The life and times of Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk

Eugene Melnyk, the Ottawa Senators owner who died from an undisclosed illness March 28 at the age of 62, was born in Canada to Ukrainian parents. The founder of a large pharmaceutical company, he was best known for his controversial ownership of the Ottawa Senators — credited for saving them, but also unpopular with fans in later years.

A resident of Barbados, Melnyk was ranked one of Canada’s wealthiest people by Canadian Business in 2017, with a net worth of more than a billion dollars.

Melnyk was both outspoken and at times private, and his history with the Senators has been marked with controversy, as they have some of his business dealings.

Former Toronto Star sports reporter and current contributor Damien Cox said unlike many other NHL owners, Melnyk was never afraid to call in for an interview — he talked a big game and would go out on a limb for the team.

Though he got a good deal on the near-bankrupt team, it wasn’t just a business decision for Melnyk, said Cox.

“There was nobody that was a bigger fan of the (Senators) than Eugene,” said Cox. “He would do what he could to protect the team.”

But though Melnyk likely saved the Senators from bankruptcy, over the years his actions combined with a series of controversial trades — likely motivated by the team’s financial issues — caused Melnyk to fall out of favor with fans, Cox said.

Now, the future of the Senators is in question, Cox said — they’re back to being a struggling team, with attendance at games down to pre-pandemic levels.

Just a few years ago, Ottawa Senators fans wanted Melnyk out. Now they will find out what that really means for the team.

Here’s a look back at Melnyk’s biggest moments.

Melnyk buys the struggling Senators

In 2003, the Ottawa Senators were on the verge of bankruptcy when Melnyk scooped in and bought the team as well as its arena for $92 million (US). The arena, known as Corel Center at the time, is now the Canadian Tire Center.

It wasn’t Melnyk’s first foray into hockey team ownership. The founder and CEO of Biovail Corp. pharmaceuticals also brought the Belleville Senators on as an AHL affiliate team, and owned the Mississauga IceDogs between 2006 and 2007. However, his first purchase in 2001 was the St. Michael’s Majors, an Ontario Hockey League team that played in the St. Michael’s College School arena, his former school.

Broadcaster Roger Lajoie, a longtime friend and director of marketing for the Ottawa Senators met Melnyk when he swooped in to buy the St. Michael’s Majors. Lajoie first spoke with Melnyk when he called from a private plane, Lajoie remembers.

“He lived like a billionaire,” said Lajoie, adding that he met Melnyk in person at a game, where the friendly business mogul was wearing jeans and a St. Michael’s jacket.

Senators play in Stanley Cup finals

Just four years after Melnyk bought the beleaguered team, the Ottawa Senators advanced to the Stanley Cup finals in the 2006–07 season — the first and so far only appearance since the team joined the NHL in 1992 (the original Senators team was founded in 1883 and won 11 Stanley Cups).

Game three was the first Stanley Cup final played in Ottawa in 80 years and the team’s first and only win of the finals, 5–3. The Anaheim Ducks beat the Senators to win the Cup in game five.

Before buying the Senators, Melnyk was a Toronto Maple Leafs season ticket holder, a fact many forget, said Lajoie. When Melnyk bought the Senators he shed that mantle and became a Sens fan for life.

“He was the King of Ottawa. He was the savior of the franchise,” said Lajoie.

Melnyk sells stakes in pharma company that made him millions

Melnyk sold his shares in 2010, just a few years after retiring as the company’s chairman. He founded the company in 1989, and at one time it was Canada’s largest pharmaceutical company. The antidepressant Wellbutrin XL was one of its bestselling drugs.

In 2007, after being accused of failing to file trading reports and other disclosures connected to offshore accounts, Melnyk was fined $1 million (CAN) by the Ontario Securities Commission and banned from being a Biovail director for a year.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission sued Biovail in 2008, alleging it deceived investors. The company settled for $10 million (US).

In 2009, the company admitted it had violated Ontario securities law, in a settlement with the Commission regarding allegations of misrepresented financial statements several years earlier.

In 2011, the Ontario Securities Commission fined Melnyk and banned him for five years from having a senior role at public companies in Canada.

Melnyk asks public for a liver, and gets one

At 55, Melnyk was battling liver complications and in need of a transplant, but was struggling to find a match in part due to his rare blood type. The Senators published a statement in May 2015 calling on members of the public to fill out a form in an attempt to find a matching donor, a move that was ultimately successful.

It was also controversial, as many criticized Melnyk for using his privileged stature to essentially jump the donor line. Melnyk later launched a foundation to champion organ donation called The Organ Project.

Fans launch campaign to remove Melnyk

Not many sports team owners can say their fans have raised thousands of dollars for a campaign to get rid of them. But Melnyk could.

In 2017, Melnyk said he would look into relocating the Senators franchise if fan attendance at games didn’t improve. The comment set off a social media backlash, and led one fan to launch the hashtag #MelnykOut in December 2017.

In 2018, Ottawa Senators fans raised enough funds to put up several billboards urging Melnyk to sell the team, after a series of controversial trades that saw Kyle Turris and several other key players leave, as well as the relocation comment.

On the GoFundMe page for the billboards, fan Spencer Callaghan wrote: “Eugene Melnyk has decided that he would rather tear the team down and sell it for spare parts than admit he can no longer run it effectively. Sens fans and the city of Ottawa need to step up to save a pillar of this community.”

After months of speculation, captain Erik Karlsson was also traded, as part of Melnyk’s efforts to “rebuild” the team.

As is often the case, Melnyk was as hated for the team’s struggles as he was loved for their successes.

“That’s why I think so many successful businessmen are attracted to sports … it’s the ultimate balance sheet,” said Lajoie.

“When you’re winning, you’re loved. And when you’re not, not so much.”

But for Lajoie, it’s the whole balance sheet that matters as hockey fans remember Melnyk after his passing.

“He’s a Canadian success story,” said Lajoie. “There will be better days ahead for this team thanks to some of the stuff he did.”

Ottawa development falls through

A proposal by Rendezvous LeBreton, which was a partnership between the Ottawa Senators and Trinity Developments, was chosen by the National Capital Commission in 2016 to redevelop a swath of land near downtown Ottawa known as LeBreton Flats.

The mixed-use plan would have included a new arena for the Senators, bringing their home arena significantly closer to the downtown core.

However, despite reaching an agreement for the development in 2018, the NCC soon after canceled the project due to a conflict between the partners in the plan; Melnyk eventually sued Trinity Development Group, blaming the failure of the development on Trinity and alleging a conflict of interest. Trinity filed a countersuit, claiming Melnyk was trying to get a new arena for the cash-strapped team paid for by Trinity or the City of Ottawa.

Melnyk donates large sums to a wide range of charities

Melnyk was involved with a wide range of charitable organizations. He has donated large sums to organizations benefiting children, to health organizations, to his alma mater St. Michael’s College School and more. In 2014 he led a campaign to boycott the sponsors of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in an effort to move it out of Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine.

Lajoie said he wishes Melnyk would be here in the coming months and years to witness the fruits of his efforts to rebuild the Senators.

“Any future success that the Ottawa Senators have is still going to be because of Mr. Melnyk,” he said.

“Eugene…was the eternal optimist. And I think that optimism is contagious within our organization.”

With files from The Canadian Press, Braydon Holmyard, Tara Deschamps