’t ‘spare no expense’ to build a winner, it’s widely known that the Sens work to an internal budget, like the Jets do, and unlike teams that will spend to the cap ceiling.

Generally, I want a pro sports team owner, if we must have such a thing, if we’re not quite at the stage where every team is a publicly-owned community organization, like the Roughriders or the Green Bay Packers, to be a benevolent trustee for the fans. Not a self-important demagogue like the Yankees’ George Steinbrenner or the Cowboys’ Jerry Jones, not an arriviste like the Raiders’ Mark Davis or the Bengals’ Mike Brown or the Bruins’ Charlie Jacobs or the Colts’ Jim Irsay, who like the saying goes, were born on third-base and act like they hit a triple. Not a windsock like the Browns’ Jimmy Haslam or an underhanded schemer like the Oilers’ Darryl Katz, he of the fact-finding mission to Seattle.

And certainly not a cash-strapped Napoleon-complexed parasite who comes up short in stick-measuring contests with other, wealthier owners, who leeches profits off a team for his personal enrichment, like the Nordiques’ Marcel Aubut or the Chargers’ Spanos family. Or the Sens’ Eugene Melnyk, who wants to hang with all the bigwigs in the VIP, but looks the other way or goes to the bathroom when it’s time to buy another round of Crystal.

Occasions like this, when his GM is keeping it together in more ways than one, are a great time to keep his damn mouth shut and let the pros do the talking. Or better yet, have a Daniel Alfredsson in place as the knowledgeable President in charge of these types of decisions, and let him talk to the press, with credibility, instead of shooting his mouth off to a legion of fans who see right through him.