Sens Marketing Highlighted, The Maple Leafs Unfazed by Loss, Marner Carjacked and More

The second round has already begun and it’s looking to be delivering some of the same excitement as the first round. The rest of the league? Yes, that world is still revolving as well, so let’s see the latest and greatest in the hockey world this week.

• Did you know the Sens had a Director of Marketing? Did you know he also worked part time as a sports radio host in Toronto? Well, for those who didn’t know, you didn’t miss much as Roger Lajoie’s legacy may be the way his career with the Senators ended. After the Toronto Maple Leafs’ season ended, Lajoie decided this was a good tweet to put out:/

Roger Lajoie works for the Sens as a marketing director. He’s also a weekend host on Fan590 in Toronto. Managing those two high profile roles requires a delicate balancing act, that sometimes leads to the ratio. pic.twitter.com/7EnlcgnlGw

— mike in boston (@mikeinboston) May 15, 2022

This of course didn’t sit well with Sens fans and it seems Sens management as well. A few days later Lajoie announced his resignation from the Ottawa Senators after deleting the infamous tweet.

• Speaking of Ottawa Senators’ marketing, it seemed to have improved within a few hours of Lajoie’s resignation. In the middle of the day, the Senators official twitter account released the following tweet:/

World bicycle day may be in June, but at 7:31pm tonight we celebrate safety.
🚴👀🏆 #GoSensGo #SafetyFirst pic.twitter.com/qbE2gaia88

— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) May 18, 2022

For the next 5.5 hours, Sens fans were buzzing with theories and expectations of what this mysterious tweet could mean. Many desperate fans linked it to a Josh Norris or Artem Zub extension but there were a few other humorous guesses floating around. The best part? The Sens account was interactive and responding to many fans with more emojis and gifs. In the end, it was a “Helmet of the Year” announcement that asked the players who they felt was the best player of the season. The end result wasn’t as important as the fact that the Sens doing something fun and engaging especially in the off-season, it’s a good sign of things to come.

Congratulations go out to all of the baby #Sens conspiracies that were born in the last 5 hours, but at the end of the day🚴👀🏆could only truly mean one thing.

The players have spoken. The Helmet of the Year🚴goes to...#GoSensGo #SafetyFirst pic.twitter.com/wDvHSKSd0U

— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) May 18, 2022

• The Toronto Maple Leafs lost in the first round again, but it seems someone hasn’t relayed the message to them yet. Somehow, this loss has made them feel more confident about their team and many are mind boggled by the end of year pressor that showed Brendan Shanahan and Kyle Dubas act as if this was indeed a successful season for them. This thread from the Toronto Star shows how frustrated some people are with the reaction from top management after the loss.
• Mitch Marner is usually a key player in Leafs critique when it comes to the playoffs and another first round exit probably weighed a ton on him. To make matters worse, a day after the loss, Mitch Marner was carjacked at gunpoint in Etobicoke and his Range Rover stolen. He is thankfully unharmed but that is a scary incident for anyone to experience. Police confirmed that the carjackers probably had no idea who was driving the car and the sole purpose of the attack was to take the car,
• The Arizona Coyotes are the NHL’s baby that just won’t grow up and take care of itself. Last season, they were forced to move their home games to the Arizona State University arena and this will continue into this year. Details of the new lease have been released including a clause that states the Coyotes cannot misbehave or they would be immediately be kicked out. According to reporters Sean Shapiro and Katie Strang misbehaving entails the Coyotes or owner Alex Meruelo becoming the subjects of scandal or ridicule or fail to act “as a good corporate citizen.” The Arizona Coyotes will also be playing on ice with the State University logo as they are not allowed to alter the ice surface in any way. This situation should last for about 3-4 years but it will be interesting to see how the league will act if the Coyotes get themselves kicked out of a University arena as well.
• Team Canada are having themselves a good start at the IIHF World Championship. On Monday they defeated Slovakia 5-1 improving their record to 3-0. Their next game today is against Kazakhstan. On the Sens front, our best players haven’t fired it up points wise yet but their time is coming. Unfortunately, Tim Stützle sustained a knee injury and his status is unknown at this point. Sens roundup so far:/

Team Canada

Thomas Chabot: 0 G, 2 A

Drake Batherson: 0 G, 1 A

Nick Holden: 0 g, 1 A

Team Germany

Tim Stützle: 0 G, 2 A

Team USA

Austin Watson: 0 G, 0 A

Adam Gaudette: 1 G, 0 A