Ottawa Senators left wing Parker Kelly (45) skates as projections of the team's logo spin on the ice before an NHL game against the Boston Bruins in Ottawa, on Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022. A group led by Toronto-based businessman Michael Andlauer has reached an agreement in principle to purchase the NHL's Ottawa Senators for close to $1 billion, according to media reports. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
OTTAWA – The sale of the Ottawa Senators appears to be coming to a close.
A group led by Toronto-based businessman Michael Andlauer has reached an agreement in principle to purchase the NHL team for close to US$1 billion, according to media reports.
Andlauer is the sole owner of the Ontario Hockey League’s Hamilton Bulldogs and a minority owner of the Montreal Canadiens.
The 57-year-old is also the founder and chief executive officer of Andlauer Healthcare Group, which owns health-care supply chain companies. He’s also the founder of Toronto-based merchant bank Bulldog Capital Partners.
Sportico and Postmedia first reported the sale.
The board of directors of Senators Sports & Entertainment initiated the process to sell the team in November after the death of owner Eugene Melnyk.
The billionaire left the franchise to his adult daughters, Anna and Olivia.
A recent valuation by Forbes listed the Senators at $800 million, 24th out of the NHL’s 30 teams.
The franchise garnered plenty of suitors, including competing bids that reportedly included Canadian movie star Ryan Reynolds, Canadian R&B singer The Weeknd, and rapper Snoop Dogg.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said earlier this month the sale was close to being completed and what he expected to be around a billion dollars – “give or take.”
“I’ve always felt that we’ve been undervalued, so this, to me, is just an affirmation that our franchises are more valuable than Forbes or Sportico or many investment bankers have said,” Bettman stated June 3 in Las Vegas before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final. “Our competitive balance is extraordinary, and that should somehow be equating to higher values.
“I think you’re beginning to see that.”
Bettman has repeatedly said a condition of the sale was that the team remains in Ottawa.
Melnyk died of an undisclosed illness in March 2022 at age 62.
The Toronto native purchased the Senators out of bankruptcy in 2003 for $92 million at a time when the club faced a tenuous future in the nation’s capital.
The day-to-day running of the team, which is eyeing a new downtown arena to replace the suburban Canadian Tire Centre, has been handled by its board of directors since Melnyk’s death.
The Senators made the Stanley Cup final in 2007 when Ottawa lost in five games to the Anaheim Ducks, but things started to turn sour roughly a decade later.
Melnyk, who had an adversarial relationship with a large chunk of the fanbase in the years before his death, said before a 2017 outdoor game in Ottawa he might move the team if attendance didn’t increase, sparking a “#MelnykOut” campaign on billboards and social media.
The Senators haven’t qualified for the playoffs since making it to double overtime of Game 7 of the 2017 Eastern Conference final, but have a promising young core of talent let by Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, Josh Norris, Drake Batherson and Thomas Chabot.
Corporate infighting and lawsuits between Melnyk and a developer over building a new downtown arena – the team has played in Ottawa’s far west end since 1996 – on the Lebreton Flats site just west of Parliament Hill ultimately torpedoed that deal in 2019.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 13, 2023.
