Senators Ownership, Playoff Storylines, and NHL Miscellanea

Even in the void left by both the Ottawa and Belleville Senators’ brief seasons, we have plenty to cover around here this week with the NHL playoffs, CHL playoffs, and most notably the NHL entry draft. In the meantime, enjoy some stories from around the world of professional hockey.

• Starting at home, Gary Bettman has set the record straight in stating that the Senators’ ownership remains stable for the time being in the hands of the late Eugene Melnyk’s family (i.e. his two daughters) and from the sounds of it, the same board of directors who have overseen business operations for a while will continue managing everything above Pierre Dorion.
• Steven Ellis over at the hockey news wrote an interesting profile about Connor Ingram, the former top prospect turned afterthought now starting in the postseason for Nashville. For a player who seemingly had a guaranteed future in the NHL at one point, this article illustrates how quickly a professional athlete’s career can go off the rails, and offers some sincere insight into Ingram’s personal struggles off the ice.
• More than two years after lighting a much-needed fire under the world of professional hockey, Akim Aliu will publish his first book (Growing up Black in the World of Hockey). This publication continues Aliu’s work encouraging and empowering BIPOC youth and athletes dealing with the everyday struggles of attempting to participate in white-dominated sports culture.
• On the subject of former NHL players, the Globe and Mail published a fascinating tribute to ex-Minnesota North Star Tom McCarthy for whom the NHL lowered the entry draft age from 20 to 18 back in 1979. McCarthy’s NHL career ended in the late 1980s, and in the mid-90s he ended up in prison on drug-related charges. After serving his time, McCarthy returned to hockey as a junior coach before retiring in 2018.
• As unconventional as it all seems, the Arizona Coyotes have made official their deal with ASU to play three seasons in the NCAA venue. I low-key love how weird the Coyotes get with it sometimes and that absolutely comes from the Sens Sicko in me.
• On the subject of soon-to-be Ottawa Senators Andrei Kuzmenko has commenced the process of interviewing virtually with NHL suitors. Look, Ottawa is beautiful this time of year and basically all times of the year. Andrei, don’t make me break out Beata’s Pulitzer Prize-winner.
• And finally, Donnovan Bennett put together this in-depth interview with Canadian Olympian Brigette Lacquette on her experiences as an indigenous woman navigating hockey culture, a hockey player fighting for fair compensation for women in sport, and an NHL scout on the side. Lacquette has first-hand knowledge of the financial and logistical obstacles indigenous youth face trying to participate in competitive sports and of the ongoing issues with racism on sport. Lacquette also touches on the frustration of playing hockey at the highest level while still relying on multiple streams of income, a common struggle felt across women’s hockey./